COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Auburn women came to swim on Thursday.
Highlighted by two epic performances from Meghan Lee that earned the junior a silver medal, the Tigers continued to swim strong on day three of the SEC Championships. With two days to go, the men sit third with 560 points and the women are positioned eighth with 326.
A day ago, there wasn't a Tiger in a women's A final. Hannah Ownbey corrected that wrong with immediacy on Thursday morning in the 400 IM. A 4:09.42 marked her fastest time of the season and qualified the junior sixth overall.
In the finals, Ownbey threw down a 4:11.65 to finish seventh.
Jacques Rathle made it 2-2 in qualifying for B finals in individual medleys. Rathle hit the wall at 3:44.44 for 11th overall in the morning session. Evan McInerny and Danny Schmidt each snagged a spot in the even's C final.
Rathle dropped 0.67 seconds in finals, hitting the wall at 3:43.77 to grab 11th overall. Schmidt would secure 18th while McInerny grabbed 21st.
Fueled by the momentum gained from Ownbey, Meghan Lee had her sights on a bit of history. Slamming in at a blistering 51.28 in the 100 fly, Lee became the third fastest performer in program history and qualified second overall.
Auburn made sure to make it a crowded finals session in the women's 100 fly with Ellie Waldrep making the B final, while Claudia Thamm and Lexie Mulvihill made the C final.
Lee found another gear in finals, nearly breaking the 51-second mark. Her 51.01 earned the women their first medal of the week, this one silver.
Claudia Thamm made the most of her C final, dropping a 52.45 to win the heat.
Top-10 swims were nowhere near finished for the Tigers.
Aidan Stoffle became the seventh fastest performer with a 45.68 in the men's 100 fly, making the A final along with the piece of history. Nathan Stoffle and Logan Tirheimer each jumped into the B final with solid swims.
Aidan swam a 45.93 to claim fifth in the evening. Schmidt and Nate Stoffle each dropped time to finish 11th and 12th, respectively.
With three swimming events on Thursday, Polina Nevmovenko made sure a Tiger would make the A final of all three, improving her 10th fastest performance in the 200 free with a 1:45.59. Emily Hetzer would also make a C final, dropping 1.45 seconds off her best time this season.
Nevmovenko went bananas in the final. Hitting the wall at 1:44.39, the sophomore jumped to fifth all-time, passing world champion Kirsty Coventry in the process.
After helping set the program record in the 800 free relay, Ryan Husband kept his impressive week going with the third-fastest performance in the 200 free at 1:33.38, qualifying ninth overall for the No. 1 spot in the B final. Fellow Tiger Michael Bonson was right behind and Christian Sztolcman slid into a spot in the C final.
Husband swam a solid 1:33.48 in finals to finish 11th. Bonson would finish 16th but it was Sztolcman who impressed in the C final with a 1:34.36.
DIVING
In his last SEC Championships, Conner Pruitt wasn't about to skip out on finals in the 3-meter event. The Opelika, Alabama native dropped a 381.35 to qualify fifth overall and earn a spot in Thursday's evening session.
Walker Creedon, Hunter Kebler and Whit Andrus all scored, finishing 11th, 15th and 18th, respectively.
Pruitt left nothing to chance in the evening session. Stepping up with a 394.85, Pruitt jumped up to fourth place, just six points from a podium.
SCORES
Men
1. Florida – 810.5
2. Texas A&M - 628
3. Auburn – 560
4. Tennessee - 537
5. Georgia – 424.5
6. Alabama - 354
7. Missouri – 297.5
8. South Carolina – 270.5
9. Kentucky - 266
10. Louisiana State – 177
Women
1. Florida - 760
2. Tennessee – 483
3. Kentucky - 452
4. Louisiana State - 439
5. Georgia – 391
6. South Carolina – 385
7. Alabama – 364
8. Auburn - 326
9. Texas A&M - 319
10. Arkansas - 245
11. Missouri - 217
12. Vanderbilt - 94
UP NEXT
The 200 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, women's platform and 400 medley relay are all on deck for Friday. Prelims begin at 9:30 a.m. CT and all of the action can be found on the SEC Network+.
