AU ROUNDUP: Swimming & diving splits with Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. - The No. 7-ranked Auburn swimming and diving team combined for 11 NCAA Provisional “B” cut times Friday as the Tigers split at Georgia.

The men topped the ninth-ranked Bulldogs, 163-136, while Auburn’s women fell, 167-128, to second-ranked UGA.

The meet was the season-opening dual meet of the 2008-09 season for the Tigers and the first meeting against UGA since Auburn opened against the Bulldogs in the 2004-05 season.

Auburn’s men won nine of the 16 individual events, led by senior Matt Targett and sophomore Kohlton Norys with two wins each. Targett won the 50 free with a B cut time of 19.73 while pulling out the win in the 100 fly with a time of 47.92. Norys won the 100 back with a time of 48.84 and the 200 back with a 1:47.12.

Both Targett and Norys swam on the two winning Auburn relays that also set B cut times. The team of Norys, Michael Silva, Targett and Gideon Louw that clocked a B cut time of 1:28.03. The relay team of Norys, Louw, Tyler McGill and Targett alsp won the 400 free relay with a B cut time of 2:56.77.

Diver Kelly Marx also swept the diving events with NCAA Zone standard scores in both. He won the 1-meter with a 319.12 and the three-meter with a 351.52. Fellow Tiger Dan Mazzaferro finished second in the three-meter with a Zone score of 335.85.

On the women’s side, the Tigers picked up wins in five of the 16 events, led by junior Ava Ohlgren with two victories. Ohlgren swam a B cut time of 1:58.20 in the 200 fly for the win and also touched in with a victorious provisional time of 1:59.73 in the 200 IM.

Senior Rachel Goh picked up her first win of the season after taking last year off to train for Australian Olympic Trials. She clocked a 53.43 in the 100 back, a NCAA B cut, to pick up the win for Auburn. She followed up a short time later with another win, sweeping the backstroke events as she posted a 1:57.67 in the 200 back.

Goh also swam on Auburn’s relay teams, picking up a win and a NCAA cut. She swam backstroke on the second-place 200 medley relay team with Micah Lawrence, Alana Dillette and Emile Ewing that posted a B cut time of 1:41.64. She also swam anchor on the 400 free relay team with Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Melissa Marik and Ewing that won with a B cut time of 3:19.

Marik picked up a B cut time of her own as she finished second in the 200 free with a time of 1:48.18. Rounding out Auburn’s provisional times was sophomore Micah Martindale with a time of 4:48.16.

The last of Auburn’s wins in the meet came from Lawrence, as she clocked a 2:15.83 in the 200 breast.

The Auburn swimming and diving team returns to action Nov. 21-22 as the Tigers travel to Tuscaloosa to take on in-state rival Alabama.

Cross Country heads to NCAA Regional
The No. 12 Auburn men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Maryville, Tenn., to run in the NCAA South Regional today.

The women’s 6K will get underway at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s 10K at 10 a.m. on the Lambert Acres Golf Course.

“This meet is all about qualifying for the NCAA Championships and for us that means to finish in the top three,” head coach Peter Watson said. “We did a great job during the season accumulating wins. Holly Knight will out there racing hard to try to get an individual berth to NCAAs and maybe give a go to pick up an individual win. Our women really want to go out and try and improve on their fifth-place finish from the SECs.”

Today’s race is one of nine regional races across the country where teams and individuals will seek a ticket to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 24 in Terre Haute, Ind. The first- and second-place teams earn an automatic bid to Terre Haute and the top-three finishers not on a qualifying team will also head to Indiana. At-large selections for teams will be announced Sunday.

Auburn’s men enter the race as the second-ranked squad in the South Region. Alabama is ranked first in the region. The pair of in-state rivals are the only two nationally-ranked teams in the field, with Alabama ranked fifth and Auburn 12th. Ranked fourth in the South Region, Florida is receiving votes in the national poll.

The Tiger women are ranked fifth in the South Region. Florida State is ranked first in the region and third nationally. Southeastern Conference foe Florida is ranked second in the region and 15th nationally.

Tennessee is receiving votes nationally and is third in the region.

Volleyball falls in five sets at LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. — In a back-and-forth Southeastern Conference volleyball match, Auburn (6-22, 1-16 SEC) was unable to clinch the decisive fifth set against LSU (15-9, 10-7 SEC) and suffered a 3-2 loss Friday night in the Maravich Assembly Center.

Jessica Glover, Kelly Fidero and Jonelle Wallace each provided Auburn with double-digit kills in the defeat.

The Tigers saw seven players register kills on the night, led by Glover’s 16. Fidero tallied a dozen and Wallace added 11. Milena Bukinac also chipped in seven kills.

Pushed to five sets, the match was a see-saw battle with Auburn taking a tight first-set victory, 25-23. LSU answered back, winning the second set, 25-16, only to be defeated in the third set by a score of 25-16. The Bayou Bengals mirrored in the fourth set via 25-18 victory. In the decisive fifth set, Auburn managed only three kills and fell, 15-6.

LSU was led by Michele Williams with 16 kills and a game-high .382 attack percentage. She also added a pair of aces. Elena Martinez had 22 digs to lead the LSU defense.

Auburn’s Sara Shanks led the Tiger defense and notched a double-double with 21 digs and 39 assists. Not only did Glover and Wallace have double-digit kills, but the duo also had double-doubles with 11 and 14 digs, respectively.

The Tigers wrap up their weekend road trip Sunday at Georgia (15-12, 8-8 SEC) in the Ramsey Student Center at 12:30 p.m.