The Auburn women?s swimming and diving team cruised to a victory over No. 12 Texas, winning each of the first nine swimming events prior to moving to an exhibition while posting a winning margin of 140-91. Auburn improved to 4-1, while Texas slipped to 1-4.
The Tigers recorded four ?A? cut performances and a whopping 14 ?B? cut marks, as well as collecting four zone qualifying scores from the divers.
?We were pretty solid today,? said Auburn women?s co-head coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker. ?The people that have done a nice job the last month or so, it?s really starting to pay off for them. There are still some others that need to improve in the next month or so, and I think they will. But top to bottom, we were very solid.?
Emily Kukors and Adrienne Binder both won two individual events for Auburn with one ?A? cut and one ?B? cut performance, while Kukors also anchored a relay to a provisional qualifying mark.
Kukors posted her automatic qualifying time in the 200 free, winning the event in 1:46.79, while Kristin Hastrup?s second-place time of 1:50.08 met the ?B? cut. Kukors also won the 100 free with a ?B? cut mark of 50.18 seconds, while Kara Denby was third with a provisional qualifying time of 50.91.
Binder led Auburn to a sweep of the top four spots in the 1650 free, cruising to victory with a ?A? cut time of 16:01.35, while Hayley Peirsol (16:24.63), Chelsea Haser (16:51.02) and Maggie Bird (16:51.51) all met the provisional qualifying mark, finishing second, third and fourth, respectively. Binder also won the 500 free with a ?B? cut mark of 4:47.31, while Ava Ohlgren met the ?B? cut standard with a second-place time of 4:52.64, and Bird was third in 4:57.93.
In the 400 IM, Ohlgren had an ?A? cut performance with a winning time of 4:15.01, while Julie Stupp finished second in 4:19.99 and Anne Amardeilh was third in 4:22.86, both posting ?B? cut times. Stupp also posted a ?B? cut time in the 200 breast, winning the exhibition event in 2:15.90.
Hastrup met the ?A? cut mark in the 200 fly, winning the event with a time of 1:58.50, while Tawnie Bethune placed second with a ?B? cut time of 2:00.49.
In the 200 back, Julianne McLane met the ?B? cut mark with a winning time of 1:59.33, while Rachel Goh was second in 2:01.78.
Auburn took the top three spots in the 50 free, as Emile Ewing won in 23.53 seconds, followed by Denby (23.63) and Melissa Marik (24.10).
In the 400 medley relay, Goh, Stupp, Ohlgren and Kukors posted a ?B? cut time of 3:41.42 while winning the event by more than three seconds. Goh, Ewing, Marik and Denby won an exhibition 200 free relay in 1:34.12 to wrap up the evening?s events.
In the diving events, Corey Lynn Gerlach would have won the 3-meter diving had it not been an exhibition, posting a score of 325.35, while Lynnsey Segraves? mark of 297.60 ranked third. Gerlach placed third in the 1-meter event with a score of 275.47, while Segraves finished fifth with a score of 271.42. All four totals were zone qualifying scores.
?Corey, Lynnsey and Emily (Griesemer) posted their best scores of the year on 1-meter to date,? said head diving coach Jeff Shaffer. ?We still have room to improve, but it was very encouraging to see them step up against some really tough competition. On the 3-meter, Cory missed one dive, but everything else was sevens or better and she was able to take the title, and that was big for her. This meet gives us an opportunity to see where we are and what we need to improve on as we approach our final dual meets and get ready for the SEC Championships.?
Auburn will return to action next Friday, Jan. 19, when the Tigers meet Florida at 3 p.m. The Tigers will hold Senior Day ceremonies prior to the meet.
