Auburn Fall Invitational: Georgia and Auburn Split Invite Titles In Night 3

The Auburn Invitational has been full of great performances all weekend. Tonight did not disappoint, plus a good team race was in the mix as well.

In the end, the women from Georgia walked away with the invitational win. On the men’s side, Auburn was able to top the Bulldogs, by just 3.5 points.

Full Results Here. 

1650 Freestyle

Women

Georgia took the top two places in the women’s 1650. Brittany MacLean broke 16 minutes with a winning time of 15:58.45 in the women’s event.

Teammate Amber McDermott followed her with a 16:10.53.

Men

In the men’s race, Georiga teammates Matias Koski held off a surging Will Freeman in the second half, winning with a 14:56.63 to Freeman’s 14:57.19.

Both are under 14:45 best times, so these two will most likely have another big drop by championship season.

Zane Grothe of Auburn was seeded 9th, and so swam out of an earlier heat, and wound up third with a 15:01.94.

200 Backstroke

Women

Aubrey Peacock and Jillian Vitarius posted strong swims to give Auburn a 1-2 finish in the women’s 200 back. Peacock won with a time of 1:54.13, with Vitarius right behind with a 1:54.76.

McKayla Lightbourn of Florida State rounded out the top three with a 1:55.66.

As a side note, Hali Flickinger also posted a 1:55.82 in the 2000 back preliminaries before scratching to focus on the 200 fly later in the session.

Men

Georgia’s Tynan Stewart used his 25.37 split in the final 50 yards to pass Auburn’s Joe Patching at the finish to post a lifetime best 1:40.92 to Patching’s 1:40.98.

The two both posted NCAA A standards.

In third was Jared Markham from Georgia in 1:44.90.

100 Freestyle

Women

Georgia freshman Olivia Smoliga notched a win in the 100 free with a 48.35. She bested her senior teammate Shannon Vreeland, who placed second with a 48.50.

Tiffany Oliver of Florida State and Georgia’s Chantal Van Landeghem also broke 49 seconds, with Oliver third in 48.81 and Van Landeghem fourth with a 48.89.

Men

Auburn’s Marcelo Chierighini put up a 42.04 to win the event ahead of Auburn postgrad Adam Brown. The time by Chierighini is the fastest time of the season.

Also swimming was Auburn’s James Disney-May, who was third with a 43.06, and Florida State’s Paul Murray with a 43.10 for fourth. Chierighini, Disney-May and Murray are the top three times in the collegiate ranks so far this season.

Also of note was the 43.09 from postgrad Albert Subirats to win the consolation final.

200 Breaststroke

Women

Georgia’s Melanie Margalis capped up a great weekend, taking the 200 breast in 2:08.10 over teammate Annie Zhu, who was second with a 2:08.35.

Men

Georgia’s Nic Fink won the battle against Alabama’s freshman Anton McKee with a 1:55.09 to McKee’s 1:56.07.

Michael Duderstadt, continuing his strong meet after winning the 100 breast yesterday, led for 150 yards before falling back to third at the finish with a 1:56.20.

Also breaking 2:00 was Juan Sequera from Florida State in 1:58.72.

200 Butterfly

Women

Flickinger got her first win of the meet with a 1:55.54.

Auburn’s Alex Merritt put up a lifetime best when she placed second in time of 1:57.34.

Alabama’s freshman Leah Bird was overtaken at the 150, and to finish fourth with a 1:57.66.

Men

Tynan Stewart was back later in the session in the 200 fly. He used a strong final 50 in this race again to overpower Florida State’s Connor Knight to the finish.

He won with a time of 1:43.88 to McKnight’s 1:44.08.

Pace Clark from Georgia was third in 1:45.75.

400 Freestyle

Women 

Georgia, the reigning NCAA champion in the women’s 400 free relay, held off Auburn to win the final women’s event with a 3:14.41 to Auburn’s 3:15.32.

Smoliga, 48.57, Vreeland, 48.43, Margalis, 48.62, and Van Landeghem, 48.79, teammed up for the win for the Bulldogs.

Auburn’s A time relay had Haley Krakoski, 49.20, Emily Bos, 48.76, Megan Fonteno, 48.84, and Allyx Purcell, 48.52, team up together.

Men

In the men’s relay, Auburn was untouchable, posting a 2:52.35 to win the event.

Auburn lead of with two sub :43’s with Chierighini in 42.89 and James Disney-May in 42.84. Kyle Darmondy and Arthur Mendes closed the relay in 43.07 and 43.55.

Matias Koski had the only sub :43 for Georgia, anchoring in 42.94.