AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn swimming and diving team had two swimmers, Hannah Ownbey and Kensley Merritt, and one diver, Maia Goldstein, make the 2020-21 SEC All-Freshman Team, the league announced Wednesday.
The team consists of any redshirt or true freshman who finished either in the top eight or is the highest scoring freshman of each event at the SEC Championships, excluding relays.
Ownbey paced the Tigers at this year's SEC Championships, scoring in all three events she swam and finishing top eight in both the 200 and 400 IM. The freshman scored a total of 62 points at the meet and qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 200 and 400 IM as well as the 200 breaststroke. She made Auburn's all-time top 10 in all three events.
Merritt reached the finals at SECs in the 100 and 200 backstroke, and her 14th-place finish in the 100 backstroke was tops among all freshmen in the conference. She also set a new lifetime best in the 100 back (53.24) leading off Auburn's 400 medley relay.
Goldstein, making her SEC debut, scored a career-best 289.10 points in the women's 1-meter final to place fifth overall. The Tigers have now had at least one diver named to the All-SEC Freshman Team in each of the last three years.