AUBURN, Ala. – For the 14 seniors on the Auburn swimming and diving team, Friday's meet against Gardner-Webb will mark their final dual meet at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
"I'm excited to see our seniors compete at home one more time," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "This has been a real good senior class on both sides. We certainly don't want to see some of these people leave us, but at the same time, I'm very appreciative that they were here for the first couple years of my tenure in Auburn."
The Tigers are coming off a sweep of Georgia last weekend, and in just over a month, they will be competing at home in this year's SEC championships. But the focus this week is on that senior class and what they have accomplished for the program.
The women's team, who earned a 202-93 victory over Georgia Tech, features 11 of the 14 seniors on the roster. The group includes transfer Claire Fisch, who was the first student-athlete to commit to Taylor and his staff when they took over on the Plains in 2018.
The other senior swimmers are (in alphabetical order): Jaden Bellina, Annie Boone, Robyn Clevenger, Jaqueline Hippi, Sierra Jett, Jessica Merritt, Julie Meynen, Camille Porter and Abi Wilder. Senior diver Alison Maillard will also be recognized Friday, but the Auburn divers won't be competing in the meet.
On the men's side, there's a trio of seniors with David Crossland, Santiago Grassi and Owen Upchurch. The men, who are 4-1 in dual meets this season, are looking to build off a hard-fought 166-134 win over Georgia Tech their last time out.
With no diving events, both teams will compete in 14 swimming events. The events will be, in order: 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 back, 100 breast, 200 fly, 50 free, 100 free, 200 back, 200 breast, 500 free, 100 fly, 200 IM and 200 free relay.
The meet will begin at 1 p.m. CT on Friday with Senior Day festivities expected to take place 15 minutes prior to the first race. Live stats for the meet will be available through auburntigers.com.