ATLANTA – The Auburn women put together their best relay of the NCAA Championships on Friday night, swimming a season-best time in the 400 medley relay. The Tigers touched the wall second in their heat and finished tied for 18th, narrowly missing a chance to score.
Auburn's time of 3:31.42 was ninth-fastest in program history.
Sophomore Meghan Lee led off the relay with a new personal best in the 100 backstroke, topping the PR she set in the 100 back prelims Friday morning. Lee moved up to fifth all-time at Auburn in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.66.
Following Lee was a trio of freshmen with Anastasia Makarova swimming the breaststroke leg, Avery Bargerson swimming butterfly and Rebekah Hamilton serving as the anchor on the freestyle leg. This marked the first NCAA Championships for all four swimmers.
In prelims, Lee was one of the headliners with her performance in the 100 backstroke. She finished second in her heat and tied for 19th overall at 52.00. Freshman Ellie Waldrep had a solid swim in the 100 back, finishing in 52.25 to take 27th.
Makarova also had one of Auburn's top swims on the day in the 100 breaststroke prelims as she finished in 59.48, the fifth-fastest time in Auburn history. The freshman currently holds the program's second fastest time. Her time Friday was good for 20th in prelims while senior Carly Cummings was 34th with a time of 1:00.19, just off her personal best.
Bargeron and fellow freshman Lexie Mulvihill both swam the 100 butterfly prelims. Bargeron finished second in her heat and in a tie for 39th overall, and Mulvihill took 47th.
Seniors Mykenzie Leehy and Emily Hetzer finished 50th and 51st respectively in the 200 freestyle, and sophomore Hannah Ownbey was 45th in the 400 IM.
The Tigers will wrap up the NCAA Women's Championships on Saturday. All 10 qualifiers will be competing across five events – 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and 1650 freestyle. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. CT.
Auburn closes Day 3 at NCAAs strong with 400 medley relay
