AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn swimming and diving team will open the 2020-21 season Friday with both teams traveling to Georgia for a dual meet. It will be the first team competition for the Tigers since the SEC Championships last February.
"We're just appreciative and grateful for the opportunity to compete," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "We've been in the water training. Our divers have been on the boards now for a couple months. Now you get to get outside your comfort zone and really have a chance to go up against one of the best teams in the country."
Georgia has swept its first two dual meets of the season, beating South Carolina and Florida the last two weeks. This will be the first dual meet between the two sides since Dec. 6, 2015.
On the men's side, Auburn begins the season ranked No. 22 in the CSCAA Top 25. The Tigers return the majority of their squad from the year before, including three swimmers (Aryan Makhija, Christian Sztolcman and Lleyton Smith) and one diver (Conner Pruitt) who qualified individually for the NCAA Championships before the season was canceled due to COVID-19.
"When you look at the men's side, we've got a strong junior and senior class," Taylor said. "I would expect those men to continue to be what they've been and really step up and perform. You've got a lot of young faces and even some sophomores that you got six months from last year, but now it's a new year.
"I think we've got people at each area. I would say absolutely our diving is going to be a key asset this year, and then I think you'll get contributors from sprint to middle distance to endurance."
The Auburn women suffered more attrition from the year before, losing 11 seniors – eight of which scored at SECs. Still, this group enters the year ranked No. 19 nationally.
"It's very much the same on the women's side," Taylor said. "We graduated some incredible sprinters and walked out last year with some of the strongest relays in the country, and now you're looking for people to replace them and also step up. We've got a strong junior and senior class that have shown the ability to perform at the SEC and NCAA levels. But from your freshmen class, this whole world is new. They don't know any different. This is the norm. So how do they get up and perform? I'm excited to see what they do on that end."
The meet will begin with men's and women's diving events at 10 a.m. CT. They will be followed by the women's meet at 11 a.m. CT and then the men will wrap up the day at 3 p.m. CT.
Live coverage of both events will be available on SEC Network+. Live results for the meet will also be available on georgiadogs.com and on divemeets.com.
Auburn S&D begins new season with dual meet at Georgia
