The Auburn swimming and diving teams traveled to Gainesville, Florida to take on the Gators in a battle of some top ranked programs.
The seventh-ranked mens' team was able to overcome the No. 3 Gators to seal a win by a score of 154.5-145.5. The ninth-ranked women fell to the No. 15 Gators by a score of 192-108.
"It's a big win for us. It's a statement win," said Auburn head coach Brett Hawke. "We haven't beaten Florida in five years. It feels good. It's nice to get that swag back were the guys feel like the better team and race like they wanted to win. It was neck-and-neck the whole way. Florida is a great team, don't get me wrong. They are great top to bottom but we had some great individual performances.”
The Tigers came out hot in the swimming portion of the meet with the women sweeping the 200 medley relay and the men securing the top two spots. Auburn soon cooled down and had to wait another six events before getting another win.
The next wins came in the 100 breaststroke from Annie Lazor and Michael Duderstadt. Lazor finished with an Olympic Trial-qualifying time of 1:11.10, but she didn't stop there. Lazor was able to finish the 200 breaststroke with another Olympic Trial-qualifying time of 2:31.66. Michael Duderstadt also went on to complete the sweep of the breaststroke events, winning the 200 in 2:23.12.
The Tigers were also very strong in the diving portion of the meet, as they swept the 1-meter, led by Justin Youtsey with a score of 342.15
“I thought we did a good job starting off with the sweep on 1-meter,” said head diving coach Jeff Shaffer. “This is a very difficult and unique facility to train and compete in but the kids did a great job last night getting a quality workout in. It really helped them today as we got off to a strong start.”
In all, the men's team contributed nine wins and the women's team added another three. The Tigers will close the dual meet season on Friday, Jan. 29th at home against Florida State University and the University of Wisconsin. The meet is set to start at noon, but the swimming and diving program will be honoring the seniors on the teams before the meet.
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