The Auburn Invitational continued to display the talents of our collegiate swimmers on night two. Events tonight included the 200 Medley Relay, 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke and 800 Freestyle Relay.
200 Medley Relay
Women
Georgia won with a 1:36.97 over Auburn’s 1:38.95 and Alabama’s 1:39.18.
The Bulldogs reached the A standard with the help of Olivia Smoliga, 24;49, Melanie Margalis, 26;86, Lauren Harrington, 24.00, and Chantal Van Landeghem, 21.62.
Megan Fonteno from Auburn split 23.63 on the butterfly leg of their relay.
Men
The Auburn 200 medley relay put up a time of 1:25.98 to beat Florida State’s 1:26.09 and Georgia’s 1:26.87.
Joe Patching, 22.43, Michael Duderstadt, 23.99, Marcelo Chierighini, 20.33, and James Disney-May, 19.23, teamed up to reach the A standard.
Florida State had very good splits as well, with Pavel Sankovich at 21.67 lead off and Paul Murray at 19.10 on the anchor. They just missed the A time by .01.
400 IM
Women
Melanie Margalis made a statement today for herself, posting a 4:01.70 in the 400 IM. That is nearly a five second drop from her pervious best time of 4:05-.
Teammate Hali Flickinger was seven seconds back with a 4:08.89. Annie Zhu was in a fight with another Georgia Bulldog, Nicole Vernon for third, with Zhu posting a 4:13.41 to Vernon’s 4:13.68.
Men
Chase Kalisz was just a second off his NCAA winning time of 3:38.05, to win the event tonight in 3:39.03. He reached the A standard swimming pretty much alone against the field.
Settling for second today was Georgia’s Tynan Stewart with a 3:47.75, while Florida State’s Juan Sequera was third with a 3:49.20.
100 Butterfly
Women
Alabama got a win today with a 53.14 from Kristel Vourna in the women’s 100 fly. Lauren Harrington of Georgia was second with a 53.39 and Bos took third with a 53.40.
Reigning NCAA champion Olivia Scott was seventh with a 54.14. And out of the B final, Alex Merritt from Auburn put put the second best time of the time at 53.26.
Men
Albert Subirats, who has moved to train with Bret Hawke’s post grad group, posted a 44.7 to win the event tonight. That is his second fastest time of his career, just barely off his 2007 NCAA win.
Another Auburn post grad was in the field, Adam Brown, finished second at 46.17. Florida State’s Connor Knight was the fastest collegiate swimmer of the night in 46.58.
200 Freestyle
Women
Olympic swimmer Shannon Vreeland posted a big win in the 200 free with a 1:43.92; just a second off what she swam last March.
Brittany MacLean was second with a 1:44.60, while Amber McDermott took third with a 1:44.93. Those both pass Missy Franklin’s previous top time in the nation (1:45.19).
Georgia had the top 5 spots in the event tonight, plus one more in seventh. They have a lot of depth in this event, which helps them in the event later tonight, 800 freestyle relay.
Men
Matias Koski, a sophomore at Georgia, put up a 1:34.41 to Ned McKendry’s 1:34.59. The two had another good race after last nights 500 freestyle. Koski was able to come back on McKendry over the last 50 yards to take the win.
Kevin Rogers of Florida State was third with a 1:36.83.
100 Breaststroke
Women
It was all Margalis at 59.15 in the 100 breast. Margalis did not swim the 100 breast in the NCAAs last season, though that time would have put her third behind Breeja Larson and Kasey Carlson.
Zhu finished second here with a 1:00.31, while Florida State’s Sami Pochowski took third with a 1:01.27.
Men
Auburn came up with a win in the men’s 100 breaststroke with Michael Duderstadt. He finished in 53.20 over Nic Fink’s 53.31 and Jared Pike’s 53.61.
100 Backstroke
Women
Georgia freshman Olivia Smoliga had the event win today with a time of 51.97. She was 51.59 in prelims. That is just off her National High School record of 51.43 that was set just last year.
Auburn’s Emily Bos and Aubrey Peacock were second and third, with Bos posting a 52.55 and Peacock getting third with a 53.20.
Men
Joe Patching won the 100 back as well with a 46.77. Also under :47 tonight was Sankovich at 46.81 for second.
Subirats from the B final had the fastest time of the night at 46.06.
800 Freestyle Relay
Women
In the 800 free relays, Georgia was uncontested in the women’s race, winning with a 7:01.78 to Florida State’s 7:13.86.
Vreeland (1:44.76), McDermott (1:45.96), Margalis (1:45.54) and MacLean (1:45.52) teamed up together, and will be tough to beat in March.
Men
The Bulldogs beat the Tigers by three seconds, posting a 6:25.33 to Auburn’s 6:28.88.
Koski swam 1.2 seconds slower than he did in the individual event, but Kalisz put up a powerful 1:35.33 to keep the lead for Georgia. Will Freeman (1:36.87) and Fink (1:37.53) rounded out the quartet for Georgia.
Grothe won the B 200 free in 1:36.3
Patching still made 1:36.40 opening Auburn B relay.After his backstroke, it looks like Patching is paving the way for great things.Nice freshman.
Auburn is not called the War Eagles- they SAY War Eagle because of a famous legend/story from early days
Margalis 3rd favorite after DiRado and Beisel in the 400 IM. 4.01.70 is a great new PB for her.
I expected a 3.40 or under for Chase Kalisz. 3.39.03 at the end! He’s more and more impressive.
And a little remark about the women’s 4X200 free relay. They haven’t probably swum with the same level of rest (all Stanford swimmers were very fast this weekend) but it’s interesting to notice that the Stanford relay with Schaefer, DiRado, Lee and Neal was in 6.58.57 compared to the 7.01.78 by Georgia.