S&D teams close Auburn Fall Invitational in second

AUBURN, Ala. – For three days, Auburn swimming and diving went head-to-head against Florida in the Auburn Fall Invitational. Florida left victorious, winning 508-421 in the women's meet and 521-426 on the men's side, but there was no lack of effort from the Tigers.  

"We put in a good three days," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "We had numerous lifetime bests, many returners who are further ahead now than where they were in the past. I thought we fought hard. There are definitely things we need to work on in order to get better, but I thought we fought pretty hard for the three days. I think we've got deeper, more competitive teams from the top to the bottom."

Friday night's finals began with the 1,650 freestyle where Emily Hetzer and Averee Preble finished sixth and seventh for the women while freshman Sam Oliver paced the men at 15:18.17 to finish fourth. 

Sophomore Lleyton Smith secured the first victory of the night for Auburn, winning the men's 200 backstroke and swimming an NCAA B cut at 1:43.98. On the women's side, freshmen Meghan Lee and Kensley Merritt continued to stand out with a 2-3 finish in the event. It was the second straight night with a top-three finish for Merritt. 

It was also a strong week for sophomore AJ Kutsch who placed third in the women's 100 freestyle Friday night. Kutsch just missed a lifetime best, finishing in 49.53 seconds. 

The Tigers picked up another individual win in the 200 breaststroke as freshman Brynn Curtis swam a 2:11.33 to beat out Florida's Vanessa Pearl as well as teammate Carly Cummings who holds the Auburn record in the event. Cummings finished third at 2:11.97. 

"Brynn Curtis, another freshman, getting a big win tonight in the 200-yard breaststroke," Taylor said. "Lifetime best for her in a really strong heat with Vanessa and obviously the school-record holder in Carly. She put in a really good swim there. Carly was solid as well."

For the men, freshmen Reid Mikuta capped a solid week with a third-place finish in the 200 breaststroke. Mikuta scored a total of 19 points in three individual events over three days. 

DIVING

Gretchen Wensuc picked up where she left off at the SEC championships on platform. The sophomore, who won bronze at SECs last spring, finished first in Friday's final with 252.45 points. Freshmen Kendall Minter (227.33) and Maia Goldstein (226.13) placed second and third with NCAA Zone qualifying scores in their collegiate platform debuts. 

Conner Pruitt couldn't make it a clean sweep for the week but finished second on men's platform with 352.43 points. He earned an NCAA Zone qualifying score as did teammates Logan Andrews (325.50), David Vargas (305.93) and Hunter Kebler (301.35). 

"We'll get a couple days off to recover and then focus on academics and diving through Thanksgiving and then get prepared for our December invite," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "We have a lot to work on, but there are a lot of good things that came out of these three days of competition."

The Tigers will host the Auburn Diving Invitational from Dec. 17-20. 

SCORES (FINAL)

Women
1. Florida: 508
2. Auburn: 421

Men
1. Florida: 521
2. Auburn 426