AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn men took No. 8 Georgia down to the wire in Friday's dual meet but ultimately came up short, falling 159-141. It was a similar result for the Auburn women who dropped their meet against No. 8 Georgia with a score of 178-122.
"I thought we competed well," Auburn head coach Ryan Wochomurka said. "We came up short on too many close races today. That's something we've had conversations about leading into this week. So if there's one area we could've been better, we just came up on the wrong end of every close race. That's something we have to get better at culturally as a team and as a program.
"But outside of that, we competed extremely well. To be in the hunt on the men's side and for it to come down to the last relay – we had to make them work for it today, and that's exciting to see for where we're going to be in February and March."
WOMEN
Two of Auburn's three individual wins in the pool Friday came from freshman Ellie Waldrep who swept the 100 and 200 backstroke events. Waldrep touched the wall first in the 100 back at 53.30 and then swam her fastest time at Auburn (1:56.63) to win the 200 back.
Senior Emily Hetzer earned the other win for the Tigers, finishing first in the 500 freestyle with a season-best time of 4:48.88. Hetzer took second in the 1,000 free.
Fellow senior Mykenzie Leehy, a graduate transfer from Houston, had her best meet as an Auburn Tiger with season-best times in the 100 freestyle (50.30) and 200 freestyle (1:48.97). Leehy finished second in the 200 free and was fourth in the 100 free.
Other season-fast times set on the women's included Averee Preble (1,000 free), Carly Cummings (200 breast, 200 IM) and Lexie Mulvihill (100 fly).
MEN
Through 14 of 16 events, the Auburn men held a slight lead over Georgia thanks in large part to the efforts of senior Christian Sztolcman and sophomore Reid Mikuta.
It was easily the best meet of the season for Sztolcman who picked up the first win of the meet for Auburn in the 200 freestyle (1:36.78) and then came back to win the 100 freestyle, finishing in 44.12. Both were season-best times. Sztolcman also anchored the men's 400 freestyle relay with a split of 43.01 to take second place.
Mikuta once again swept the breaststroke events for Auburn, winning the 100 breast in 53.53 and then touching the wall first at 1:59.54 to win the 200 breast. Mikuta, who also took third in the 200 IM, has won the 100 breast in all three meets this season.
In the 200 breaststroke, it was a 1-2-3 sweep for the Tigers with Mikuta, Adriel Sanes and Alejandro Flores. It was a season-best time (2:02.19) for Flores.
Freshman Andrew Simmons set new top times at Auburn in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. He finished second in the 200 back with a time of 1:45.42.
DIVING
For the second straight meet, Conner Pruitt won both springboard events on the men's side. The senior scored 388.58 on 3-meter and 359.93 on 1-meter. Freshman Whit Andrus also had a strong day, finishing second on 3-meter and third on 1-meter.
On the women's side, junior Ashlynn Sullivan led the way with a score of 313.88 to win the 3-meter competition. She also placed second overall on 1-meter.
"Overall, a really strong day," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "I'm excited with the direction we're headed. Obviously, Conner showed his athleticism in taking both springboards. And then Whit and Hunter getting a second and third on 3-meter and third and fourth on 1-meter – both had some strong dives, which is encouraging.
"It was good to see Ashlynn get a little bit back to what I know she's capable of doing."
UP NEXT
Friday marked the final dual meet of the fall season, but Auburn will now begin preparing the Georgia Tech Fall Invite later this month. The event, which features an NCAA-style format with prelims and finals, will take place over the course of three days, Nov. 18-20.
Tigers fall to Georgia as men nearly pull off upset
