It's time again for stopwatches, goggles and swim caps in Auburn.
Auburn's swimming and diving team, set to defend its streak of 15 consecutive men's SEC titles, starts its season Sept. 24 in the intrasquad Orange and Blue meet.
Coach Brett Hawke said preparation now is essential for a good spring and summer, when the bigger meets take place.
"We are really focused on the Olympics in July next year," Hawke said. "Ultimately, that's where everyone would like to end up. We are focusing on that, and we also have the mindset of wanting to do well at NCAAs. We are trying to get in as much work as possible in the fall so it will set us up for some really good racing in the lead-up to the Olympics."
Hawke, in his second year as head coach, said Auburn's past success puts pressure on him to succeed.
"I think there is pressure that I put on myself, but I think that once you can get past that you can get back to the basics, wanting to be great and trying to control what you can control," Hawke said.
Hawke's expectation for this season is to build off last season's SEC title.
"We want to continue to grow and continue our streak of 15 SEC titles on the men's side," Hawke said. "We want to try and get better than we were last year, which was sixth on the men's side at NCAAs and eighth on the women's."
The Auburn women start the SEC schedule at home against the University of Arkansas Oct. 5, while the men start Oct. 21 against Louisiana State University.
This year's important additions to the schedule are the women's team facing Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Oct. 21 and both the men's and women's teams facing Penn State Nov. 4. Hawke said racing these teams gives Auburn a chance to race against teams they are not as familiar with.
Both the men's and women's teams race traditional powerhouse and rival Georgia Nov. 11.
After the dive team travels to the Georgia Tech Invitational set to take place Nov. 18-20, the swim team ends the fall portion of the schedule at the Georgia Invitational in Athens Dec. 2-4.
They will face Georgia, defending national champion California, Virginia, Harvard, UNC-Wilmington and Indiana at this meet.
The dive team wraps up the fall portion of the
schedule at the USA Diving Winter Nationals Dec. 15-22 and starts the spring portion at the Georgia Diving Invitational Jan. 3-5.
The men will try to defend their SEC title Feb. 15-18 in Knoxville, Tenn. After the Bulldog Invitational in Athens, Ga., Feb 24-26, both teams host the James. E Martin Invitational. The dive team then hosts the NCAA Zone B Diving Regional March 8-10.
The women end the season hosting the NCAA championships at the Martin Aquatic Center March 15-17. The Tigers last hosted the championship in 2003,where they won the national title.
The men's NCAA championships are March 22-24 in Seattle.
Katherine Askew, sophomore in accounting, enjoys watching the aquatic Tigers.
"I love going to the swim meets and watching them race," Askew said. "I love the relays the most because they can get pretty intense."
Mic Mims, senior in agriculture economics, thinks its great that other sports other than football are excelling at Auburn.
"I think its great that Auburn is not a one-sport University," Mims said. "It shows we are not all about football. The more championships we have in other sports the better."
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