AUBURN, Ala. – A new era of Auburn swimming and diving begins Friday when the Tigers travel to Florida State for a dual meet to open the 2021-22 season. It will be the first meet under new head coach Ryan Wochomurka, a former NCAA champion at Auburn.
"Just excited to be racing again," Wochomurka said. "For our staff, we've been working with the team since May. So we've got an opportunity to see them race a little bit through the summer, through Olympic Trials, but the things we've been doing from a training standpoint this fall, I'm excited for them to have the opportunity to get out and compete now.
"It will be a fun challenge on the road with a really good team. But just looking forward to having the opportunity to compete and race again."
The Auburn women, ranked No. 23 nationally in the preseason CSCAA Top 25, return seven of the eight NCAA qualifiers from a season ago. The women knocked off Florida State, 186-114, last January thanks to strong performances from Carly Cummings, Emily Hetzer and Averee Preble. All three swimmers are back this year.
On the men's side, Auburn will have an opportunity to avenge a loss from last year against a Florida State squad who enters the season ranked No. 15 per CSCAA. NCAA qualifiers Mikkel Gadgaard and Christian Sztolcman are both back for the Tigers.
It will be the season debut for the divers as well, and Auburn will feature all seven divers (four men, three women) who competed at the NCAA Zone B Qualifier last March.
Friday's meet at Florida State will begin at 1 p.m. CT with the 200 medley relay and follow the 16-event format. The men's and women's 1-meter and 3-meter diving events will run simultaneously to swimming.
Live results will be available via the Meet Mobile app and on divemeets.com.