The Auburn Water Polo club invited 10 teams to participate in the 14th Annual Chris Young Memorial Tournament this weekend.
"The tournament seemed to be a success, a few of our hostesses helped run the table and make preparations for the tournament which was a huge help," said Patrick Gilday, club president and senior in software engineering.
Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Emory, Dynamo, Tulane, Texas and an Auburn Alum team traveled to The Plains.
Georgia was invited but pulled out at the last minute, leaving Auburn to fill its time slots. "All of the preparation is hard, but once the tournament starts it is fun because we are playing games and you get to see alumni and meet players from other schools in between games," Gilday said. "It did not take away from how I play, probably because our hostess group could handle the table and I did not have to worry during the game about that. "
Saturday, Auburn lost to Emory and Texas, 7-5 and 11-2 respectively, and beat the Auburn Alum 11-7.
Sunday, the Tigers fell to Vanderbilt 11-5.
Despite the weekend's unfavorable tournament record, the team is optimistic about the future.
"We all got better as a team throughout the weekend especially our offense, and I think learning from this weekend is going to help us out a lot for future tournaments," said Logan McKenney, senior in chemistry.
Chris Young, an Auburn Water Polo player who helped to start the club, was tragically killed in a car accident in 1996, during his senior year.
At the time of his passing, Young was in the process of fundraising for equipment for the team.
The memorial tournament has been held every year in Young's honor, in addition to retiring Young's number, 13.
"My favorite part is seeing Mrs. ( Joan) Young there to give the trophy and just playing the game," McKenney said. "Water polo is a fun sport."
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