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A spirit that is not afraid

Swimming and diving defeat rival Florida

Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams defeated rival Florida Friday evening.

The men's team defeated the Gators by a score of 167-133 while the women's team defeated them by a score of 165-135.

A brief ceremony was held for the senior swimmers and divers, as it will be their last home meet.

Adam Brown, Robert Looney, Adam Klein, Kohlton Norys, Andrew Mitchell, Jared White and Dan Mazzaferro were honored for the men while Caitlin Geary, Erica Meissner, Micah Martindale and Melanie Roberts were honored for the women.

For the seniors, it was just another tight match against Florida, who has been the fiercest competitor against the Tigers in recent years.

"It's always a huge rivalry," Mazzaferro said. "They have great swimmers and strong divers."

"It's just a bitter rivalry," Norys said. "It goes back and forth."

Most events were neck and neck races decided at the last moment and the teams swapped victories throughout most of the meet.

Even when the Auburn men won four straight matches (50-yard Freestyle, 100-yard Freestyle, 200-yard Backstroke and 200-yard Breststroke), the Florida men responded by winning three matches in a row for themselves (500-yard Freestyle, 100-yard Butterfly and 200-yard IM).

"It was tough," said Brett Hawke, the second-year head coach of both teams. "[The rivalry] is about as strong as it gets. There have been some great battles over the years."

Hawke and the rest of the Tigers can now look forward to the SEC Championship, which will be in Gainesville.

The diving championship begins Feb. 11 and lasts until Feb. 13. The swimming championship runs from Feb. 16 to Feb. 19.

Winning an SEC Championship would be nothing new to the Tigers, as the men have done it now for 14 consecutive seasons as well as 16 of the last 17 seasons while the women have won five times in the past seven years.


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