TUSCALOOSA – The Auburn swimming and diving team split its dual meet against Alabama on Saturday, and the victory came from the men, ranked No. 19 nationally, who took down the 13th-ranked Crimson Tide on the road with a score of 152-48.
The Auburn women closed strong but dropped its meet to No. 8 Alabama, 161-139.
"Proud of how both teams competed and raced today," Auburn head coach Ryan Wochomurka said. "I'm excited for the men to come away with a top 15 road win, and I'm proud of how our women battled against a top 10 team.
"There are definitely areas where we need to sharpen and improve before we head to Florida next week and to Knoxville for the SEC Championships next month."
WOMEN
It was too little too late, but the Tigers rallied to win the 400 freestyle relay with Rebekah Hamilton, Mykenzie Leehy, Lexie Mulvihill and Emma Steckiel in the final event of the day. Leehy put in the fastest split of the group at 49.38.
Freshman Avery Bargeron picked up the first win of the day for the Auburn women, touching the wall first in the 200 butterfly with a time 2:00.24. The Tigers swept the event with Bargeron, Hannah Ownbey and Elysse Pardus finishing 1-2-3.
Auburn also swept the women's 200 IM, and it was senior Carly Cummings who took first followed by Meghan Lee and Ownbey. Cummings finished fourth or better in all three of her individual races Saturday.
Freshman Anastasia Makarova, a mid-year enrollee from Russia, finished second in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events in what was her Auburn debut.
MEN
After taking second in the 200 medley relay to begin the meet, the Tigers ripped off three straight wins to grab the early lead and finished with six swimming wins in all.
First, it was senior Aryan Makhija winning the 1,000 freestyle and leading Auburn in a 1-2-3 finish. Then Mikkel Gadgaard touched the wall first in the 200 freestyle. And to make it three in a row, Aidan Stoffle won by 0.01 in the 100 backstroke with a B-cut time (47.37).
Freshman Mason Mathias extended the Tigers' lead with a victory in the 200 butterfly. It was the first individual race Mathias had won since he's been at Auburn.
It was another 1-2-3 sweep in the 500 freestyle as Michael Bonson, Gadgaard and Grant Davis finished first, second and third respectively, and then senior Matthew Yish all but secured the meet for the men with a win in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 48.64. Yish also grabbed second in the 50 freestyle and swam in both relays for the Tigers.
DIVING
The Auburn men would not have won Saturday without a first-place finish from Conner Pruitt in the men's 3-meter competition. The senior placed first with 376.43 points while fellow Tiger Hunter Kebler scored a new personal best 347.40 to take third. Pruitt also led Auburn on 1-meter with a score of 345.53 to finish second.
On the women's side, junior Ashlynn Sullivan finished top three in both events. Her score of 280.58 was good for second on 3-meter, and she took third on 1-meter.
UP NEXT
The Tigers will face another tough road test next week with a trip to Florida in what will be the final dual meet of the 2021-22 season.
Auburn men notch road victory, Tigers split with Alabama
