AUBURN, Ala. – Coming into this year's SEC Championships, Auburn senior Santiago Grassi had never made podium at the conference meet. He finished fourth in the 100 butterfly as a sophomore and fourth in both the 100 butterfly and 50 freestyle as a junior.
After a fifth-place finish in the 50 freestyle Wednesday night, Grassi finally made it by winning the silver medal in the men's 100 butterfly during Thursday's finals.
"I'm so happy because I've been looking for this for a long, long time," Grassi said. "I had trained really hard for this. I couldn't have done it without my team behind him. I'm so happy for them. There's nothing else I can ask for."
Grassi was one of two medalists for Auburn on the night. Fellow senior Alison Maillard earned bronze with a third-place finish in the women's 3-meter diving event. It's the second medal of the week for Maillard who won the SEC title in the 1-meter event Tuesday night.
As a team, the Tigers had 13 swimmers and all three divers score points Thursday. Through the first three days, the women are currently fifth (478 points) and the men are eighth (385 points).
"From a team standpoint, both the men and women came back tonight and swam with a lot of energy and passion," Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. "They showed a lot of heart. We saw even more lifetime-bests. We saw people grow from their performances over the past couple of days and this morning. We made tweaks and got better tonight. I'm really excited about what I saw from a performance standpoint on the swimming side."
Gallery: (2/20/2020) SEC Swimming & Diving Championship Day 3
WOMEN'S 400 IM
After swimming a new lifetime best in prelims, Auburn sophomore Emily Hetzer dropped nearly a full second with a 4:10.64 in the B-Final. Hetzer finished 13th overall in the event, and moved up to ninth on the school's all-time top 10 performers list.
"Our lone entrant tonight, Emily Hetzer, put in a really strong race," Taylor said. "She made some tweaks and was a second faster tonight. She earned some big points in that B-Final."
WOMEN'S 100 FLY
Swimming in the C-Final, senior Robyn Clevenger swam a new lifetime best (53.27) Thursday night. Both Clevenger and junior Jewels Harris, who finished sixth in the B-Final and 14th overall, scored solid points in the event for the Auburn women.
MEN'S 100 FLY
Grassi's silver-medal performance was somewhat bittersweet because the senior missed gold by 0.03. Still, it was a new lifetime-best time for Grassi and moves him up to fifth on Auburn's list of top 10 performers.
"Santi Grassi, like I keep saying, is our senior stalwart," Taylor said. "He was certainly that for us in the butterfly. That race he was probably in front for 99 yards, so we've got to clean up his finish a little bit, but it was a really good silver-medal performance from him. To do that in his final 100 fly event at Auburn at the SEC Championships and medal was a big deal for him."
The trio of Christian Ginieczki, Matthew Yish and Nik Eberly also advanced to the men's 100 butterfly finals. Yish (46.90) and Eberly (47.14) swam lifetime bests in the C-Final to place 18 and 19th respectively.
Ginieczki, who swam a lifetime best in the prelims, finished fifth in the B-Final and 13th overall.
WOMEN'S 200 FREE
Auburn finished 2-4-6 in the B-Final, and all three swimmers clocked lifetime-best times.
Senior Claire Fisch (1:44.55) and freshman Abbey Webb (1:44.96) both cracked Auburn's top 10 performers list in the women's 200 freestyle while senior Jessica Merritt finished in 1:46.00, beating her previous lifetime best that she set while in high school.
"I couldn't be more proud of Jessica Merritt," Taylor said. "That's her first best time in that event in four years. To go an entire college career and not hit a best time in your primary event until your very last SEC meet says volumes about her commitment to the staff and the staff's commitment to her."
MEN'S 200 FREE
Sophomore Christian Sztolcman turned heads with his 200 freestyle split in Tuesday's 800 freestyle relay. He swam a faster time in Thursday's prelims, and then went even faster with a lifetime-best 1:33.16 to finish fourth in the A-Final on Thursday night.
Freshman Lletyon Smith also made finals for the event and placed 22nd overall
WOMEN'S 3-METER
Like Grassi in the men's 100 butterfly, Maillard had a shot at gold in Thursday's final. The senior was leading the field after five of six dives in the competition.
"Obviously, it's disappointing, especially when you have a chance on your last dive to win and you don't finish it the way you know you can," Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "So yes, I'm disappointed for her. But it's another opportunity to learn and get better as we prepare for the NCAA Championships."
Though Maillard was the only Auburn diver to make the finals Thursday, freshmen Ashlynn Sullivan and Gretchen Wensuc both scored points for the Tigers. Sullivan finished 10th overall with a score of 291.00 while Wensuc put up a 259.55 to place 22nd overall.
STANDINGS
Women
1. Tennessee, 632.5
2. Florida, 585.5
3. Kentucky, 491.5
4. Texas A&M, 491
5. Auburn, 478
6. Georgia, 456
7. Alabama, 351.5
8. Arkansas, 254
9. Missouri, 252
10. LSU, 236
11. South Carolina, 228
12. Vanderbilt, 90
Men
1. Florida, 694.5
2. Texas A&M, 538.5
3. Georgia, 493.5
4. Alabama, 438.5
5. Tennessee, 422
6. Kentucky, 416
7. Missouri, 415
8. Auburn, 385
9. South Carolina, 265
10. LSU, 258