Auburn’s swimming and diving program heads to Knoxville, Tenn., this week for the 2017 Southeastern Conference Championships. Auburn, which is ranked No. 7 on the men’s side and No. 11 on the women’s side, has collected a combined 23 SEC Championships between the men’s and women’s teams.
“I feel really good about our teams this year,” Auburn head coach Brett Hawke said. “We have great depth on both the men’s and women’s side, top-end talent is there again and we have been working hard as a team, coming together and it’s all working out at the right time for us.”
Auburn is the defending SEC Champion in five individual events and one relay, with every individual champion from a year ago back to defend his title this season.
“We are excited and glad the work has been done,” Hawke said. “Everybody is just excited to go and race.”
Auburn’s men brought home a runner-up finish for the third time in the last four years at the 2016 conference championships while the women were fourth.
OFF THE BLOCKS
›› Auburn heads to the SEC Championship in Knoxville, Tenn., for the first time in since 2012. The meet runs Tuesday, Feb. 14, through Saturday, Feb. 18, at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.
The SEC Championships will be broadcast live on SEC Network+. A one-hour wrap-up show will air on the SEC Network in March.
Preliminary heats Wednesday through Saturday begin at 10 a.m. CT while finals each night start at 6 p.m. Diving prelims begin Tuesday at 11 a.m. and Tuesday’s finals begin at 5:30 p.m.
Updates throughout the championships will be available on Facebook (facebook.com/AuburnSwimDive) and Twitter (@AuburnSwimDive). Full recaps will follow each session on AuburnTigers.com.
AUBURN AT THE SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS
›› Auburn has collected a combined 23 SEC Championships between the men’s and women’s teams. Auburn has won 18 of the past 23 conference titles on the men’s side. Auburn’s women’s have won five SEC titles in program history, with the last coming in 2008.
Two of Auburn’s men’s SEC Championships have come in Knoxville – in 2006 and 2012.
AUBURN IN THE CSCAA RANKINGS
›› Auburn enters the SEC meet ranked sevnth nationally in the men’s CSCAA Poll. Auburn has faced four of the six teams ahead of it, falling to current No. 3 Texas and No. 6 Florida in dual meets and finishing behind No. 2 California and No. 5 Georgia at the Georgia Invitational. In all, the SEC has seven teams in the Top 25 – with four of them in the top 10.
In the women’s rankings, Auburn is No. 11 and has had dual meets against No. 2 Texas, No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 16 Kentucky, No. 19 Florida and No. 24 LSU.
DEFENDING THE GOLD
›› Auburn is the defending SEC Champion in five individual events and one relay, with every individual champion from a year ago back to defend his title this season.
Senior Joe Patching is the defending champion in the 200 IM and 200 backstroke.
Senior Michael Duderstadt is the defending champion in both breaststroke events.
Junior Hugo Morris is the defending champion in the 200 butterfly.
Duderstadt, senior Kyle Darmody and junior Peter Holoda were each a part of the winning 400 freestyle relay.
ZONED IN
›› Auburn’s divers have already collected a total of 12 NCAA Zone Diving qualifying scores. Scott Lazeroff and Pete Turnham have each qualified on all three boards for the men and Alison Maillard has done the same for the women. Maddie Cox has qualified on each springboard and Miranda Telmanik has qualified on the platform.
Auburn will host the Zone B Championships March 6-8 at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
B CUTS
›› Auburn has 49 men’s NCAA B cuts and 33 women’s B cuts. Joe Patching has collected a men’s team-high five B cuts (200 free, 100 & 200 back, 200 & 400 IM) and Aly Tetzloff, 50 & 100 free, 100 back, 100 fly, 200 IM) and Zoe Thatcher (500 & 1650 free, 100 & 200 back, 400 IM) has done the same on the women’s side.
AUBURN MEN IN THE SEC
›› Auburn won a record 16 straight SEC team titles between 1997 and 2012
›› 18 overall conference team titles have been won by Auburn, all in the last 23 seasons
›› Auburn has won 200 individual SEC titles
›› Auburn has won at least one individual title in each of the 21 events in the championship program
›› The best event for Auburn is the 50 free as Auburn has won it 19 times since 1980, including 14 of the past 20 years
AUBURN WOMEN IN THE SEC
›› Auburn has won five SEC team titles
›› In Auburn’s five SEC team titles, it has an average margin of victory of 107.2 points
›› Auburn has won 126 individual SEC titles
›› Auburn has won at least one individual title in 22 of the last 25 SEC meets
›› Auburn has finished either first or second at the SEC Championships 16 times since the women’s meet began in 1981
PATCHING AND THE BIG 5-0
›› Senior Joe Patching hit a major milestone in his final dual meet at Auburn. Swimming – and winning – three individual events, he captured his 50th individual dual meet win when he won the 200 backstroke.
This season alone, Patching has won 17 individual events and has been on three winning relays. The event he has dominated the most this season has been the 200 back, which he has won at each dual meet Auburn has swum this season. The only time he did not win the event was at the Georgia Invitational, when he placed fifth.
With 51 total individual wins, Patching collected 10 individual wins as a freshman, 12 as a sophomore and 12 as a junior to go along with his 17 this year.
OWNING THE BREASTSTROKE – MEN’S EDITION
›› Senior Michael Duderstadt swept the breaststroke events at last season’s SEC Championships and has been on a similar roll this year, winning the 100 in five dual meets, the 200 in three dual meets and sweeping the event during the Alabama, Tennessee and Florida dual meets. He goes into the conference championships with the sixth-fastest 100 time (52.83) and the fifth-fastest 200 time (1:55.53) among SEC swimmers. Those times put him 19th in both events nationally.
OWNING THE BREASTSTROKE – WOMEN’S EDITION
›› Senior Natasha Lloyd has had similar success to Duderstadt in the women’s breaststroke events, sweeping the event during the Wisconsin, Kentucky, Alabama and Florida dual meets. She goes into the SEC meet with the 14th-fastest 100 time (1:01.45) and the 13th-fastest 200 time (2:12.42).
THE UNDEFEATED
›› Freshman Julie Meynen has had an unbelievable run to open her Auburn career, winning the 100 free at every meet this season and the 50 free four times. A five-time SEC award winner (four-time SEC Freshman of the Week, one-time SEC Swimmer of the Week), she enters the conference championships with the third-fastest 100 time in the conference (48.33) and the 10th-fastest 50 free time (22.56). Her best 100 free time – from the Georgia Tech Invitational – ranks tied for fourth all-time in Auburn history.
Meynen, who was an Olympian for Luxembourg this past season in Rio, has also been a part of 10 of the 11 winning relays this season.
SHE’S GOING THE DISTANCE, SHE’S GOING FOR SPEED
›› Senior Ashley Neidigh is going out in style. A distance freestyle specialist, she has won the 1000 free at every dual meet this season and the 500 free four times. Her mile time of 16:13.59 from the Georgia Tech Invite places her fifth in the SEC and 27th nationally. Her 500 and 1000 free wins over Florida last month marked the first time she had won a distance event over the Gators.
TOP OF THE CHARTS
›› Sophomore Scott Lazeroff goes into the SEC Championships with the top platform diving score in the conference with a 431.30, which is just 5.45 points shy of his career best of 436.75 from last year’s NCAA Championships.
His 431.30 is currently fourth-best in the NCAA.
SEC ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
›› Auburn has been a permanent fixture on the SEC weekly awards board this season. Having swum seven dual meets and competed in one invitational on both the men’s and women’s side, Auburn has collected 11 SEC weekly awards.
Male Swimmer of the Week
›› Joe Patching (Oct. 18)
›› Michael Duderstadt (Nov. 15)
Female Swimmer of the Week
›› Ashley Neidigh (Nov. 8)
›› Julie Meynen (Jan. 17)
Male Diver of the Week
›› Scott Lazeroff (Nov. 8)
›› Scott Lazeroff (Dec. 6)
Female Freshman of the Week
›› Julie Meynen (Oct. 18)
›› Alison Maillard (Nov. 1)
›› Julie Meynen (Nov. 8)
›› Julie Meynen (Nov. 15)
›› Julie Meynen (Nov. 22)
MID-YEAR ADD-ONS
›› Auburn added two international swimmers at the turn of the calendar, bringing in Petter Fredriksson of Lomma, Sweden, and Santiago Grassi of Santa Fe, Argentina, at the semester break.
Both Fredriksson and Grassi have already achieved B cuts, Fredriksson in the 200 IM and Grassi in both butterfly distances. Fredriksson is the 2016 Swedish National Champion in the 100- and 200m backstrokes while Grassi was a 2016 Olympian for Argentina, finishing 24th in the 100m fly.
News courtesy of Auburn Athletics