Tigers host Florida State in first home dual meet

AUBURN, Ala. – After last Friday's dual meet at Alabama was canceled, the Auburn swimming and diving program is eager to get back in the pool this week and compete. 

The Tigers will get that chance with two home dual meets over the next five days. First up is Florida State on Wednesday. It will be just the third dual meet this season for the Tigers and the first dual meet in their home pool since last January – 12 months ago. 

"For a dual meet, we haven't been at home all year," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "So we don't have to travel. We're in the friendly confines. We look forward to defending our home pool. I think that in itself creates a different, exciting environment. 

"With COVID, it's a day-to-day, week-to-week situation. I think our student-athletes have done a really good job all year managing a really hard situation. I'm proud of the medical staff and really proud of our student-athletes. They go above and beyond, and sometimes things just happen. But you prepare for those, and you continue to look forward and move forward."

Auburn might not yet be at full strength for Wednesday's meet, but both the men's and women's teams will have enough student-athletes available to participate.  

The challenge won't be easy either with a Florida State program ranked No. 16 on the men's side and No. 22 on the women's side. The Seminoles swept Gardner-Webb over the weekend and earned a win and a tie earlier in the month against LSU. 

For Auburn, the men come in ranked No. 22 while the women are at No. 19. 

Wednesday's dual meet is scheduled to begin at noon CT from the James E. Martin Aquatics Center in Auburn. It will mark the first time the two programs have met since the Tigers swept Florida State as part of a double dual meet with Wisconsin on Jan. 29, 2016. 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions and physical distancing measures involving the student-athletes, there will be no spectators allowed inside the aquatics center for the meet. However, the entire dual meet will be streamed live on SEC Network+.