Auburn had a strong morning of preliminaries Friday, March 22 at the 2013 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, earning three individual berths and a relay qualification for the finals at the IUPUI Natatorium.
The 200-yard medley relay got the morning off to a strong start, qualifying eighth in the preliminaries and advancing to the championship final. Auburn's team of Emily Bos, Lauren Norberg, Olivia Scott and Hannah Riordan clocked a time of 1:36.90 to finish second in their heat and grab the last qualifying spot for the A-final.
Scott then came back about an hour later and earned a second return swim, qualifying fourth overall in the 100 butterfly. Her time of 51.96 was one of five swims this morning that broke the 52-second barrier. Scott was the runner-up in the 100 fly at the 2012 NCAA Championships.
Lauren Norberg posted the top time of her career in the 100 breast and the third-fastest in Auburn history with a 59.46 to qualify 12th overall and advance to the consolation final. Senior Micah Lawrence missed the consolation final by a fingernail with a time of 1:00.13, finishing 17th and grabbing the first alternate position. Lindsey Norberg also narrowly missed a return swim, finishing 19th in 1:00.32, and Abby Duncan was 27th overall with a 1:00.87.
The morning ended on a high note as junior Emily Bos earned her second berth in a consolation final this week. Her time of 52.40 was a personal-best, lowering her time that already ranked her as the fourth fastest in Auburn history, and put her in a tie for 12th place, giving her a spot in the B-final. Freshman Jillian Vitarius was 35th with a 53.71, and junior Aubrey Peacockwas 37th in 53.73.
Finals get underway at 7 p.m. ET. Auburn will have swimmers in all the events listed above, along with timed finals in the 800 freestyle relay. Links to live stats and live video are available at AuburnTigers.com, and fans can follow @AuburnSwimming on Twitter for the latest updates from the pool.
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