The Florida Gators placed first after defeating UGA in the final match of the 15th annual Chris Young Memorial Tournament hosted by the Auburn Water Polo Club last weekend.
Teams from Georgia, Tennessee, University of Florida, University of Central Florida, Emory, LSU and the Auburn Alumni team all traveled to the Plains to compete.
"Anyone can come to this tournament," said Logan McKenney, club president and team captain. "Teams like Dynamo (a swim club out of Atlanta)are fun because they're so good, and you learn a lot from those games."
Joan Young, mother of Chris Young in whose memory the tournament was played, presented Florida with its trophy Sunday.
Chris Young, a founding member of the water polo club, was killed in a car accident his senior year at Auburn in 1996.
The Auburn club team went 1-4, with an 8-5 win against the Auburn Alumni.
Auburn lost 10-3 to UGA and 10-9 to Tennessee, and LSU narrowly slipped by with a 13-12 win in sudden-death overtime.
A miscommunication led to two Auburn players leaving the pool instead of one in the closing seconds, giving LSU an advantage.
"I didn't look at the ref, and I was doing something illegal, so I assumed it was me," McKenney said. "Six-on-four is a lot harder than six-on-five."
McKenney, senior in chemistry, said this tournament is the alumni tournament in which the alumni travel back to the Plains to compete.
"It's tradition for this tournament to have a pasta dinner at one of the old alumni's," he said.
The tournament comes at the end of league play, which lasts through fall.
League play happens between other SEC club teams, allowing McKenney and the team to prepare for their SEC opponents in tournament play.
Nick Hope, freshman from Southlake, Texas, played goalie for the first time after the starting goalie was unable to play because of an injury.
"I've been training on and off," Hope said. "(The starting goalie) got injured at the beginning of the semester--bruised some ribs and had a hurt shoulder--so I started hitting the goalie thing again."
Hope is adjusting to his new position and the pressure that comes with being the goalkeeper.
"(There was pressure) in that last game," Hope said following the one-point loss to LSU. "Sort of mad we didn't win that one."
Hope played while his family watched from the stands in James E. Martin Aquatic Center.
"We've seen him play in high school, but not here at Auburn," said Randy Hope, Nick's father. "I've never seen him play goalie before."
Randy and Jenny Hope flew from Texas to watch their son.
The club team will compete April 9 at the University of Tennessee's Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn.
"We've improved a lot this year thanks to just being able to scrimmage during practice because we have enough people on the team this year," McKenney said. "It was a tough loss, but it was a lot closer than we used to get in games."
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