COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Auburn swim and dive collected three more medals on Friday in front of a raucous crowd in College Station as both teams moved up the leaderboard. With one day to go, the men sit second with 774.5 points and the women jumped to seventh with 499.
Avery Bargeron was the lone competitor in the women's 200 fly for the Tigers. The Atlanta, Georgia native swam a 1:59.61 to earn a second swim in the C final.
Bargeron would swim a 2:00.51 in the evening to finish 24th.
Auburn's fly duo of Evan McInerny swam identical 1:43.67's in prelims to make the evening's B final. Danny Schmidt also earned another shot at the race, qualifying for the C final.
McInerny dropped another full second in the finals to finish 9th overall. Speaking of dropped time, Mathias and Schmidt both did the same to grab 11th and 17th, respectively.
In the women's 100 back, Ellie Waldrep pieced together a 51.88 for a spot in the A final and for the second straight night Meghan Lee walked out in the final group, hitting the wall at 52.34.
Two other Tigers earned second swims with Daisy Platts and Polina Nevmovenko each grabbing a spot in the C final.
Lee went sub 52 in the finals to slam the wall in fifth place. Waldrep would go on to finish eighth while Platts dropped time to win the C final.
Sophomore Nate Stoffle is zeroing in on an Orange and Blue record in the 100 back. His 45.05 in prelims was the second-fastest time of the day and the second-fastest performance in school history.
Aidan Stoffle managed a spot in the B final of the 100 back along with teammate Lleyton Smith. Kalle Makinen marked the fifth Tiger to earn a second swim in the event, qualifying for the C final.
Nate managed to shave off another .01 seconds in the evening to earn the men's first individual medal of the week, a silver.
Aidan placed 10th, Smith 15th and Makinen swam and identical 46.67 for 20th. However, four second swims meant the Tigers began to close the gap on Texas A&M for second place.
It was 59 flat for Anastasia Makarova in the 100 breast in prelims, making the Russian international the fourth-fastest swimmer in the morning. In the evening, a 59.30 gave Makarova fifth place.
Reid Mikuta made it a no-stress entrance into the 100 breast A final with a 51.48. Meanwhile, Henry Bethel solidified the No. 1 overall spot in the B final with the fourth-fastest performance in Auburn history with a 52.05. The most surprising swim of the morning came from Mikkel Gadgaard who dialed up a 52.82 to earn 17th overall in qualifying.
Beth continued to drop time, going sub 52 for the first time in his career to win the B final.
Mikuta was a man on a mission in the finals. Nearly chasing down two Florida breaststrokers, the junior hit the wall at 51.22 and claimed the bronze.
Auburn's 400 medley relay on the women's side dialed up a 10th-place performance. Ellie Waldrep, Anastasia Makarova, Meghan Lee and Polina Nevmovenko finished at 3:33.65.
Nate Stoffle, Reid Mikuta, Aidan Stoffle and Kalle Makinen made it 2-2 in medley relays reaching the podium. The second-fastest time in school history of 3:03.03 gave the Tigers a bronze medal to round out the night. Nate finally broke the 100 back record he was looking for with a 44.89 split to open the relay.
DIVING
A 264.30 in prelims meant Gretchen Wensuc got a second chance at a list in the evening, marking the second women's diver to make a final this week. The Colorado native would nearly equal the effort in front of a packed house, scoring a 262.90 to finish fifth.
Ashlynn Sullivan and Abigail Farrar both put points on the board, though. Sullivan finished 10th, while Farrar managed a 13th-place showing.
SCORES
Men
1. Florida – 1056.5
2. Auburn – 774.4
3. Texas A&M - 765
4. Tennessee – 727.5
5. Georgia – 584.5
6. Missouri – 517.5
7. Alabama – 464
8. Kentucky - 369
9. South Carolina – 366.5
10. Louisiana State – 240
Women
1. Florida - 962
2. Tennessee – 709.5
3. Kentucky - 698
4. Louisiana State - 624
5. Georgia – 577.5
6. Alabama – 560
7. Auburn - 499
8. South Carolina – 489
9. Texas A&M - 470
10. Arkansas - 415
11. Missouri - 312
12. Vanderbilt - 135
UP NEXT
One final day of competition remains for the Tigers in College Station. Saturday's action brings the 1650, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, men's platform and 400 free relay. Prelims begin at 9:30 a.m. CT and all of the action can be found on the SEC Network+.
Podium finishes help Tigers surge up the leaderboard on day four of SEC Championships
