The Auburn Women were chomping at the bit to hit the water for their first intercollegiate meet of the 2011-2012 season, and the early returns were extremely impressive. The meet had a bit of a middle-distance bias to it. Though Auburn is typically known for their sprinters, this year’s squad showed that it’s more balanced than those of the past, and they took the meet in stride en route to a 142.5-100.5 victory (without exhibitions at the end of the meet).
They led things off with a 200 medley relay time of 1:41.24, which is an awesome time for this early in the season. By comparison, nobody else in the country (including Stanford) has been better than 1:44.0.
Auburn had an even-split between their “A” and “B” relays, with the B taking the win. The A finished just behind in 1:41.43. If you were to combine the fastest parts of the two Auburn relays, you would’ve had a time of 1:39.77, which marks as the target for the rest of the country. And that time is even without the best sprinter in the country as an anchor.
They kept things on a roll in the 100 free, where junior Katie Gardocki put up an awesome swim of 9:46.68. She is known as a great closer, though this year she will have to work on putting out better front-end speed so that she’s not in as big of a hole when she gets to that finishing kick. So far, she looked to have accomplished that task by swimming a 4:52 front-half of the race that in-and-of itself is the best 500 time in the country this year.
As for that time in the thousand, it was a full 30 seconds faster than anyone else has been in the country this year, and is already 6-seconds better than she went all of last year. Somebody’s been putting in work over the summer. Arkansas’ distance group, not to be outdone, took 2-3-4 in this race, which earned them the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best times in the country as well. Junior Chelsea Franklin took runner-up honors in 10:03.10.
Anna Vanderpool-Wallace, who made her stamp on last year’s NCAA Championships with dual victories in the sprint freestyles, showed off her middle-distance skills by taking a win in the 200 free in 1:48.85, which is pretty close to her career-best time and ranks her 3rd in the country behind a duet from Stanford (she would go quicker on the meet-ending relay). She’s probably not going to swim this event at NCAA’s (individually or in a relay), but it’s good training as she tunes up for long course swimming at the Olympics, which takes a touch more endurance.
With VW’s absence, Auburn junior Hannah Riordan stepped up and won the 50 free in 22.74, which is another nationwide-best time and an NCAA “B” cut. That’s about six-tenths better than her season-opening time from last year, which shows that she could have a big season ahead of her, and adds even more danger to the Auburn sprint relays.
The Razorbacks broke Auburn’s winning streak when defending YMCA National Champion/YMCA National Record holder Susanna White won the 200 IM in 2:03.27. She is one of the best in a loaded Arkansas freshman class that could make them relevant in the SEC over the next few years. She was trailed by another freshman: Auburn’s Abbie Duncan in 2:04.53.
Arkansas made it two-straight swimming events when senior Katie Whitbeck won the 200 fly in 2:03.20. She finished her swim in a split of 32.14, which is surprisingly strong for this time of the season.
Auburn’s Riordan won another sprint free in 50.24. She looks like she could be a significant factor this season for Auburn as they look to really solidify some parts around their sprint-ace.
Emily Bos, who as only a freshman last season was impressive in the backstroke events, won the 200 back in 1:58.49, which is a great start for her season.
Without Gardocki swimming, Arkansas dominated the 500 free to take the top-4 finishes. This exposes a bit of a weakness for the Tigers in the depth of their distance group, but that’s probably not a huge concern for them. Arkansas’ Nicole Menzel, a sophomore, touched in 4:54.90 for the win. This is a strong Arkansas distance squad.
The 200 breaststroke was a great battle between Lauren Norberg of Auburn and Arkansas freshman Nikki Daniels. Norberg finished the race very quickly to touch in a B-cut time of 2:14.99, with Daniels touching 2nd in 2:16.67.
In the meet-ending 800 free relay, Auburn touched the wall way ahead in 7:25.78, which is an awesome time. An early departure by freshman anchor Megan Fonteno in her first official Auburn meet DQ’ed the squad though, which pushed the victory (and a 1-2 finish) to Arkansas. The DQ by Auburn negated another fine swim from Vanderpool-Wallace, who led off in 1:48.27.
Takeaways
The two big takeaways from this meet are: 1) Auburn broke out with a strong lead-off meet, and if those are “authentic” times (aka, they’re training big yardage), then they could finish surprisingly high at NCAA’s; and 2) jump on the Arkansas bandwagon now. Though the score was kept a bit closer by a relay DQ from Auburn, this Arkansas team fought and clawed and had surprising depth. For them to finish within 42-points of an Auburn team that swam especially well, and with so much reliance on their young swimmers, has to be exciting for their coaching staff.
The Auburn women will next be in action on the road against Notre Dame on October 21st, while Arkansas will next be seen against Florida on October 20th.
