After Relay “A” Cut on Friday, Auburn’s Logan Tirheimer Goes Best Time in 100

Auburn Invitational

• February 4-5, 2021
• James. E Martin Aquatic Center, Auburn, Alabama
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), Timed Finals
• Results on MeetMobile under “Auburn University Invite”
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 1 Results
• Day 2 Results

After Auburn scored an NCAA “A” cut in the men’s 200 yard freestyle relay on day one, they rode off their high and proceeded to win seven out of the twelve events contested on day two the Auburn Invite. This puts them in good shape for conference championships, which happen in about two weeks.

Logan Tirheimer, who was part of the aforementioned 200 free relay, swam a personal best of 43.12 to win the 100 free. His previous best time was a 43.32 set at the mid-season invite, and he is almost eight-tenths faster than the 43.99 that placed him 16th at SECs last year. His time today, in contrast, would have finished 7th at SECs last year.

Tirheimer is now the fastest man in the 50 and the 100 free at Auburn, as he swam a 19.79 in the 50 on day one of the invite.

Freshman Andrew Simmons took the 200 backstroke in a time of 1:44.65 in the 200 back, that was just shy of his personal best of 1:44.29 swum mid-season. His consistent times in the 1:44 range make him a good shot for at least a B-final at SECs this year.

Danish swimmer Mikkel Gadgaard, who swam the 200/500 freestyle at NCAAs last year, had a shot at the 100 breaststroke in a time trial. He swum a 53.64, which is a personal best for him. This is second time swimming the event, going a 54.36 at the mid-season invite this year. Despite his seemingly lack of experience in the event, his time today would have put him in scoring position at SECs last year.

On day one of the invite, Gadgaard took both the 200 and 500 free events, swimming a new personal best of 1:34.12 in the 200.

In addition, the quartet of Andrew Simmons (46.07), Henry Bethel (45.88), Nate Stoffle (43.23), and Trevor McGovern (44.63) won the 400 free relay in a time of 2:59.81. The only other school in the relay was Emory.

Mykenzie Leehy, who transferred from Houston this fall, kicked things off for the Auburn women and won the 100 free in a season-best time of 48.86. Her time is only 0.06 seconds off her finals time of 48.8 at NCAAs last year, in which she placed 16th.

Leehy swam a season-best time of 1:45.20 on day one of the invite, and she is now the fastest woman for Auburn in the 100 and 200 freestyle.

Freshman Avery Bageron, who went a personal best in the 100 fly on day one, had a massive time drop in the 200 fly. She swum a 1:55.99 compared to her previous best time of 1:57.89 from  2020. Her time is currently 6th in the SEC and is the eighth-fastest swim in Auburn history in the event. It is also well under the time that it took to get invited to NCAAs last year, which was a 1:57.42. 

Russian swimmer Anastasia Makarova backed up her 100 breast win on day one to win the 200 breast in a personal best time of 2:11.47. Her time was also 10th-fastest time in Auburn history in the event. Makarova, who arrived at Auburn mid-season, is the first woman from Auburn to under the one-minute mark in the 100 breast since the 2017-18 season and looks to be the Tigers’ primary breaststroker. 

The Auburn women were the only ones entered in the women’ 400 free relay, but all of the swimmers are listed as “unknown” on MeetMobile. However, their splits are listed as 51.02/49.92/50.81/51.02 for a time of 3:22.77.

The Auburn men and women finished 8th and 9th respectively at SECs last year, and look to improve upon those results under new head coach Ryan Wochomurka this year. The Southeastern Conference championships will be held from Feburary 15 to 19 this year for both men and women.

Other Day 2 Highlights (Men & Women):

• Pia Murray of Florida State hit a personal best of 1:54.94 to win the 200 back. She has has dropped almost two seconds this season, with her season-best from last year in the event being a 1:56.81. Her time is the fastest time in the event for Florida State since 2017, when the school record was set by Maddy Cohen. Pia swam the 100 back, 100 fly, and 200 IM at ACCs last year, but only swam the 200 back in an individual time trial. Her time at this invite would have been 8th at ACCs.
• Florida State’s Jenny Halden went a season-best time of 52.64 in a 100 fly time trial, which is around two-tenths off the 52.46 personal best that she swam at NCAAs last year.
• Florida’s Leah Brawsell, who had the second fastest time in the NCAA during the 2019-20 season before everything got cancelled, swam a season-best time of 16:24.29  to take the win in the mile. She is fourth behind Elise Bauer, Leah Degeorge, and Tylor Mathieu on the Florida depth chart in the even this year.
• Wave II Olympic Trials finalist Brennan Gravely of Florida took the men’s mile in a 15:00.94. He was 18th at NCAAs in the event last year and has a personal best of 14:47.41 from 2020.
• Amro Al-Weir of Florida took the 200 breast in a season-best time of 1:55.88, which is 0.87 off of his best time of 1:55.01 swum at SECs last year. 
• Florida’s Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero, a freshman from Dubai, swam a personal-best time of 1:45.03 in the 200 fly. His previous best time of 1:46.82 was set at the mid-season invite. His time from this invite is 9th in the SEC this year.