AU WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING: Tigers finish in eighth at NCAAs

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The 2010 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships concluded Saturday night at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center, seeing the Auburn women’s swimming and diving team finish eighth overall with 153 points.

“This group of women really showed true Auburn spirit tonight and fought to the end,” head coach Brett Hawke said. “I’m so proud to be associated with the women’s team for the first time and am excited for the promise this team has in years to come.”

Three seniors — Ava Ohlgren, Melissa Marik and Maggie Bird — swam for Auburn in the meet. The three combined for 50 All-America honors during their four years and have enjoyed plenty of success as part of the team. They were members of the 2007 national title squad and the 2007 and 2008 SEC-winning teams.

“These seniors have been through a lot during their four years at Auburn,” Hawke said. “They have gone through tough situations and I’m very proud with how they’ve battled through and been leaders on the team.”

In individual competition, sophomore Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace represented the Tigers in the 100 free championship final after she clocked the fastest time of the morning of 47.74. That mark also broke her school-record time of 47.93 that was set last season.

Vanderpool-Wallace finished fifth in the final, touching in 47.94.

The diving corps of Anna Aguero and Vennie Dantin picked up Auburn’s first platform All-America honors since 2007.

Dantin qualified for her first-ever NCAA championship final in the event and finished sixth overall with a score of 286.75 to earn All-America honors. Aguero took 12th in the competition with 255.70 points to pick up All-America honorable mention honors.

“I can’t be more proud of how these two competed in their first NCAA meet,” head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. “It is difficult to get here and even more difficult to score points. They really stepped up today and really shown their improvement. We’re happy to contribute to the team’s overall success because that is why we are here and we take great pride in that.”

Also scoring individual points for the Tigers were Micah Lawrence and Ohlgren. Lawrence swam in the 200 breast consolation championship and finished 16th overall in 2:12.63, while Ohlgren took 14th in the 200 fly, finishing in a season-best time of 1:56.12.

Closing out the 2010 meet was the 400 free relay, seeing the team of Hannah Riordan, Marik, Caitlin Geary and Vanderpool-Wallace represent Auburn in the championship final. The group finished fifth overall in a season-best time of 3:15.05.

Florida came away with a slim victory over Stanford for the team national championship. The Gators won the meet with 382 points, while Stanford finished second with 379.5 points. California took third (363), while Arizona was fourth (349.5) and Georgia was fifth (342.5).

The Auburn men look to defend the 2009 team title next week as the Tigers travel to Columbus, Ohio, for the 2010 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships.

The three-day meet is set for March 25-27 on the campus of Ohio State University.