COLUMBIA, Mo. – Auburn opened the SEC Men's Championships on Tuesday with a pair of NCAA B-cut times in the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay.
The Tigers finished seventh in the 200 medley relay, and with the seventh-fastest time in the country this season, the Auburn men placed fifth in the 800 freestyle relay – collecting a total of 202 points in the two events. They're currently sixth in the team standings.
"That gives us a nice shot in the arm and a positive as we head into tomorrow," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "It gives the guys confidence. It gave us energy. They're kind of into the meet now, and we've got a lot of opportunities tomorrow to get up and score. We've got to be ready to go in the morning."
DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS
Auburn's 200 medley relay time of 1:24.73 was the team's fastest this season and topped their performance from last year's SEC Championships. The Tigers missed the A-cut mark by less than half a second.
Senior Christian Ginieczki led off with the second-fastest 50 backstroke split of his career (21.51). Ginieczki was followed by freshman Reid Mikuta and sophomore Nik Eberly swimming the breaststroke and butterfly legs, and then it was junior Matthew Yish putting in a 50 free split of 19.40 to close out the race.
The Tigers also went under last year's mark from SECs in the 800 freestyle relay, finishing in 6:18.67. It was fifth-fastest on the night and seventh-fastest in the country this season.
Junior Christian Sztolcman led off with a time of 1:33.89, which was the 16th-fastest 200 free time in Auburn history. He was the veteran of the group that also featured sophomore Lleyton Smith and freshmen Mikkel Gadgaard and Michael Bonson. Gadgaard, swimming the second leg, had the fastest split of the last three at 1:33.53.
QUOTEABLE
Head coach Gary Taylor
On 200 Medley Relay…
"I thought it was a solid swim across the board. We've got a couple little technical pieces that we need to clean up on that relay, but I thought those guys – Ginieczki, Reid Mikuta as a freshman, Nik Eberly had a really strong butterfly performance, and Matthew Yish a solid 50 free to close out. I thought 1:24.7 was solid for that relay, a good start to our meet."
On 800 Free Relay…
"You've got a couple freshmen on there, a sophomore and a junior, so that relay will be back next year. I thought Sztolcman got us off well. He had a good leadoff split, and then Mikkel Gadgaard performed well on that second leg. And then you've got Lleyton Smith and Michael Bonson getting us back home and had good, strong performances there. I thought it was out there for us to win that heat and I still feel that way, but all in all a nice way to finish the night."
UP NEXT
There will be plenty of opportunities for the Auburn men to pick up points Wednesday with a full day of competition that features the 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle and 200 freestyle relay. Prelims will begin at 10 a.m. CT with finals set for 6 p.m. CT.
Watch
Day 2 Prelims
Day 2 Finals
Auburn men kick off SECs with two solid relay swims
