GREENSBORO, N.C. – Similar to day one, the second day of the Wolfpack Invite provided plenty of highlights for the Auburn swimming and diving program with a handful of season-best and lifetime-best times on both the men's and women's side Friday.
The women held steady in second place behind North Carolina State while the men remain in third behind North Carolina State and Arizona State.
"Definitely some ups and downs," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "I would say more ups then downs. We're continuing to grow and learn and be all in for one another. This is an experience that continues. I saw a lot of pride, heart and grit from a number of our athletes, and I want to continue to build off that, capitalize on that as we head into our final day."
The swim of the night came from Claire Fisch on the women's side. The senior finished third in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:45.16. It was a lifetime best by more than two seconds, and it also moved Fisch into ninth all-time in Auburn history for the 200 free.
"I thought that really epitomized what I want in an Auburn athlete," Taylor said. "Getting out of her comfort zone, swimming a different race and just going out there and competing at her highest level for her team. It was just an inspiring, awesome moment."
Other highlights for the women included a strong 400 IM event where sophomore Emily Hetzer (4:13.12), freshman Zoe Gawronska (4:14.59) and junior Carly Cummings (4:16.17) all posted B-cut times. Hetzer and Gawronska finished fifth and sixth respectively in the A final while Cummings took first place in the B final.
The Auburn men started strong with a third-place finish from the 200 medley relay team of Christian Ginieczki, Spencer Rowe, Santiago Grassi and Matthew Yish. The time of 1:26.75 was a full second faster than they were a year ago.
Rowe had another outstanding performance later in the meet, swimming a B-cut time of 54:07 in the 100 breaststroke to finish second in the A final.
Freshmen Davis Edwards and Lleyton Smith also impressed for the Tigers as Edwards finished fifth in the 400 IM and Smith took home fourth place in the 100 back.
DIVING RECAP
After finishing third in the 1-meter competition the first day, senior Alison Maillard bounced back to win the 3-meter event with 347.25 points on Friday night.
"Alison was real steady," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "She wasn't real sharp in the prelims but dived ahead of the field. And then in the finals, she was pushed by the girl from Louisville, and it was her best score of the year. It was nice to see her compete to the level I think she's capable of."
It was another strong performance from Conner Pruitt on the men's side as the sophomore followed his win from Thursday with a second-place finish in the 1-meter competition Friday.
"I like where we are with how competitive we're learning to become," Shaffer said. "We still need to focus on taking that competitiveness and being a little bit sharper on finishing our dives."
WHAT'S NEXT
The third and final day of competition is Saturday, and once again the prelims will start at 8:30 a.m. CT with the finals scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT. The swimming events include the 1650 free, the 200 back, the 100 free, the 200 breast, the 200 fly and the 400 freestyle relay. The divers will wrap up the meet with the 10-meter platform competition.
SCORES (DAY 2)
Women
1. NC State: 1174.5
2. Auburn: 1050
3. Arizona State: 934
4. Duke: 848.5
5. Wisconsin: 687
Men
1. NC State: 1287
2. Arizona State: 1244
3. Auburn: 785
4. Wisconsin: 759
5. Duke: 685