ATHENS, Ga. – Junior Mason Mathias broke his own school record in the 500 free as Auburn Swim and Dive posted a handful of NCAA A cuts to kick off night one of the UGA Fall Invite on Thursday.
With two full days of swimming remaining, the Auburn Women hold second place overall while the men sit third.
SCORES
MEN
Florida – 280
Georgia – 222
Auburn – 207
Florida State – 139
Michigan – 138
Georgia Tech – 99
WOMEN
Florida – 292
Auburn – 285
Michigan – 202
Georgia – 198
Florida State – 130
Georgia Tech – 96
MEN
Kalle Makinen, Logan Tirheimer, Nate Stoffle and Aidan Stoffle slid into an NCAA A cut to kick off the first night session inside Gabrielsen Natatorium with a 1:16.79.
No one brought the house down quite like Mason Mathias in the 500 free. Putting together the race of the night, Mathias clocked a 4:11.03 in the final to take second overall and break his own school record in the event. Michael Bonson would take eighth while Grant Davis impressed in the B final to snag 11th overall.
Fresh off the momentum from Mathias' record-setting effort, Danny Schmidt aimed to equal the performance in the 200 IM. His 1:43.74 jumped the German international to eighth all-time. Jacques Rathle took 15th overall, Evan McInerny would wind up 20th and freshman Josh Noll took 23rd.
Kalle Makinen led the sprinters in the 50 free with a solid 19.50. Rusty Jerger did well to win the B final with a 19.54 while Ryan Husband's 19.57 and Benjamin Chateigner's 19.90 rounded out Auburn's sub-20 group. Jon Vanzandt would slide into 24th with a 20.27.
One final A cut in the 400 medley relay concluded the evening on the men's side as Nate Stoffle, Henry Bethel, Sohib Khaled and Kalle Makinen hit the wall second overall at 3:04.48.
WOMEN
Kicking off the night with a bang, Lexie Mulvihill, Lawson Ficken, Emma Steckiel and Wyllo Hanson combined for a 1:28.37 in the 200 free relay to earn third place and an NCAA A cut.
Averee Preble kicked off the day on the right note for the long-distance group. Her 4:42.49 in the 500 free was good enough for the A final in the evening. Meanwhile, freshman Maggie McGuire impressed with a personal best 4:48.14 to make the C final.
Individual medleys usually belong to Hannah Ownbey and Thursday night was no different in the 200 IM. The senior delivered a solid 1:57.12 in prelims to lock in the A final and then dropped nearly a second and jumped to sixth all-time in the event with a 1:56.18.
Maggie Gholston would hit the wall 13th overall in the 200 IM after sliding into the B final after her morning swim. Meanwhile, Brynn Curtis made it into the C final and dropped .32 seconds to grab 20th. Freshman Zoe Zeller finished 22nd.
In the 50 free, Lexie Mulvihill qualified tied for first overall in the morning but it was Emma Steckiel's 22.38 that paced the sprinters in the evening to grab fifth place. Mulvihill wound up seventh overall, Laswon Ficken grabbed 10th, Wyllo Hanson secured 13th and Abigail Gibbons hit the wall 17th.
Kensley Merritt, Hannah Ownbey, Meghan Lee and Polina Nevmovenko capped off a solid night for the Tigers with the sixth-fastest 400 medley relay in school history at 3:31.24, also an NCAA A cut.
DIVING
Over in the diving well, Hunter Kebler impressed with a 318.05 on the 3-meter to qualify for the consolation finals later in the afternoon. In his second list, Kebler produced a 292.45 to grab 15th overall.
Abigail Farrar, Kyleigh Kidd and Ashlynn Sullivan all made it through to consoles on the 1-meter. Farrar's 263.85 led the pack in the morning while Kidd stacked up a 269.00 in the afternoon to secure 10th overall.
UP NEXT
Day two of the UGA Fall Invite continues on Friday, Nov. 17. Prelims begin at 8:30 a.m. CT inside Gabrielsen Natatorium and finals are slated for 4:30 p.m. CT. Both sessions will be streamed live on SEC Network Plus.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Friday, November 17
200 medley relay
400 individual medley
100 fly
200 free
100 breast
100 back
3-meter diving – Women
1-meter diving – Men
800 free relay