Just a week after their upset of the #1 Texas men and #3 Texas women, the Auburn Tigers welcomed their second-straight top-10 opponents into the Martin Aquatics Center, and dispatched them just as easily. The #6 Auburn men defeated the #5 Florida men 167-133, and the #12 Auburn women defeated the #6 Florida women 165-135.
For the Auburn men, the big surge can be attributed, at least in part, to the addition of Brazilian sprinter Marcelo Chierighini. He split a 43.88 on the Auburn 400 free relay that won in a great time of 2:55.33. But he is not the only Tiger who is swimming very well. Adam Brown swept the sprints with times of 19.80/43.40. These represent the two best times in the nation so far this semester.
In the men’s 200 back, Auburn’s Kohlton Norys put up a 1:44.46 to win in a season best. Florida’s Marco Loughran also scored his best time of the season to finish second in 1:44.72.
The Florida men were not without their fair share of impressive swims. Sophomore Jason Taylor put up a season-best time of 9:08.58 to win the 1000 free. That’s a time that stands in the top 15 in the country, and is already 14 seconds faster than he went all of last season. This young swimmer is making huge strides towards becoming an elite NCAA distance swimmer in his second collegiate campaign.
Auburn wasn’t the only NCAA team to make a huge foreign pickup this winter. Florida’s addition of butterflier Marcin Cieslak flew under the radar relative to Chierighini, but he is just as important to the Florida squad. The polish swimmer, who picked up a bronze in the 200 fly at last summer’s Youth Olympic Games, is already making a huge impact for the Gators with a win in the 100 fly (48.44) and a second in the 200 fly (1:46.22) behind teammate Sebastien Rousseau (1:46.04). Cieslak has also taken over duties on the Gator’s A 200 medley relay, but that relay could only muster a 3rd place finish. Auburn took top honors there in 1:27.83.
The big advantage for Auburn in this meet was in the diving, where they placed 1-2-3 on both the 1 and 3 meters. They were led by senior Dan Mazzaferro, who took both crowns in relatively dominating fashion.
On the women’s side, Auburn’s Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, who is fresh off of a medal-winning performance at the Dubai Short Course World Championships, continued her hot swimming with a win in the individual 100 free in 48.76. She also split a 21.99 to anchor Auburn’s winning 200 medley relay (1:39.42).
Freshman Olivia Scott, who was also a member of that relay, took the women’s 100 fly in an impressive time of 53.54. Though this was not her best time of the season, or even the month, she now holds the two fastest women’s 100 fly times of 2011. Another impressive Auburn freshman, Olivia Scott, won both the 100 (54.20) and 200 (1:56.33) backstrokes.
The Florida women received three victories from their newly-named members of the 2011 World Championship team, Elizabeth Beisel and Teresa Crippen, including a 1-2 finish in the women’s 100 fly. Beisel took a victory in the 1000 free, an event she hasn’t previously focused on, in a 9:50.00. This is the 6th best time in the nation this season, and also Beisel’s best time ever in the event.
Both Auburn squads looked thin at the beginning of the year, after matching disappointing NCAA finishes last year, but they have suddenly thrust themselves back into the thick of the SEC race with these victories.
For Auburn, this was the team’s final meet prior to the SEC Championships that will take place from February 11-13 in Gainesville. The Gators swim against another hot team, the #10M/W Tennessee Volunteers, next Saturday at home.