Auburn Wins First SEC Dual Meet of the Season Against Kentucky

AUBURN VS. KENTUCKY

• Results
• Hosted by Auburn University
• Wednesday, October 12th
• 25 yards
• Dual meet format

FINAL SCORES:

• Men- Auburn 171, Kentucky 129

• Women- Auburn 178.5, Kentucky 121.5

The Auburn men and women brought their season records to 2-0 tonight, winning their first SEC dual meet of the season against the Kentucky Wildcats. For the Tiger freshmen, the meet marked the first home dual meet of their careers.

One of those freshmen was Julie Meynen, who picked up 2 victories for the women in the sprint free events. First, Meynen powered to victory in the 50 free with her 23.00. She then posted the only sub-50 time in the 100 free, winning it in 49.52.

While Meynen represented for the newcomers, seniors Natasha Lloyd and Ashley Neidigh were also showing their skills. Lloyd, a breaststroke specialist, clocked a 1:02.21 in the 100 breast and a 2:15.23 in the 200 breast to win both races. Neidigh swept the middle distance freestyles at this meet, swimming to a 1:49.52 in the 200 free and a 4:49.48 in the 500 free.

Kentucky’s NCAA champ Danielle Galyer came up with a victory for the Wildcats in the 100 back, clocking a 54.53. She wasn’t the only Galyer to win a backstroke race at this meet, as her younger sister Ali Galyer touched 1st in the 200 back with a 1:57.66.

On the men’s side, SEC champ Joe Patching won all 3 of his individual events for the second meet in a row. Just as he did last week during the Wisconsin meet, Patching swam to victory in the 200 back (1:44.69) and 200 IM (1:49.03). His third event today was the 200 free, where he clocked a 1:37.65 to lead the field.

Kentucky senior Kyle Higgins was a multiple event winner for the Wildcats, sweeping the butterfly races with a 48.29 in the 100 fly and a 1:45.37 in the 200 fly.

PRESS RELEASE – AUBURN:

AUBURN, Ala. — Freshman Julie Meynen picked up four victories in her first home meet, and seniors Joe Patching and Michael Duderstadt earned three wins each to lead the Auburn swimming & diving team to a sweep of Kentucky Wednesday afternoon.

The Auburn men won 10 events to down the Wildcats 171-129, while the Tiger women claimed wins in 11 races to earn a 178.5-121.5 victory. Both Auburn teams improved to 2-0 for the dual meet season.

“There was definitely some good stuff out there,” Auburn head coach Brett Hawke said. “It was a midweek meet, so we didn’t know what to expect. We haven’t really adjusted the training for this meet, so everyone swam pretty tired. I was happy with the team spirit and the way they stuck together throughout the meet.”

Meynen made the most of her home debut, leading Auburn sweeps in the 50 freestyle (23.00) and 100 freestyle (49.52). She was also part of two winning relays, swimming the anchor leg on the 400 medley relay (3:40.95) that included Aly Tetzloff, Natasha Lloyd and Bailey Nero. Meynen took the second leg on the 200 freestyle relay that won in 1:32.84, swimming alongside Ashton Ellzey, Tetzloff and Robyn Clevenger.

“Julie Meynen had an exceptional meet,” Hawke said. “It was nice to see the freshmen race. One of the most important things for us is to see how the freshmen respond under training conditions, then performing under race conditions.”

Tetzloff picked up three wins, getting two as part of the relays and another in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.54. She was also Auburn’s top finisher in the 100 back with a 54.96. SeniorNatasha Lloyd took the top spot in both breaststroke events with a 1:02.21 in the 100 and a 2:15.23 in the 200, and she got a third win in the medley relay.

Senior Ashley Neidigh earned two individual victories, clocking a 1:49.52 to lead an Auburn 1-2-3 finish in the 200 free and following that up with a 4:49.48 in the 500 free. And junior Zoe Thatcher posted a 9:58.74 to win the 1000 freestyle by 14 seconds.

Sophomore Bailey Nero earned a win in the 200 fly with a time of 2:00.72 and was the top Tiger finisher in the 200 IM with a 2:03.29.

On the men’s side, Patching won all three of his individual events, claiming victories in the 200 free (1:37.65), 200 back (1:44.69) and 200 IM (1:49.03). Duderstadt also picked up three wins, taking first in the 100 breast (55.49) and contributing to victories in the 400 medley relay (3:16.50) and 200 freestyle relay (1:15.25).

“I thought it was a pretty good meet for us,” Auburn associate head coach Sergio Lopez said. “I don’t really know our team 100 percent yet, so I didn’t know what to expect. I really like the way we’re racing, but we still have a lot of work to do on details. I like the way the team embraces one another. Things will get tougher as the season goes on, but I’m excited about what this team can do.”

Sophomore Tommy Brewer got a win in the 200 breast with a 2:03.34, edging out Duderstadt at the wall, and the Tigers swept the sprint events with Peter Holoda winning the 50 free (20.08) and Zach Apple taking first in the 100 free (44.95).

Auburn’s other victory came in the diving well with Scott Lazeroff claiming victory in the 3-meter event with a score of 375.68; Pete Turnham picked up second-place points for Auburn with a 351.53. Lazeroff also took second place in the 1-meter event with a 316.50. In women’s diving, freshman Alison Maillard was the runner-up on both boards, scoring 279.00 on the 3-meter and 269.03 on the 1-meter.

The Tigers return to action Friday, Oct. 28, with another SEC meet at LSU. Auburn’s next home meet is Friday, Nov. 4, as the Tigers host Alabama at 1 p.m.

PRESS RELEASE – KENTUCKY:

AUBURN, Ala. – The Kentucky swimming and diving teams opened up their seasons Wednesday afternoon, suffering losses on both sides to Southeastern Conference opponent Auburn. The women’s team fell 178.5-121.5, and the men 173-127.

“Overall, both teams performed pretty well,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “We were disappointed to come away with losses, but it was a good competition.”

The men saw victories in six individual events in the afternoon’s meet. Senior Kyle Higgins was the only UK swimmer to come away with multiple victories from the day, sweeping both butterfly events on the men’s side. Higgins’ time of 1:45.37 in the 200 fly surpasses the NCAA B standard in the event, while his 48.29 mark in the 100 fly is just eleven-hundredths of a second from NCAA consideration.

“I was really excited with how I swam today,” said Higgins. “It was my fastest in-season time for my college career, so I’m really excited for the season.”

Depth in the freestyle distance events emerged as a strength for the men’s squad as the trio of Jarod Kehl, Andrew Aviotti and Isaac Jones swept the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle races. Jarod Kehl’s time of 4:29.04 in the 500 was just five-hundredths shy of a B standard, with Aviotti and Jones following close behind. Aviotti had a first-place time of 9:13.56 in the 1000 for the Cats, with Jones and Kehl finishing second and third, respectively.

Diver Seb Masterton turned in a top finish for the men’s team, earning 333.83 points on the 1-meter springboard. He also notched 348.68 points on the 3-meter springboard to secure a third-place finish in the event behind Auburn’s Scott Lazeroff and Pete Turnham. Lazeroff’s 375.68 points paced all divers.

The women’s team was highlighted by springboard performances from senior diver Becca Hamperian, sweeping both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. Both her 3-meter score of 304.28 and her 1-meter score of 291.08 overwhelmed Auburn’s second-place finisher, Alison Maillard, by more than 20 points.

“I was just going into today trying to be confident and knowing that I’ve put good work in and that we’ve been working really hard at the beginning of the season,” explained Hamperian. “I just want to stay consistent with my dives and I think I did a pretty good job with that.”

The Wildcat women picked up four additional first-place finishes, along with seven NCAA B cuts on the day. The women saw great success in backstroke events, with Danielle Galyer and Bridgette Alexander going one and two in the 100. Freshman Ali Galyer turned in the top time of 1:57.66 in the 200 back as well, with Danielle and Alexander both touching in less than a second later to all meet the B standard in the event.

Freshmen Asia Seidt had a very strong showing in her first outing for the Wildcats. Seidt finished in the top two in three separate events. Her best performance came in the 200 individual medley, where her 2:01.59 first-place finish qualified for NCAA consideration. She also joined Galyer, Kendra Crew and Geena Freriks in the 400 medley relay team that picked up a second-place finish.

Crew also added strong performances for the Wildcats in the breaststroke events. The senior tied Auburn’s Natasha Lloyd for a first place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke, both touching in at 2:15.23 to secure B cuts in the event. Additionally, Crew’s second-place performance of 1:02.68 in the 100 breaststroke came in just short of the B cut time of 1:02.49 in the event.

The Blue and White will face a tough challenge as they head to Columbia, South Carolina, to face the Gamecocks on Thursday, just one day after being defeated by the Tigers.

According to Jorgensen, how quickly the team can recover will be a key component to the team’s success against South Carolina.

“It’s good for us to do this early in the season and see what we’re made of. I’m looking forward to it,” explained Jorgensen. “Dual meets always come down to those little things. We had some really good performances on both sides, but we’re going to try to get better.”

The Wildcats are slated for a noon start against the Gamecocks on Thursday.

The South Carolina men turned in a 19th-place finish at NCAAs and seventh at SECs last season. The women finished 29th and 11th, respectively. The Gamecocks return distance swimmer Akaram Mahmoud, who earned the title in the 1650 freestyle at SECs with a time of 14:35.49, and earned the silver at NCAAs in the same event, touching in at 14:31.66.

This will be the first outing of the season for the Gamecocks, as their first scheduled meet at the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational was canceled due to Hurricane Matthew.

UK’s women’s team is 13-7 all-time vs. South Carolina in dual-meet competition, while the men are 12-8. The teams last met in 2014 in Lexington, when the women claimed a 177-123 win over the Gamecocks. The Wildcat men suffered a 207.5-92.5 loss that same day.

For the latest on the Kentucky swimming and diving program, follow @UKSwimDive on Twitter, on Facebook at Facebook.com/UKSwimDive, and on the web at UKathletics.com.