GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The goal for Auburn swim and dive this weekend was to go out and compete hard, to fight. The Tigers did that, setting numerous season-best times, but it wasn't enough as the men's and women's teams fell short at Florida in the season's final dual meet.
In a battle of top-15 teams, the No. 14 Auburn women hung with No. 8 Florida throughout the meet before ultimately falling by a score of 161-137.
The Tigers started strong Friday night with sophomore Emily Hetzer swimming a season-best 9:40.55 to win the 1,000 freestyle. All three Auburn swimmers (Hetzer, Averee Preble and Zoe Gawronska) set season-best times in the event.
The highlight for Auburn on Saturday came in the 50 and 100 free events. Senior Claire Fisch won both races with times of 21.65 and 49.14. She was followed by freshman AJ Kutsch and senior Julie Meynen in the 50 free as the Tigers finished with a 1-2-3 sweep. Meynen also placed second in the 100 free, finishing in 49.20.
Abbey Webb and Preble, both freshmen, also won individual races in the 200 free and 200 butterfly respectively. Preble's time (1:59.95) was a new personal best.
"I thought the women had some really good performances," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "Our superstars continue to step up and get big wins and big swims for us, but I thought we also had some of our role players step up.
"We thought we had an opportunity to win the meet and we fell short, but I think there are some things we can certainly pat ourselves on the back about and feel positive about. And at the same time, there are some things we can work on and work to get better as we look toward the SEC Championships."
On the men's side, Auburn suffered a 204-96 defeat to No. 8 Florida.
The two wins on the swimming side came from sophomore Christian Sztolcman in the 200 free and senior Santiago Grassi in the 100 fly, but there were other standout performances and season-best times, including Aryan Makhija (1,000 free), Thomas Heinzel (100 free), Nik Eberly (50 free) and Christian Ginieczki (100 and 200 fly).
"There were certainly some things to be happy about and build off of," Taylor said. "We did a lot of in-season best performances today, but the championship runs through Florida and we're not there yet. We're looking to learn and grow from this and build off it."
Both the men and women finished the season with a 5-2 record in dual meets.
DIVING RECAP
Senior Alison Maillard, the lone diver to travel on the women's side, earned a pair of top-three finishes. She took third in the 1-meter on Friday night with 296.93 points and then returned Saturday with 317.55 points to place second in the 3-meter competition.
The Auburn men went 1-2-3 in Saturday's 1-meter event with all three divers earning zone qualifying scores. Sophomore Conner Pruitt bounced back from a subpar performance the night before with 347.63 points to win the event while junior Logan Andrews (325.95) and freshman Skip Donald (316.58) finished second and third respectively.
It was a breakthrough meet for Donald who set personal bests in both competitions. Donald scored 352.88 points to lead Auburn and take second in Friday's 3-meter event.
"Skip did a great job on the 3-meter," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "A personal best to grab second place. He's really started to come on strong. I look forward to three weeks of training to get a little sharper for SECs for all of them."
WHAT'S NEXT
The Tigers will host the Auburn Invitational next month, Feb. 7-9, and then later in the month, they will be back in their home pool for this year's SEC Championships. The five-day event runs from Tuesday, Feb. 18 through Saturday, Feb. 22.