AUBURN VS. TENNESSEE VS. WISCONSIN
- Results
- Hosted by Auburn
- Friday, October 13th – Saturday, October 14th
- 25 Yards
- Dual Meet Format
TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 1
- WOMEN: Auburn 106, Tennessee 80
- WOMEN: Auburn 116, Wisconsin 69
- WOMEN: Tennessee 103, Wisconsin 83
- MEN: Tennessee 98, Auburn 88
- MEN: Auburn 133, Wisconsin 53
- MEN: Tennessee 135, Wisconsin 55
The Auburn women and Tennessee men led the way through day 1 of their tri-meet with Wisconsin. The Tigers swept the sprint free races, with Julie Meynen winning the 100 free and Ashton Ellzey winning he 50 free. Meynen, who has been undefeated in the 100 free at dual meets since her freshman season (2016-17), extended her winning streak with a 49.46 to outpace Wisconsin’s Emmy Sehmann (49.96). Ellzey was the only women to break 23 in the 50 free, clocking in at 22.92.
Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson had a strong performance, winning 2 individual races. Nelson first won the 200 IM against Tennessee’s Meghan Small. SEC champ Small had the lead through the 150 after putting up a faster middle 100, but Nelson roared home in 27.95 to out-touch her, 1:59.24 to 1:59.64. That gave Nelson, a sophomore, the 10th fastest time in school history. She went on to dominate the 200 back, touching in 1:55.51 ahead of Small (1:58.82).
On the men’s side, seniors David Heron and Sam McHugh helped Tennessee to a 10-point lead over Auburn. Heron and teammate Taylor Abbott battled closely in the 1000 free. Abbott held the lead by 2.5 seconds with 200 yards to go, but Heron started to creep up on him. When it came down to the final 100, Heron kicked it into another gear, charging home in 50.74 to win with a 9:10.37 over Abbott’s 9:10.63.
Abbott returned shortly after for the 200 fly to battle with McHugh. They were separated by just 2 tenths at the 100, but McHugh was able to build his lead to win in 1:48.18 to Abbott’s 1:49.20.
Freshman Hugo Gonzalez picked up a pair of wins for Auburn. In the 200 IM (1:47.15), Gonzalez used his front half speed to establish his lead over Tennessee’s McHugh (1:47.88). He then dominated the 200 back, posting a 1:45.53 for the win.
PRESS RELEASE – WISCONSIN:
AUBURN, Ala. – Earlier this week, Wisconsin coach Whitney Hite mentioned that he expects big things from Beata Nelson this season. On Friday, Nelson made Hite a man of his word.
The sophomore shined in the pool, winning the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard backstroke. Nelson’s finish of 1 minute, 59.24 seconds in the 200 IM was good for the 10th-fastest time in school history, and she finished the 200 back in 1:55.51, a full 3.31 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
Friday’s performance at Auburn’s Martin Aquatic Center came in the season-opening competition for the 12th-ranked Badgers women and 25th-ranked men, a double dual meet with Auburn and Tennessee.
“Beata swam very well today,” Hite said. “That did not come as a surprise. She’s very talented, and she’s in a much different place than she was last year.”
Nelson was also part of the women’s 400-yard medley relay squad that opened the meet with a third-place finish. The relay squad also featured Jess Unicomb, Marissa Berg and Emmy Sehmann, and finished with a time of 3:39.96.
Notable
- The duo of Megan Doty and Alex Reddington finished first and second, respectively, in the women’s 200 butterfly. Doty’s time of 2:02.29 was good for seventh-best in school history.
- Senior captain Victor Goicoechea finished third in the men’s 1000 freestyle. His time of 9:12.93 is the seventh-fastest in school history.
- The women’s 200 freestyle relay squad (Unicomb, Abby Jagdfeld, Sehmann and Berg) took second place, finishing in 1:32.30.
- In addition to her strong relay performances, Sehmann placed second in the 100 freestyle (49.96).
- North Dakota transfer Tyler Zelen made his Wisconsin debut, finishing fifth in the men’s 50-yard free (20.64) and taking part in the men’s 200 freestyle relay squad that finished third. The team of Zelen, Jon Salomon, Ryan Stack and Griffin Back finished in 1:21.93.
- Junior Maddie Tew finished third in the women’s 1000 freestyle (10:06.51).
Quotable
On the team’s opening meet performance:
“Good start to the season. We know that we were going up against elite programs. And I thought we competed pretty darn well today.”
“It’s still early. We’ve only been practicing for five and a half weeks, which is not very long. We’re a little behind other programs in that regard but that’s no excuse. We definitely have a lot of room for improvement, but we want to be our best in February in March, so we’re in good shape.”
On Megan Doty and Alex Reddington’s 1-2 finish in the 200 fly:
“Those were some great swims. Megan is a model of consistency, and we expect that out of her. And Alex, for a freshman, that was an outstanding swim.”
On the men’s team:
“We had some good swims on the men’s side. Ryan Stack did a great job today, started off his season very well. Tyler Zelen had an awesome debut. And I thought Todd McCarthy had a great swim in the 200 fly.”
– Head coach Whitney Hite
Up Next
The Badgers are back in action against the Tigers and Volunteers on Saturday as the teams close out their two-day competition. The meet resumes at 9:30 a.m. (CT).
PRESS RELEASE – AUBURN:
One day into the competition season and Auburn’s swimming and diving coaching staff has seen a lot of positives.
Halfway through a two day, double dual meet with Wisconsin and Tennessee, the Auburn women are winning both meets while the men are ahead of Wisconsin but trail Tennessee.
“I thought we had a great first day of competition,” head coach Brett Hawke said. “Our relays were really strong, which is good as we will lean on them heavily throughout the year. I’m looking forward to some strong racing tomorrow.”
In total, Auburn won nine events on Friday, five by the women and four by the men.
Hugo Gonzalez, a freshman from Spain, picked up a pair of wins, taking down the field in both the 200 IM (1:47.15) and the 200 back (1:45.53). Teammate Petter Fredriksson, a sophomore, was second in the 200 back (1:47.93).
Gonzalez also led off Auburn’s winning 400 medley relay with a 47.45 split, the fastest leadoff split by over two seconds. He was followed by Tommy Brewer in the breaststroke (55.50), Luis Martinez in the fly (46.93) and Peter Holoda in the free (43.63) as Auburn went 3:13.51 to out-touch Tennessee’s top squad and the runner-up by over two seconds.
Sophomore Julie Meynen, who went undefeated in the 100 free during dual meets as a freshman, kept her streak alive on Friday, winning the event in 49.46.
Auburn went 1-2 in the men’s 100 free with Holoda (44.16) and junior Zach Apple (44.36) taking the top two spots. Both sprinters are coming off of 2017 FINA World Championship appearances for their native Hungary and USA, respectively. Apple also took second in the 50 free in 20.21.
Zoe Thatcher led off the individual races with a win in the 1000 free, touching in 10:00.90.
Ashton Ellzey also picked up an individual win, taking home top honors in the 50 free in 22.92.
Auburn’s women swept Friday’s relays winning the 400 medley relay in 3:38.74 and the 200 free relay in 1:31.68. Aly Tetzloff (53.86), Breanna Roman (1:02.66), Haley Black (53.60) and Meynen (48.62) teamed up on the medley relay while it was Meynen (23.11), Tetzloff (22.74), Ellzey (22.45) and Roby Clevenger (23.38) knocking off the field in the 200 free relay.
In the diving well, Alison Maillard was Auburn’s top finisher in the women’s 1-meter competition with a second-place 278.20 while Pete Turnham (336.15) and Logan Andrews (331.55) finished third and fourth, respectively, on the 3-meter. All three scores were Zone Diving qualifying scores.
“Overall it was a solid day for us with three zone scores,” diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. “We are using these early meets to find out a little about ourselves, find what areas we are weak in and apply those corrections.”
The meet concludes on Saturday beginning at 9:30 a.m. Events to be contested are: 200 medley relay, 200 free, 400 IM, men’s 1-meter, 100 fly, 100 back, 500 free, women’s 3-meter, 100 breast and 400 free relay.
Team Scores After Day One
Men
Auburn 88
Tennessee 98
Auburn 133
Wisconsin 53
Women
Auburn 106
Tennessee 80
Auburn 116
Wisconsin 69
PRESS RELEASE – TENNESSEE:
AUBURN, Ala. — The Tennessee swimming and diving team won a combined eight events Friday to start a two-day double dual meet against Auburn and Wisconsin.
The Tennessee men won six events and lead Auburn 98-88 and Wisconsin 135-55. The Tennessee women, winners of two events, lead Wisconsin 103-83 but trail Auburn 106-80.
Senior Sam McHugh helped lead the way on the men’s side, winning the 200-yard butterfly (1:48.18) and coming in second place in the 200 individual medley, good for his first NCAA B-cut time of the young season (1:47.88).
Senior David Heron led off individual races with a victory in the 1,000 freestyle (9:10.37), beating out sophomore teammate Taylor Abbott by less than a second. Abbott also got second in the 200 butterfly.
Junior Kyle DeCoursey won the 50 freestyle and teamed up at the end of the session with Braga Verhage, Ryan Coetzeeand Alec Connolly to win the 200 freestyle relay (1:20.46). DeCoursey was also third in the 100 freestyle.
Redshirt junior Colin Zeng crossed the 400-point marker for his first time as a Vol, scoring 410.35 to win the men’s 3-meter springboard over senior teammate Liam Stone (396.25).
Junior Matthew Dunphy edged out a win over Auburn’s Spencer Rowe by .03 seconds, finishing in 2:01.76.
On the women’s side, junior Rachel Rubadue won the 1-meter springboard in 280.05, and freshman Alexis Yager took the 200 breaststroke in 2:15.90.
Sophomore Meghan Small was second in the 200 IM and the 200 backstroke.
