Auburn Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving teams defeated in-state rival University of Alabama for the Iron Bowl of the Pool, Nov. 12 at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
The teams combined won 16 events. They also earned 12 NCAA Provision "B" qualifying times.
When asked about the significance of NCAA "B" cuts, senior Tyler McGill said, "NCAAs have 'A' and 'B' standards. If you achieve an 'A' standard, you automatically qualify for NCAA's, and if you have a 'B' standard, you have the potential to be selected as an at large participant. 'A' standards are rare to see until the end of the year, so to accomplish that 'B' standard now tells me we are in a good spot for this point in the season and sets us up well the rest of the way."
There was a turnout of 1,156 fans for the All Auburn, All Orange event.
Both teams were undefeated going into the meet.
The Auburn women defeated Alabama 134-107.
The Auburn men scored 142 points with Alabama trailing with 101 points.
"We are extremely pleased with the way our women's and men's teams performed against Alabama," said head coach Brett Hawke. "Clearly they are one of our biggest rivals, and it feels great when our student-athletes step up and race tough against them. Alabama is an up and coming program, and I am excited about the outcome, not only with the victory, but how our team handled themselves."
The swimming portion of the meet began with the women's 400 medley relay.
Auburn's relay team of senior Melissa Marik, sophomore Micah Lawrence, senior Ava Ohlgren and sophomore Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace came in first place, qualifying for an NCAA "B" time of 3:40.85.
"It's always good to win relays, not only because they score the most points," Marik said. "But for me they are more fun than the individual races."
Freshman Katie Gardocki won both the 1,650 freestyle and the 500 freestyle against Alabama. Gardocki earned her first NCAA "B" cut in the 1,650 with a time of 16:34.88.
Vanderpool-Wallace placed first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.17. She also earned first in the 100 freestyle qualifying for an NCAA "B" cut with a time of 50.18.
"The 'B' cut is exciting, because it's nice to know that I can get it this early in the season," Vanderpool-Wallace said. "It is motivation to me, because I know that I am that much closer to achieving the 'A' cut later on."
Junior Caitlin Geary placed first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:48.96.
Sophomore Stephanie Horner came in first place in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:01.45.
Auburn's women scored first and second place in the 200 backstroke.
"Our team is truly a family, not just in the pool," Vanderpool-Wallace said. "I think that knowing that you can count on everyone to be there if you need them is an important aspect that makes our team so unique."
Marik placed first earning an NCAA "B" cut with a time of 1:58.02.
Junior Erica Meissner finished second also earning an NCAA "B" cut with a time of 1:58.23.
"I was pretty happy with my swims," Marik said. "Personally, I think I swam well, but looking back on my race I saw a few things that will help me improve before our next meet against Georgia."
In the diving portion of the meet, sophomore Vennie Dantin came in second place on the 1-meter and earned an NCAA Zone score of 278.77.
Dantin also earned an NCAA Zone score of 288.90 on the 3-meter, placing her in fourth place.
Sophomore Anna Aguero came in third place in the 1-meter dive with a score of 261.00.
In the men's 400 medley relay, junior Jared White, senior Michael Silva, McGill and sophomore Christopher Fox took first place with an NCAA "B" time of 3:14.67.
"Being on the winning relays feels great," McGill said. "Auburn swimming has always built their success around relays so to continue that tradition and expectation is very important to the rest of the team and me."
Senior Gideon Louw won both the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle for the Auburn Men's team with times of 19.87 and 44.20 respectively. Those times earned Louw two NCAA "B" cuts.
McGill also earned an NCAA "B" cut in the 200 butterfly. McGill placed first with a time of 1:47.56.
"Winning the 200 fly is something that I was really happy to do for our team," McGill said. "It kept our momentum going from the previous events and set the tone for the second half of the meet. Alabama usually has some guys that challenge us in the fly events, so to come out on top was a good feeling."
Earning first place in the men's 200 breaststroke was Auburn junior Adam Klein with the time 2:00.21.
Freshman Kyle Owens took first place in the 200 individual medley with an NCAA "B" qualifying time of 1:49.31.
The meet ended with the men's 800 freestyle relay. Fox, Louw, McGill and junior Kohlton Norys, also finished first with an NCAA "B" time of 6:41.58.
"The team spirit we have for each other is very important," McGill said. "We realize that no one person is going to be able to win the NCAA team title by themselves, so it's important that we get each other's back and keep one another motivated all year. We always want to represent Auburn University the best we can. The University has given all of us a great opportunity and to show any disrespect to ourselves or our opponent would be a great disservice to Auburn University."
Coming in second place in the men's 1-meter diving, freshman Thad Ellis earned an NCAA Zone score of 338.32.
Senior Kelly Marx finished second on the 3-meter with an NCAA Zone score of 404.77. Marx also earned an NCAA Zone score of 332.69 in the 1-meter diving.
"This was a great win and it always feel good to defeat an SEC opponent, as the SEC conference is the premier conference in college swimming," Hawke said. "We knew that Alabama was going to be ready to face us, but we were ready for the challenge."
Auburn remains undefeated going into this weekend's meet against the University of Georgia.
"UGA is a very good team," Hawke said. "It will be fun to watch both the women and men step up and compete with one of the best teams in the country. I feel that if we can get a great crowd at the meet our teams will perform extremely well and make for an exciting meet."
The Tigers face off at home against the Bulldogs Nov. 20 at 4 p.m.
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