AUBURN, Ala. – It was a full day at SECs on Thursday with prelims and finals at the SEC Women's Championships and both the men and women on the boards at the SEC Diving Championships.
For Auburn, it was freshman Hannah Ownbey who had the performance of the day with a new personal best in prelims to make the A-Final in the 200 IM. She nearly duplicated that time in the final to place seventh overall in her first SEC Championship meet.
"It's a big deal to swim in the finals at SECs and maybe even more so as a freshman," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "Hannah comes in this morning, knocks almost two seconds off her lifetime best, and then if you look at the splits tonight, they were almost exactly the same.
"To be in that big A-Final as a freshman and move up a spot, we're really proud of her and her effort."
Ownbey was one of four Auburn swimmers to qualify for finals Thursday night.
The Auburn women moved up to 10th in the team standings with 159 points through two days.
Though none of the divers reached the finals Thursday, six of the seven scored points for the Tigers, including all four men who competed for the first time on 1-meter.
DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS
Ownbey was joined in the 200 IM finals by Carly Cummings. The senior placed third in the C-Final, 19th overall, with a new personal best. Ownbey and Cummings both made Auburn's top-10 all-time performers' list for the event. Ownbey climbed to seventh with her prelims time of 1:56.73 while Cummings swam a 1:57.25 in finals to slide into eighth place all-time.
The other two finalists for Auburn came in the 500 freestyle where junior Emily Hetzer won the B-Final to finish ninth overall and sophomore Averee Preble took fifth in the C-Final, moving up two spots from where she qualified in prelims.
"Emily was seeded ninth, which is always a tough spot to be in, but I thought she swam a really good 500, probably one of the better 500s I've seen her swim," Taylor said. "Details were better tonight, and she split really well – 4:41.31 to win that B-Final. I'm really just proud of her effort and grit tonight."
Hetzer's 4:41.31 was a season best and tied for 19th-fastest in program history.
The Tigers closed out the night with the 200 freestyle relay. Despite an 11th-place finish, freshman Emma Steckiel set a new personal best in the 50 free (22.68) to lead off. She was one of three freshmen on the relay team.
In Missouri at the diving meet, sophomore Ashlynn Sullivan just missed the finals on 3-meter. She finished ninth in prelims with a score of 288.80.
All four divers on the men's side – Skip Donald, David Vargas, Logan Andrews and Hunter Kebler – placed in the top 20 for Auburn in the 1-meter prelims. Donald, a sophomore, led the way with 292.50 points to finish 13th.
QUOTEABLE
Head coach Gary Taylor
On the team's overall performance…
"We had some good swims this morning. We had some more good swims tonight. It's really just we have to learn how to be active competitors rather than active spectators and understand what it takes. There were some good things tonight and some things we can build off."
On Averee Preble's C-Final swim in the 500 free…
"We started the night with Averee Preble in the C-Final. She was a couple seconds faster than she was this morning. I thought our team really got behind her well. Some good energy and enthusiasm tonight from the team. They were a lot more vocal, and it was awesome to hear and see."
Head diving coach Jeff Shaffer
On women's 3-meter…
"A couple almosts. Ashlynn did five great dives and made one big mistake on a reverse two-and-a-half. She fought back but just didn't quite have enough to get in the finals. She finished ninth. Maia (Goldstein) was a little bit the same. She did five solid dives and missed a back two-and-a-half. Overall, they contributed to team points and helped in that sense."
On men's 1-meter…
"The bright spot is they all scored. I would have to say the most consistent performance was Hunter Kebler, a freshman, being in his first SEC Championships. He really performed well. He just doesn't quite have the degree of difficulty to compete with the upperclassmen yet, but he's showing great improvement."
UP NEXT
It will be another full day of competition Friday at the SEC Women's Championships with the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke,100 backstroke and 400 medley relay on the schedule. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. CT with finals set for 5 p.m. CT.
The SEC Diving Championships will feature the women's platform event at 11 a.m. CT followed by the men's 3-meter competition at 3 p.m. CT. Finals for both will be in the evening.
Fast swims highlight Day 2 at SEC S&D Championships
