INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Auburn needed a strong final day to remain in the top 15 at the 2024 Men's NCAA Championships and the Tigers delivered with two scoring performances.
Head coach Ryan Wochomurka has now engineered top 12 finishes in back-to-back seasons as the Orange and Blue finished Saturday with 100 points in 12th place.
"The only thing that matters at the end of a meet like this is where the final rankings sit," said Wochomurka. "We had a lot of ups and downs, a lot of tremendous things that happened and some things that we could have been better at. This meet is unforgiving. A 100th of a second here or there, an unfortunate DQ that changes the momentum of your meet.
"The thing I'm most impressed with was our fight all week. We challenged them after those things didn't go our way. It's not what happens to you, it's how you respond to it. And they kept responding. They kept fighting back. It may not have been the finish that they wanted or we wanted but I'm incredibly proud of how we were able to battle to get to the finish we had."
In total, Auburn stacked up 21 All-America Honors from 10 different athletes, six individual top 10 swims and two school records.
"We had some incredible performances from Mason Mathias, Aidan Stoffle and finishing sixth in the 200 free relay was a huge highlight for us," Wochomurka said.
Fresh off an All-American Honorable Mention effort in the 100 back, Aidan Stoffle pieced together a similar race in the 200 back on Saturday. His 1:38.78 tied for the second fastest time ever at Auburn and qualified the graduate student 10th.
Auburn's captain wasn't going to leave the championships without leaving everything in the pool. In finals, Stoffle pieced together one last school record (1:38.26) to win the consolation final.
"We're not able to do the things that we've done here over the last three years without somebody like Aidan," Wochomurka explained. "A three-year captain, a guy that does all the things right. Certainly a leader in terms of performance but out of the pool as well, from the way he carries himself to the way he recovers. He's led the way for us performance-wise and in our locker room in showing us the way that we build this program to be a perennial top 10 contender."
Distance king Mason Mathias continued his impressive showing in Indianapolis. A season-best 14:43.69 in the 1650 put the junior 10th and gave him his third All-American honor of the week.
Capping the season off on a high note, Logan Tirheimer, Kalle Makinen, Ryan Husband and Aidan Stoffle went to work in the 400 free relay. Needing a huge performance to remain in the top 12, the Orange and Blue delivered and then some. Crashing in at 2:47.75, the foursome put together the fifth-fastest relay in Auburn history to finish 11th in the event.
"To put that together and to finish the meet in the way that we did with the 400 free relay, knowing that we had to beat four other teams to be top 12 was impressive," said Wochomurka.
Finishing up the morning swims, Logan Tirheimer snagged 38th in the 100 free, hitting the wall at 42.38 and 38th overall. Jacques Rathle led the way in the 200 breast with a 1:54.70 and 28th. Henry Bethel secured 39th at 1:58.20.
Nate Stoffle finished 28th with a 1:41.14 in the 200 back.
In the mile, Michael Bonson delivered a season-best 14:49.83 to secure 20th. Grant Davis wound up 32nd with a 15:06.86.
Finally, Danny Schmidt completed his second NCAA Championships with a 1:43.24 in the 200 fly to place the German 36th.
ALL-AMERICAN HONORS (10 athletes, 21 honors)
Henry Bethel (200 MR)
Michael Bonson (800 FR HM)
Ryan Husband (800 FR HM, 400 FR HM)
Sohib Khaled (200 MR)
Kalle Makinen (200 MR, 200 FR, 400 FR HM)
Mason Mathias (800 FR HM, 500 free, 1650 free HM)
Danny Schmidt (800 FR HM, 400 IM HM)
Aidan Stoffle (200 FR, 100 back HM, 200 back HM, 400 FR HM)
Nate Stoffle (200 MR, 200 FR)
Logan Tirheimer (200 FR, 400 FR HM)
UP NEXT
A handful of long course events flood the schedule for Auburn as attention turns toward the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.