By Andy Ross
Every team has one. Every school has that one other school that they refuse to cheer for. The one school that they cannot stand to watch win. The one school that they bust their butt every single day to beat. The one school that is circled on the schedule from the first day of practice. The one school where everyone brings their A-game. The one school where season records are thrown out the door, reputations are on the line, and bragging rights are at stake.
1. Auburn-Georgia Women
The dominance that these teams had in the 2000's in women's swimming is unprecedented. From 1999-2007, Auburn and Georgia dominated the competition. Georgia three-peated from 1999-2001 and Auburn followed that up with a three-peat of their own from 2002-04. Georgia won in 2005 to end the Tigers' while and Auburn upset the Dogs in 2006 and backed it up with another win in 2007. In the SEC championships, the two teams have won every year since 1997 with the exception of two won by Florida.
Even though the two teams are in the same conference, the Tigers and Bulldogs faced each other in a dual meet only once in the 99-07 run -- in the fall of 2004. Georgia beat Auburn that year, 138-105. Later in that season, Auburn beat the Dogs at the SEC Championships. But it was a different story at the 2005 NCAA's as one of the best Georgia teams in history scored 609.5 points on their way to the NCAA crown. They became the first team in NCAA history to win all five relays at the NCAA meet. The Bulldogs were set to repeat in their home pool in the 2006 NCAAs.
The meet started off with Arizona stealing the show winning the first two relays. Georgia won the 500 and 50 free on day one while Auburn used their depth to stay in touch with the lead. Arizona led after day one, Auburn was second and Georgia was third.
The Bulldogs won the 200 medley relay to start off day two and the momentum was going their way. Kara Lynn Joyce won the 200 free with three other girls scoring in that event, all of whom teamed up to win the 800 free relay. Auburn had Rachel Goh win the 100 back and Corey Gerlach finaled in three-meter diving to bring Auburn within 53 points of Georgia after two days as Arizona fell by the wayside.
Hayley Peirsol and Adrienne Binder of Auburn started off the last day finishing first and third in the 1650. The Tigers had five in the top 16 in the 200 back along with three more in the 100 free. Despite Kara Lynn Joyce of Georgia's win in the 100 free, Auburn and Georgia were tied with four events to go. Game on.
Sarah Poewe of Georgia took it out too fast in the 200 breast and faded to seventh while Auburn's Alicia Jensen pulled into third with two other Tiger scorers in the event. Auburn then led by 22 with three events remaining. Mary Descenza of Georgia pulled off a win in the 200 fly for the fourth straight year while teammate Elizabeth Hill was fifth. Auburn had three scorers in the consolation heat and they led by four points going into the 400 free relay.
Georgia was favorited going into the relay as they had won it two years in a row and had two of the best swimmers in the meet (Descenza and Joyce) on it. Arizona had won the 200 free relay but had long since fallen out of team title contention. Still, they were a force to be reckoned with. Auburn was the top seed, but had not won a relay title all weekend. It was simple, if Georgia won the race, Georgia won the meet. If Auburn won the race, Auburn won the meet. With Arizona in there, it got more complicated, but that is why they swim the race.
Mary Descenza gave the Dogs a lead after the first leg, beating out Kara Denby of Auburn by a second. Senior Tricia Harm went next for Georgia and Jana Kolukanova for Auburn. At this point, Arizona senior Jenna Gresdal had taken a slight lead for the Wildcats. Georgia was second and Auburn was third halfway through. Georgia was anchoring with Kara Lynn Joyce meaning if they were anywhere close to the lead, they could pull off the win. At this point it looked like the Dogs were going to win, but Whitney Myers, who won the 200 and 400 IM, put in a clutch leg for Arizona splitting 48.2, and gave Lacey Nymeyer a one second lead over Joyce and Emily Kukors for Auburn. Nymeyer had finished second to Joyce in the 100 free earlier in the meet and held her off. Arizona was first with a 3:12.77. Georgia was second at 3:13.38. Auburn was third at 3:15.00. Auburn were the national champions.
Despite Joyce's anchor leg of 46.92, Auburn won the national championship for the fourth time in five years. It was also the first time since 2002 that a team won the national championship without winning a relay. Auburn was down 53 points going into the last day and clawed its way back and stole the national championship from Georgia in their home pool. Dubbed by coach David Marsh as "one of the best days ever in Auburn swimming," the Tigers scored every swimmer on the final day to maximize their points and it was just enough to get by a stunned Georgia team.
The Tigers went on to claim their fifth national championship in six years at the 2007 NCAA's in Minneapolis. This was David Marsh's last year as head coach of Auburn. The Tigers have not won an NCAA or SEC championship in women's swimming since 2008. Georgia has since dominated the SEC winning each of the last five years while Auburn's dominance in the conference has subsided.
The reason this was No. 1 on my list was the dominance these teams showed in the early 2000's on the national landscape. From 2002-2006, Georgia and Auburn finished first and second at every NCAA championships. The five times they finished first and second, the gap between second and third averaged 77.6 points. The domination these two teams showed was impressive. They were head and shoulders above the rest of the nation. It took until the 2007 NCAAs for Arizona to crack the top two, behind Auburn, while Georgia finished fifth. The dominant rivalry these teams had in the early 2000s will probably not be matched for a long time and that is why the Georgia-Auburn rivalry is the #1 rivalry on this list.
