AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn men's and women's teams are trailing Florida after the first day of the Auburn Fall Invitational, but there were plenty of positives to take away from both sides in Wednesday's action.
"Tonight, in comparison to where we were a year ago, we're a lot better in many spots," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "We showed better performances at the top but also much better depth than what we saw out of this program 12 months ago. And considering everything we've been through, I've got to be pretty excited about that."
The Tigers started strong in the 500 freestyle events. Junior Emily Hetzer finished second with a time of 4:42.93 to lead the women. On the men's side freshman Mikkel Gadgaard swam a new personal best to finish fourth in the championship final. His time, 4:18.31, makes him the seventh-fastest performer in the event in program history.
Led by Gadgaard, the Auburn men had six swimmers go under 4:25.00, including three freshmen. Last year, none of the men hit that mark at the Wolfpack Invitational.
The freshmen again led the way in the 200 IM as Hannah Ownbey and Reid Mikuta each placed third in the A final for their respective teams. Ownbey swam a 1:59.53 while Mikuta finished the men's final in 1:46.71. Both were personal bests.
The women had six swimmers score points in the championship final for the 200 IM.
Sophomore AJ Kutsch paced the women, earning a third-place finish in the 50 free with a time of 22.43. She was joined in the A final by freshman Abigail Gibbons, who placed sixth. On the men's side Nik Eberly and Matthew Yish led the Tigers with a 4-5 finish in the championship final. Eberly swam a 20.11, and Yish finished in 20.17.
"All in all, a great start," Taylor said. "We showed the ability to get up and perform and put in some great performances. Now we have to take care of ourselves and make sure we're motivated as we go through prelims and finals Thursday and Friday."
DIVING
It was a strong start for the divers as Auburn swept the two diving events Wednesday.
Sophomore Ashlynn Sullivan won the women's 3-meter competition with 300.45 points in the final. She also took first in 3-meter in the dual meet at Georgia to open the season. Fellow sophomore Gretchen Wensuc finished third Wednesday with 268.72 points.
On the men's side it was a 1-2-3 sweep for the Tigers in the 1-meter event. Junior Conner Pruitt finished first with 381.90 points in the final while teammates Skip Donald (324.67) and Logan Andrews (312.68) placed second and third. All three improved on their scores from prelims.
"I like the progress we're making," Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "Basically what I told them is this is one step in the process of learning how to compete, taking the skills you're correcting in practice and putting them into a meet situation. And giving yourself a chance to improve upon your performance. Overall, I thought it was a pretty strong day and a good learning experience."
WHAT'S NEXT
Auburn and Florida will be back in the pool Thursday, beginning with prelims at 9:30 a.m. CT. Diving will once again take place at 1 p.m. CT with finals set for 6 p.m. CT. The swimming events will include the 400 IM, the 100 fly, the 200 free, the 100 breast and the 100 back as well as the 200 medley and 800 free relays in the evening.
SCORES (DAY 1)
Women
1. Florida: 160
2. Auburn: 127
Men
1. Florida: 164
2. Auburn 120
Tigers look improved to open AU Fall Invitational
Auburn's Emily Hetzer placed second in the women's 500 free Wednesday night.