Licon Throws Down Winning Triple as Texas Beats Auburn on the Road

AUBURN VS. TEXAS

• Results
• Hosted by Auburn University
• Thursday, January 12th
• 25 yards
• Dual meet format

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

• MEN- Texas 164, Auburn 136
• WOMEN- Texas 156, Auburn 139

The Texas Longhorns hit the road this week, kicking off their weekend of racing with a dual meet victory over Auburn. Senior Will Licon won all 3 of his individual events to help power the Longhorns to victory. Licon, the 200 breast American Record holder, topped reigning SEC champ Michael Duderstadt to sweep the breaststroke events, clocking a 53.39 in the 100 breast and a 1:57.37 in the 200 breast. Licon also showcased his breaststroke skills in the 200 IM, where he took off on the breast leg to win the event by a second in 1:45.38 over teammate Jonathan Roberts (1:46.32).

Texas’ Madisyn Cox was similarly dominant for the women, bringing home 3 individual event victories. Cox won the 100 breast (1:00.35) and 200 IM (1:56.07), which are 2 events we’re used to seeing her in. She also swam an event that isn’t typically on her schedule, however, as she won the 200 back in a speedy 1:55.99.

Auburn’s sprinters impressed during the meet, with Peter Holoda and Julie Meynen each sweeping the sprint events. Holoda posted a 19.91 to win the 50 free and a 43.82 to win the 100 free, leading a 1-2 finish with teammate Zach Apple in both events. Meynen charged to a 22.75 to out-touch Texas’ Rebecca Millard by a hundredth in the 50 free. She followed that up with a 49.89 victory in the 100 free, finishing 9 hundredths ahead of the Longhorns’ Claire Adams (49.98).

The sprints weren’t the only exciting races at the meet, as the distance swimmers also put up some fast times. Texas’ Clark Smith roared to a 9:06.65 in the 1000 free to lead a 1-2 finish with teammate Jonathan Roberts (9:12.23) ahead of Auburn’s Bryan Lee (9:19.00). Smith also cruised to victory in the 500 free with a 4:27.26. On the women’s side, Auburn senior Ashley Neidigh turned in a personal best 9:41.98 to dominate the 1000 free. Texas bounced back in the 500, though, with Tasija Karosas pulling ahead for a 4:46.96 ahead of Neidigh’s 4:48.68.

PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS MEN

AUBURN, Ala. – All-America senior Will Licon won all three of his individual events, and No. 2 Texas (3-3) collected 10 wins on the day as the Longhorns posted 164-136 victory over host No. 12 Auburn Thursday at AU’s James E. Martin Aquatic Center.

Texas opened the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay, where All-America sophomore John Shebat joined Licon, Olympic gold medalist Joseph Schooling and All-America junior Brett Ringgold to secure the victory at 1 minute, 26.38 seconds.

All-America senior Clark Smith, the American record holder in the 1,000 freestyle, claimed top honors in the same event Thursday at 9:06.65 while All-America junior Jonathan Roberts followed in second at 9:12.23.

All-America senior Mark Anderson teamed with freshman Grayson Campbell to finish off a Texas sweep of the diving events.  Anderson claimed the one-meter event with 377.85 points while Campbell won on three-meter at 410.93, just ahead of Anderson’s 408.08.

Sophomore Townley Haas, the fifth-place finisher in the 200m freestyle at the 2016 Olympic Games, claimed the 200-yard version of the event Thursday in 1:36.02.  Haas holds NCAA, American, U.S. Open, Big 12 and school records in the event.

Licon notched the first of his three individual wins on the day in the 100 breaststroke, where he won with room to spare at 53.39.  Schooling, the NCAA record holder and two-time defending NCAA champion in the 200 butterfly, claimed the same event in 1:45.80.  All-America senior and Alabama native Will Glass took third at 1:46.73.

Licon, the NCAA, American, U.S. Open, Big 12 and school record holder in the 200 breaststroke, won the same event Thursday in 1:57.37.  The El Paso native is a two-time defending NCAA champion in the event.

Smith, one of back-to-back NCAA champions for Texas in the 500 freestyle, claimed the event for the Longhorns in 4:27.26.  Sophomore Jeff Newkirk took second at 4:29.39.  Licon, the defending NCAA champion in the 200 IM, captured the same event in 1:45.38, just ahead of his teammate Roberts at 1:46.32.

Texas take on No. 7 Georgia Saturday morning in Athens, Georgia at 11 a.m. ET.  A live video stream will be available to SEC Network subscribers on the WatchESPN mobile application and ESPN3.com.

PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS WOMEN

AUBURN, Ala. – All-America senior Madisyn Cox swept her three individual events, and the fifth-ranked Longhorns claimed 12 of 16 events on the day en route to a 156-139 victory over host No. 14 Auburn Thursday at AU’s James E. Martin Aquatic Center.

Texas opened the meet with a tight win in the 200-yard medley relay, where All-America senior Tasija Karosas joined Cox, sophomore Remedy Rule and All-America junior Rebecca Millard to win in 1 minute, 39.93 seconds.

Auburn narrowed the Longhorns’ lead by winning the 1,000 freestyle, but Texas methodically stretched its lead and pulled away from the Tigers. Karosas added a win in the 200 freestyle at 1:46.86, and freshman Claire Adams claimed the 100 backstroke in 53.11.  Cox put away her first win of the day in the 100 breaststroke at 1:00.35 while sophomore Olivia Anderson took second at 1:01.92.

Sophomore Meghan O’Brien swept the diving events for the Longhorns.  O’Brien, whose older brother Sean also dives for Texas, claimed the three-meter event with 332.18 points.  She added a victory on one-meter at 288.98.  Freshman Alison Gibson placed second on one-meter with 287.03 points.

Cox showed off her versatility in the 200 backstroke, an event in which she rarely competes.  Nevertheless, she took the win by nearly three seconds in 1:55.99.  Sophomore Quinn Carrozza added a third-place mark of 1:59.18.

Anderson delivered the 200 breaststroke for Texas at 2:14.95.  Karosas, like Cox earlier, swam an off event and claimed the 500 freestyle at 4:46.96. Cox later added her third win of the day in the 200 IM at 1:56.07.  The Lubbock native placed fourth in the same event last year at the NCAA Championship and the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Texas wrapped the meet with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay, where Millard, Adams, Rule and Karosas finished in 3:18.44.

Texas takes on No. 2 Georgia Saturday in Athens, at 11 a.m. ET.  SEC Network subscribers may view the meet via a live video stream on the WatchESPN mobile application and ESPN3.com.

PRESS RELEASE – AUBURN

Peter Holoda and Julie Meynen each swept the sprint freestyle events, with Zach Apple picking up a pair of runner-up finishes, but it was not enough for either team to overcome Texas on Thursday afternoon at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center. The No. 12 Auburn swimming and diving men fell to No. 2 Texas, 164-136, while the No. 14 Auburn women fell to No. 5 Texas, 156-139.

“Even though we didn’t come away with the (team) win, we fought really hard and got some individual wins,” head coach Brett Hawke said.

Meynen and Holoda started the individual sprint domination by taking home top honors in the 50 free. Meynen touched in 22.75 to win the event by .01 seconds over Texas’ Rebecca Millard while Holoda topped teammate Apple by .25 seconds. The win was Meynen’s fourth of the year in the event while it was Holoda’s third.

Meynen and Holoda both made it a sprint-free sweep with wins in the 100 free. Meynen, now undefeated in the event this year, touched in 49.89 while Holoda claimed his third win of the season, touching in 43.82. Once again it was Apple finishing second, touching in a season-best 44.20.

“I thought Peter and Julie were extremely good today, extremely strong,” Hawke said. “I thought Aly Tetzloff had a phenomenal swim.”

Auburn also took home a sweep in the 100 fly as Tetzloff won the women’s race in 53.05 and Luis Martinez the men’s race in 47.41. It was the fifth time winning the event for both this season. Tetzloff also brought home a personal-best in the 100 back, placing second in 53.88.

Kyle Darmody won the 100 back in a time of 47.31, out-touching Texas’ John Shebat by .12 seconds.

Holoda, Apple, Hugo Morris and Darmody closed out the meet with a win in the 400 free relay (2:56.55).

Ashley Neidigh started the meet off with a personal-best 9:41.98 in the 1000 free. That time is the third-fastest in program history, trailing just the 9:38.12 by Adrienne Binder and 9:40.06 by Hayley Peirsol, both from over a decade ago. Neidigh’s time was a drop of almost three full seconds from her previous best set in the fall of 2014.

Competing for the first time this season, senior Allyx Purcell took fourth in the 50 (23.12) and 100 free (50.76) and was on Auburn’s top 400 free relay team.

“It was really nice to see Allyx back,” Hawke said. “That really put a smile on my face. It was nice to see her compete. She’s had a long road back from shoulder surgery.”

In the diving well, Maddie Cox (304.73) and Alison Maillard (297.75) finished second and third, respectively, on the 3-meter, with Maillard also placing third on the 1-meter (271.73). Pete Turnham also had a third-place finish on the 3-meter (360.75).

“We did some good stuff and we did some things we need to fix between now and conference,” diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. “To a tee each individual is able to step up and at one time hit a particular dive, but where we are falling short in competitions is we’re not doing our best every time. The guys did five really solid dives and both missed one in the 3-meter contest.”

Miranda Telmanik dove tower while the women’s 3-meter competition was going on, hitting her first zone qualifying score with a 228.53.

“The highlight of the day was Miranda making the zone score,” Shaffer said. “She earned it. She dived well. She had to go 225 and she went 228 and really did an outstanding job. To see her come from being a gymnast to not even being a diver two years ago, she’s put two years in and she’s getting to participate in the NCAA Zone Championships (Mar. 6-8). That’s pretty cool and rewarding for me as a coach.”

Auburn completes its dual meet schedule on Saturday, Jan. 21, when Florida comes to the James E. Martin Aquatics Center. The meet, which will air live on SECN+, begins at 10 a.m.

“We’re looking forward to hosting Florida,” Hawke said. “I think there are adjustments that still need to be made, some kids are pretty tired, but overall I’m happy coming off Christmas training to see them race this way.”