AUBURN, Ala. – Coming off a sweep of Alabama in its last dual meet, the Auburn swimming and diving program is hoping to carry the momentum it gained in the fall into the new year as the Tigers start gearing up for the postseason.
First up for the swimmers is a dual meet at home against Virginia on Saturday.
It's not your typical dual meet, though. There will be two sessions. The first, beginning at 11 a.m. CT, will be short-course yards like any other collegiate meet, and then later that day at 5 p.m., Auburn and Virginia will compete with a completely new list of events in long-course meters. The long-course events are what will be swam at the 2020 Olympics.
"We've got a unique format," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "I want us to come out and compete in that manner. We're welcoming two top 15 programs; UVA is really strong with both the men's and the women's teams. Those are the types of programs we want to compete against and fight hard against."
Virginia's women's team is currently ranked No. 3 nationally while the men are at No. 15. Both of Auburn's program are also in the top 25 with the women at No. 14 and the men at No. 23.
For Auburn, who won all their dual meets on both the men's and women's sides in the fall, this will be the first of four dual meets in the month of January. The Tigers also travel to Georgia Tech, host Gardner-Webb, and then finish the month on the road at Florida.
"We had some great meets this fall and performed well," Taylor said. "Now we've got some of our toughest meets over the next four weeks, and at the end of the day, if you're looking to become one of the best in the SEC and grow yourself as a nationally prominent program like Auburn has been known in the past, you go up against teams like UVA and Georgia Tech and ultimately Florida."
The Auburn divers will not be competing in the James E. Martin Aquatics Center this weekend. Instead, they will travel to Knoxville to compete in the Tennessee Diving Invitational, which begins Friday and runs through Sunday.
The 13-team field includes Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, ECU, Iowa State, LSU, Minnesota, North Carolina State, Princeton, SMU, Tennessee and Virginia.
"It's very big for us and a really important competition," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "The competition probably has a little bit more depth than we had at our Auburn Invite. So I think it gives us a good opportunity to push ourselves, see where we are, see what corrections still need to be made as we set our training and goals toward conference."
With Virginia also in the field, the scores from prelims of the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard competitions on Friday and Saturday will count toward the final tally of Saturday's dual meet between the Tigers and Cavaliers.
Live stats for Saturday's dual meet will be available through auburntigers.com, and you can follow the Tennessee Diving Invitational all weekend at divemeets.com.