To cap off an impressive season, the Auburn men’s swim and dive team traveled to Minneapolis for the NCAA Championships hosted by The University of Minnesota. The men went into the meet ranked fifth nationally and second in the SEC. They finished the meet ranked 10th.
"So proud of this week but also the entirety of the year and the belief that began two years ago that we could come back to this meet and be a top 10 program,” said head coach Ryan Wochomurka.
The first night of competition started on March 22nd and was the finals for the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard medley relay.
Auburn could not have started out better, tallying 40 points and doubling the number of points it had after night one last year.
Aidan Stoffle, Reid Mikuta, Nate Stoffle and Kalle Makinen started off the night strong, finishing ninth in the 200-yard medley relay. They touched the wall in 1:22.67. This time was the third-fastest time in Auburn history. In addition, they all were also given All-American Honorable Mention honors.
The program record was broken in the 800-yard freestyle this night as well by Michael Bonson, Ryan Husband, Mason Mathias and Danny Schmidt. They previously had broken the record at the SEC Championships in College Station, Texas.
Finishing in 6:11.64, they earned a podium finish of eighth place. Bonson had a spilt of 1:32.77 which gave him the second-fastest time in school history in the 200 freestyle.
After day one the Tigers sat in eight place.
The next day, the team competed in the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard Individual Medley (I.M.), 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard free relay.
In the prelim session of the 500-yard freestyle, Bonson broke the program record. However, Mathias didn’t let him have it for long. In the next heat, Mathias set the new record finishing in 4:12.15.
In the 200-yard I.M., Jacques Rathle led the pack for the Tigers. He landed 36th place with a 1:43.99. Schmidt moved into 10th place in program history with a 1:44.09 and finished right behind Rathle in 37th place.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Orange and Blue grabbed 10th place. Makinen, Stoffle, Logan Tirheimer and Mihalis Deliyiannis finished in 1:15.85. This time placed them in ninth place in program history.
Auburn finished the day off in ninth place with 57 points.
On the third day, records fell. Mikuta swam the 100-yard breaststroke in 51.06, breaking his previous program record and landing in 10th place. To add on, the junior snagged All-American Honorable Mention honors.
When the 100-yard backstroke came, it was time for the Stoffle brothers to shine. In the prelims, sophomore brother Nate clocked in .04 seconds off his program record, giving him a spot in the A final. The A final consists of the swimmers with the top eight times.
In that final, Nate clocked in at 45.38, putting him in eighth place and landing him All-American honors. In the B final, the consolation final, Aidan swam in 45.09 to jump him to third place in program history and also land him All-American Honorable Mention honors.
The crew that showed up in the 400-yard medley relay for the SECs, are the same crew that swam it at NCAAs.
Nate, Mikuta, Aidan and Makinen finished the race in 12th place with 3:03.76, and they all earned All-American Honorable Mention honors.
The Tigers stayed in ninth place as they closed in on 100 points, finishing with 97.
On the last day, Auburn added two more All-American honors and finished with 127 points overall.
In the 200-yard backstroke race, both the Stoffle brothers competed once again. Aidan set a program record with 1:41.54 and won the B final.
Three Tigers competed in the 200-yard freestyle. Mikuta grabbed 25th overall with 1:53.58. This was his best finish in the event. Bethel clocked in at 1:55.79, putting him in 39th. Rathle snagged 40th when he finished in 1:56.04.
Evan McInerny grabbed 13th place and more points for Auburn in the 200-yard butterfly race. He touched the wall in 1:42.24. This was also a personal best for the junior.
It was the 400-yard freestyle relay crew that solidified the top 10 finish for Auburn. Tirheimer, Makinen, Husband and Aidan finished in an electric 2:48.23. This was the fifth-fastest time in Auburn history and landed the crew ninth in the race.
The Tigers finished with 28 All-American honors from 12 different athletes. This is the most since 2017 and the most under a second-year coach.
This is the end for the Auburn swim season as it looks to build upon this next fall.
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Lily has been with The Plainsman for three years and started out as a Sports Writer before becoming the Operations Editor. She graduates in May of 2024 and is from Washington, D.C.
