Brett Hawke and the Auburn staff went fishing for sprint power in European waters and may have landed a fish who could be a game changer. Luxembourg National Record Holder Julie Meynen has given her verbal commitment to the Tigers, bringing world-class sprint freestyles to an already top-notch group.
Meynen’s National Record in the 50 meter freestyle was set this summer at Kazan, Russia when she tied for 29th place at the FINA World Championship with 25.55. She also holds the Luxembourg Record in the 100 freestyle from August 2014 with the 55.29 she turned in at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. She is part of the National Record 4×100 free, 4×200 free and 4×100 medley relays for her home country as well.
Auburn is typically a power in the sprints and it makes sense for a sprinter of this caliber to want to join Hawke and his crew, but the Tigers were shut out of individual scoring at the 2015 NCAAs in the 50 and 100 freestyles. Their 200 and 400 free relays fared better, with 5th and 8th place finishes respectively. Both of those relay squads were exceptionally young, each losing only Megan Fonteno to graduation.
This year so far, returning relay members junior Allyx Purcell and sophomore Ashton Ellzey have turned in the #3 and #4 ranked times for NCAA Division 1 at 22.59 and 22.61 respectively, indicating that they may already be much stronger than they were last year. Add to this that the Tigers are receiving strong contributions from freshmen Aly Tetzloff and Erin Falconer in the freestyle relays and we have a bright future in the works for Auburn. With all of these athletes eligible to return next year, Mynen will be joining what will be an incredibly experienced relay squad, and will add to a level of depth that may do serious damage to the sprints if Auburn can work their traditional magic.
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