After seeking her first victory in a distance event earlier this year, senior swimmer Ashley Neidigh is now at the top of the conference. On Saturday, she topped the entire SEC, winning the 1650 freestyle.
Neidigh became the programs eighth SEC mile champion, cruising to 15:56.95 to win the race by 10 seconds over second place. The win makes her Auburn’s first female individual SEC swimming champion since Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace won the 50 free in 2012.
“I came in knowing there was eight to ten girls that could win the event,” Neidigh said. “I really wanted it and I went out there and got it for Auburn. It has been a goal of mine (to win an individual SEC title) since I was 16 so to get one my senior year is very exciting.”
“It’s amazing to see (Ashley’s) transformation over four years,” head coach Brett Hawke said. “She stuck with the process and has grown so much. To come out and perform like that as a senior is a testament to her and how hard she works.”
On the men's side, a trio of Tigers were grabbing top-four finishes. Scott Lazeroff placed second on the platform, Joe Patching took third in the 200 backstroke and Michael Duderstadt was fourth in the 200 breaststroke.
Lazeroff grabbed his second straight top-three finish on the platform, finishing a career-best 461.00, which was good enough for second. That came just after his prelims performance in which he scored a 447.85, which at the time was a career-best.
“Platform is where I am most confident and where I have the most fun,” Lazeroff said. “I fought as hard as I could.”
“We all know that platform is Scott’s love and he came this morning with focus and with the mission to make up for his springboard performance,” diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. “Two lists, both were personal-bests, and I’m real proud of his performance tonight.”
Patching brought home a bronze medal with a third-place showing in the 200 back in his final SEC race.
Auburn’s men finished third in the team standings with 925.5 points, making it 25 consecutive top-three finishes in a row, the longest active streak in the SEC.
“We are a proud, rich tradition at Auburn and we certainly never want that to end, but we are disappointed we are not on the top of the podium holding that trophy,” Hawke said. “It fuels us every year that we are not there. We get hungrier and hungrier.”
The Auburn women took fifth with 849 points.
“I’m really happy with the way team fought from start to finish,” Hawke said. “We always want to compete for championships. In the end we just ran out of numbers.
Florida won the men’s event with 1271.5 points while Texas A&M earned the women’s title with 1304 points.
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