The Auburn swimming and diving team dominated LSU from the beginning of Saturday’s meet at the LSU Natatorium, cruising to 151-87 win for its first SEC victory of the season.
“I was impressed with the way our team performed on the road against quality opponent,” Auburn coach Brett Hawke said following the win. “We turned in some good times today and I was glad to see our training taking us a step in the right direction.”
On Saturday, Auburn (2-1, 1-0) won nine of 12 events at the dual meet against LSU, setting season-best times in several events.
Auburn opened the event with an impressive showing in the 400 medley relay. The team of Joe Patching, Michael Duderstadt, Arthur Mendes and Marcelo Chierighini posted a time of 3:15.83 to take the top spot by nearly five seconds. Time by the Auburn ranks as the second-best time in the country this season. Taylor Copeland, Forrest Davis, Allen Browning and Matt Long finished third with a time of 3:24.06.
In the 1,000 free, Tommy McKee bested Zane Grothe by just two-tenths of a second. McKee posted a season-best time of 9:27.55 to knock of Grothe, who finished at 9:27.72. Grothe returned the favor in the 500 free, besting McKee with a season-best time of 4:31.39.
Racing in the 200 free for the first time this season, Joe Patching finished at 1:40.20 to take the top spot, besting Grothe by a tenth of a second to give Auburn a top-two finish in the event. Patching also took the win in the 200 back, improving on his NCAA B time from the Notre Dame Tri-Meet and taking the win with a time of 1:45.33.
Marcelo Chierighini picked up is third straight win in the 50 free, zipping past Auburn’s TJ Leon with a time of 20.58. Leon posted his best time of the fall at 20.79 to take second.
Alex Hancock, James Disney-May and Spencer Kerns provided Auburn with its first 1-2-3 finish of the day in the 200 IM. Hancock and Disney-May battled back and forth in the race, as Hancock earned the win with a time of 1:50.88.
Not to be outdone, Disney-May swam the third-fastest mark of the year by an Auburn swimmer in the 100 free getting the win as the freshman duo of Kyle Darmody (45.50) and Michael Duderstadt rounded out a top-three finish for the Tigers.
In diving, John Santeiu posted his best mark of the year in 3-meter with a score of 400.28 to take the win. Santeiu added a second place finish in the 1-meter posting a score of 368.25.
Auburn hosts its annual Blue/Orange intrasquad week on Friday night to benefit Swim for MS at the Martin Aquatics Center.
This is a press release from www.auburntigers.com.
