2020 AUBURN FALL INVITATIONAL
- Wednesday, November 18th- Friday, November 20th
- James E. Martin Aquatic Center, Auburn, AL
- Short Course Yards (SCY)
- Prelims/Finals
- Teams: Auburn, Florida
- Live Results
The third and final day of racing got underway this morning as the University of Florida and Auburn University went head to head at the 2020 Auburn Fall Invitational. Florida continued used their early momentum from day 1 and 2 to earn top times in nearly every prelim this morning.
Eric Friese swam the fastest time of the morning in the men’s 100 free in best-time fashion. The Florida Sophmore went a 42.95 in the prelim, cracking the 43 second mark for the first time. His previous best was a 43.09 from last year. After breaking the 43-second barrier for the first time, he still has some work to do in order to hit the NCAA ‘A’ cut in that event which is a 41.71 this year. He was followed in the event by fellow Florida swimmers Adam Chaney for second with a 44.17 and Trey Freeman with a 44.40 for third.
On the women’s side, Florida’s Katelyn Mack was the fastest swimmer in the heats, swimming 49.12. That swim for her is right on top of her 2017 best of 49.06. As with the men’s event, Florida took the top three spots in the men’s prelim as Taila Bates (49.22) and Kathleen Golding (49.72) were second and third.
Florida record holder in the 200 free Kieran Smith raced the 200 fly this morning, hitting a 1:46.56. That time for him was 2 seconds off what he swam just a few weeks ago at a Georgia vs. Florida dual meet wherein he swam a 1:44.74 to finish third, narrowly behind Bulldogs Luca Urlando (1:44.05) and Camden Murphy (1:44.59). Today, however, he was the top prelim swimmer in the event and was followed by fellow Gators Dillon Hills and Jace Crawford who were 1:47.01 and 1:47.13, respectively.
For the women, Amanda Ray from Florida was the fastest in the 200 fly with a 1:57.37 to beat out Allison Piccirillo and Kenady Beil for who were second and third.
Vanessa Pearl followed up from her 400 IM victory last night to take the top spot this morning in the 200 breaststroke and she raced to a 2:11.87 ahead of Auburn swimmers Carly Cummings and Brynn Curtis who were second and third with 2:12.33 and 2:12.57, respectively. On the men’s side, Florida Gator Kevin Vargas was the only sub-1:58 swim in the field with a 1:57.76. Auburn’s Reid Mikuta and Florida’s Mateusz Dubas matched their 2nd and 3rd placement from yesterday’s 100 breast final as they finished 2-3 in the 200 prelims with 1:58.76 and 1:59.10, respectively.
Auburn’s sole top finish in the prelims today came from Lleyton Smith in the men’s 200 backstroke. He swam a 1:44.11 to beat out Florida Gators Bobby Finke (1:45.49) and Miguel Cancel (1:45.49) for second and third.
Rosie Zavaros was a bit more than 2 seconds off her best time in the 200 backstroke as she swam to a 1:56.62 to claim the top seed going into the finals. Fellow Gators Annette Schultz and Madison Kolessar were second and third, respectively. Schultz was a 1:57.34 to break 1:58 for the first time, improving upon her 1:58.26 previous best from 2018. Kolessar on the other hand was just over her best as she swam a 1:57.61 compared to her 1:57.19 from 2019.
Tonight we will see the finals for the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, and 200 fly as well as timed finals in both the men’s and women’s 1650 freestyles. The night will end with a 4×100 relay in which Flordia women will look to redeem themselves following a loss to Auburn in the 4×50 medley yesterday and the Florida men, who won the medley yesterday, will have a shot to repeat.