Auburn's swimming and diving team continued its dominance Friday, Oct. 12, besting Alabama in 24-of-26 events in the season-opening dual meet at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center.
The Tiger men raced past their in-state rivals by a score of 175-68, as the women's squad outshined the Crimson Tide 182-62. The victory pushed both Auburn teams to 1-0 on the dual meet season, while Alabama's men and women each fell to 1-1.
The Auburn women swept the pool in six of 11 individual events and placed first and second in both relays. The men's team went 13-for-13 on the day with top-three sweeps in three individual events.
"I was really happy with the attitude and the willingness to race today," coach Brett Hawke said. "Like I said earlier, this is not just a regular dual meet. This is Auburn-Alabama. We wanted to show our swimming supremacy in the state, and this kind of kickstarts our SEC season, too. We're feeling good about the way we started."
"We've been itching to get this season started, and Alabama was the opponent that happened to come into our pool today. We were ready to race. The guys have been working hard in the training pool, and it paid off."
Senior Kyle Owens jump-started the Tiger men's winning-streak as the leadoff leg of the 200-yard medley relay, helping a team of senior Stuart Ferguson, juniors TJ Leon and Zane Grothe to a first-place finish in 1:30.66. Auburn's fourman team of seniors Brandon Siemasko and Chandler Gerlach and sophomores Kevin Behrens and Sam Parker secured second place with a time of 1:33.69, narrowly escaping Alabama's top team.
Owens went on to take first in the 200 IM (1:49.42), heading a top-three sweep alongside sophomore Alex Hancock (1:49.52) and freshman Jordan Jones (1:53.25). Owens' 1:47.57 grabbed the top spot in the 200 backstroke, giving him victories in all three races he competed in.
Junior Marcelo Chierighini also went 3-for-3 on the day, swimming a 20.24 in the 50m freestyle and a 44.44 in the 100m free.
He led the Tigers to their final win of the meet, swimming the leadoff leg of the 200-yard medley relay to kickstart the team of James Disney-May, Hancock and Leon to a 3:00.17 victory.
Grothe, senior Hannah Riordan and junior Olivia Scott each picked up wins in three events to extend Auburn's margin of victory over the Crimson Tide.
The diving team added to the Tigers' success. Junior John Santeiu IV finished with wins in 1-and-3-meter diving. His winning score of 348.83 in the 1-meter event earned him an NCAA Zone qualifying score. He led an Auburn sweep of the top three spots while collecting another Zone score in the 3-meter event with a 355.58. Sophomores Michael Beran (341.10) and Fraser McKean (321.68) rounded out the event, placing second and third respectively.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
