Auburn Takes Down LSU and Alabama in SEC Showdown

The Auburn Tigers took to the road Saturday and delivered defeats to both Alabama and LSU at the Alabama Aquatic Center. Triple and double event winners helped the Auburn women outscore the LSU Tigers 176 to 124 and Alabama 174 to 126. The Auburn men defeated LSU 225 to 75 and beat Alabama 167 to 133. The LSU women outscored Alabama in a tight 155 to 145, while the Alabama men took down LSU 220 to 80.

That means Auburn continues to hold the upper hand in the recently-revived Alabama-Auburn rivalry in the pool, though the Crimson were able to grab a couple statement swims, including Kristian Gkolomeev sweeping the men’s sprints (long-cherished as Auburn’s specialty) and beating Auburn’s Kyle Darmody in the 100 free.

Full results

Auburn’s A teams started off the meet with wins in the 400 Medley Relay, with the women swimming a 3:38.98 and the men going 3:13.97. The LSU women (3:39.42) and Alabama men (3:14.15) took second, respectively.

The Lady Tigers kept the ball rolling with a 1-2 Auburn sweep in the 1000 Free. Leading the pack was Ashley Neidigh (9:53.66), and teammate Zoe Thatcher (9:57.17) followed up for second. Alabama’s Brian Westlake won on the men’s side with  a 9:17.56, just four one-hundredths of a second ahead of Auburn’s Grant Schenk (9:17.60).

Crimson Tide Junior Emma Saunders continued the Alabama domination with a win in the 200 Free (1:48.13), with Auburn’s Alex Merritt touching second (1:49.41). For the men, Auburn Sophomore Joe Patching won his first of three events in the 200 Free (1:37.91) ahead of Alabama’s Matthew Adams (1:39.15) and Alex Gray (1:39.49).

Two-time All-American Tiger Jillian Vitarius began her sweep of the Backstroke events with her win in the 100 Back (54.09). LSU’s Caley Oquist took second (54.26) ahead of Auburn’s Sarah Reynolds (56.01). Alabama brought a 1-2 sweep in the 100 Back for the men, with Connor Oslin touching first (48.13) and Luke Kaliszak followed up for second (48.19) ahead of Auburn Tiger Kyle Darmody (48.43).

Alabama’s Kaylin Burchell led the field with a 1:00.00 in the 100 Breast ahead of Auburn pair Natasha Lloyd (1:01.68) and Annie Lazor (1:02.42). Auburn’s Michael Duderstadt picked up his first of two wins of the meet in the 100 Breast for the men (54.24) ahead of Alabama Sophomore Pavel Romanov (54.98). Auburn’s Jacob Molacek was third in 55.73.

Tiger Kara Kopcso landed the first event win for LSU in the 200 Fly, touching in 1:59.89, just ahead of Auburn’s Megan Fonteno (2:00.41) and Kristen Murslack (2:00.68). Auburn Senior Alexander Hancock took the 200 Fly for the men (1:47.81), with teammate Arthur Mendes taking second in 1:48.41 to complete a 1-2 sweep.

LSU Tiger Amber Carter (22.90) touched just two one-hundredths of a second ahead of Auburn’s Allyx Purcell (22.92) for the win in the women’s 50 Free. Alabama’s Kristian Gkolomeev swam a sub-20 50 Free for the win (19.65), and led a 1-2 Crimson Tide sweep ahead of teammate Brett Walsh (20.15).

LSU’s Alex Bettridge (325.40) and Cassie Weil (321.90) swept the 1-meter platform for the Tiger women, while Auburn’s Fraser McKean took first in the men’s event (364.10). Bettridge and Weil went on to take first (304.20) and second (279.15) in the 3-meter as well. For the men, McKean led the Auburn charge and picked up another win in the 3-meter (362.20) ahead of teammate Justin Youtsey (336.20).

The Auburn women completed a 1-2 sweep in the 100 Free by Allyx Purcell (50.23) and Alex Merritt (51.00). Kristian Gkolomeev took his second event win of the meet in the men’s 100 Free (44.38) ahead of Auburn’s Kyle Darmody (44.95).

Vitarius completed her sweep of the Backstroke events with a 1:56.88 in the 200 Back for the win ahead of Alabama’s Emma Saunders (1:59.62). Patching also claimed his second win of the meet in the men’s 200 Back (1:45.32), touching about two seconds ahead of Alabama’s Olsin, the 100 Back winner.

Auburn Tiger Annie Lazor took the win in the 200 Breast (2:13.21) ahead of Alabama’s Kaylin Burchell (2:14.49) and Auburn teammate Natasha Lloyd (2:15.32). Michael Duderstadt claimed his second win and kept the event wins coming for Auburn in the 200 Breast with a 1:59.31 ahead of Alabama’s Pavel Romanov (2:00.60).

Auburn’s Ashley Neidigh picked up another win in the 500 Free (4:53.00), leading Alabama teammates Bonnie Macdonald (4:55.33) and Paige Matherson (4:56.83). Alabama’s Brian Westlake was a double winner with his second first-place finish in the men’s 500 (4:31.11), just six tenths ahead of Auburn’s Grant Schenk (4:31.76).

LSU Tiger Amber Carter touched first in the 100 Fly with a 53.56, just ahead of Auburn’s Megan Fonteno (53.85). Auburn Tigers Arthur Mendes (47.56) and Alexander Hancock (47.83) took the top two spots in the men’s 100 Fly for a 1-2 sweep.

Crimson Tide Freshman Mia Nonnenberg took the 400 IM (4:14.96), leading a pair of Auburn Tiger teammates Zoe Thatcher (4:19.55) and Annie Lazor (4:20.42).  Two-time All-American Joe Patching‘s third win of the meet for Auburn came in the 400 IM (3:53.04) ahead of Alabama’s Ian Decker (3:55.52) and Taylor Charles (3:57.78).

Auburn swept the final 400 Free Relay, with first place finishes by both the men’s (2:56.92) and women’s (3:21.24) A teams. Alabama’s A teams followed up for second with a 3:23.55 in the women’s relay and 2:58.77 in the men’s.