AUBURN, Ala. – For the second straight night, Auburn wasted no time at the SEC Championships. The women's 200 freestyle relay team fed off the electric environment at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center in Auburn and won gold in the first event of the night Wednesday.
It was a historic performance from the Tigers as the foursome of Julie Meynen, Claire Fisch, AJ Kutsch and Robyn Clevenger set the SEC record and the school record with a time of 1:25.41. In fact, it was the second-fastest women's 200 freestyle relay time ever in collegiate history.
"This is our race," Fisch said. "We practice this every day. This is our house, so it means that much more."
"I could not have done it without these girls," added Kutsch, the only non-senior in the group. "They mean the world to me, and this being their last SECs and being able to be a part of that – it's an indescribable feeling. I am so grateful for them."
"They broke the SEC record by more than a second and posted the second fastest time in the history of our sport," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "What more can you say? Congrats to them. Major kudos to our coaches Duncan Sherrard and Gideon Louw on their work with those women in getting them confident and ready to go. They were fantastic tonight."
Meynen made the podium a second time later in the night finishing third in the women's 50 freestyle with a lifetime-best 21.54. Fisch also swam a lifetime best at 21.60 to finish fourth, and Kutsch, who qualified for the A Final, took seventh place in the conference.
Through the first two nights, the Auburn women are third overall with 352 points.
It was another solid performance from the men who capped the night with a second-place finish from sophomore Conner Pruitt in the 1-meter diving competition. With 301 total points, the Tigers are currently sitting in seventh place with three nights of competition remaining.
"I'm proud of our efforts today," Taylor said. "We're still learning and growing. There are things we can work on, but there was a lot that you can build off heading into the next three days. This is going to be a war of attrition, and every day is going to be tough. You've got to be ready to go in the morning. I think this team is very capable of putting in three more days like we had today."
Gallery: (2/19/2020) SEC Swimming & Diving Championship Day 2
200 FREE RELAY
After the women's record-breaking performance, the Auburn men looked to keep the momentum going in their race. However, what would have been a fourth-place finish turned out to be a disqualification because one of the swimmers left early.
"The outcome is disappointing as far as the DQ, but I couldn't have asked for more from that relay," Taylor said. "They were really good. Those guys were on target. They performed really well. They gave their heart. And they had an opportunity to potentially medal."
500 FREE
Auburn sophomore Emily Hetzer set the pace in prelims with the fastest time (4:38.56) of any swimmer in the event and the third-fastest time in school history. She followed that with a sixth-place finish in the A-Final. Junior Sonnele Oeztuerk and freshman Averee Preble both made the B final and placed 15th and 16th respectively. Preble just missed making school's all-time top 10 performers list with a 4:43.53 in prelims.
On the men's side, sophomores Christian Sztolcman and Aryan Makhija both cracked the school's all-time top 10 performers list for the event. Sztolcman finished third in the B final, 11th overall, with a lifetime-best 4:18.50 while Makhija took 13th overall, finishing in 4:19.77.
200 IM
Both the women's and men's team had a swimmer advance to the C Final in the 200 IM. On the women's side, it was freshman Claudia Thamm who finished 23rd overall in the event swimming a 1:59.87 in the finals. Her time of 1:59.44 in prelims was a new lifetime best.
For the men, sophomore Brogan Davis also swam a lifetime best, finishing his finals heat in 1:45.92 to place 20th overall in the conference.
50 FREE
Meynen and Fisch both moved up Auburn's top 10 list for the women's 50 free with lifetime-best swims, and Kutsch put her name on the list at No. 10 with a 22:09 in prelims. Clevenger, who finished 12th overall, also swam a lifetime best (22.14) to take fourth in the B Final.
The Auburn men were led by senior Santiago Grassi who posted the second-fastest time in prelims at 19.27. Grassi swam the finals in 19.33 and finished fifth ovearll in the SEC.
Matthew Yish, Nik Eberly and Jack Armstrong also advanced out of prelims and swam in Wednesday's finals. Yish highlighted the group with a time of 19.57 to finish fourth in the B Final and 12th overall. Eberly, just a freshman, also made the B Final and placed 15th.
MEN'S 1-METER
For Pruitt, it was his first podium finish at the SEC Championships after failing to reach the finals in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events a year ago. His score of 376.60 points in the finals was a new personal best.
Junior Logan Andrews also made the cut for finals and placed 7th with 331.75 points.
"It was another really strong day for us," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "Really pleased with the way we ended up. Conner coming in at runner-up and Logan getting seventh. A really solid list on his part to get into the finals, which is a big plus. Skip [Donald] was 14th. They're doing a great job. I'm proud of their effort, and we're halfway home with women's 3-meter tomorrow."
STANDINGS
Women
1. Tennessee, 385
2. Florida, 356.5
3. Auburn, 352
4. Kentucky, 321
5. Georgia, 310
6. Texas A&M, 300
7. Alabama, 243.5
8. Missouri, 212
9. Arkansas, 200
10. South Carolina, 168
11. LSU, 160
12. Vanderbilt, 90
Men
1. Texas A&M, 438
2. Florida, 395
3. Alabama, 361
4. Kentucky, 340
5. Georgia, 339.5
6. Tennessee, 328.5
7. Auburn, 301
8. Missouri, 276
9. South Carolina, 238
10. LSU, 223