Auburn starts strong on opening day of GT Fall Invite

AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn swimming and diving team wanted to make a statement this week at the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational, and the Tigers did just that Thursday, beginning with the first event of the evening session. 

The group of Lexie Mulvihill, Mykenzie Leehy, Emma Steckiel and Rebekah Hamilton won the women's 200 freestyle relay, knocking off the top relay teams from Florida, Florida State, Georgia and Georgia Tech. With a time of 1:28.17, the Tigers earned an A cut to qualify for the NCAA Championships. 

The victory kicked off a strong night for Auburn on the first day of the invitational. 

Through one day of competition, the Auburn women are in third with 273 points while the men posted 297 points to move into second with two days remaining. 

WOMEN

Following the victory in the 200 free relay, senior Emily Hetzer carried that momentum into the 500 freestyle where she finished third in the A Final and earned a B-cut with a time of 4:41.02. She was one of three Tigers to make the finals for the 500 free. 

In the 200 IM, sophomores Hannah Ownbey and Meghan Lee each swam B-cuts in prelims to qualify for the A Final where Ownbey went a tick faster, finishing in 1:57.36, to place second overall. Auburn had nine swimmers in the finals, including three in the B Final. 

The trio of Mulvihill, Steckiel and Leehy all made the A Final for the 50 free as well Thursday and finished fifth, sixth and eighth respectively. Steckiel went 22.62 in both the prelims and the finals, which was a new lifetime best. Hamilton led the way in the B Final for the Tigers who once again had nine swimmers across the three finals.  

The Auburn women closed out the night with a third-place finish in the 400 medley relay. 

MEN

The highlight of the night for the Auburn men came in the 200 IM where sophomore Reid Mikuta set a new personal best (1:44.76) to finish third in the A Final. He was one of four Tigers to make the A Final. Jacques Rathle took sixth while Seth Maschmeier and Henry Bethel finished ninth and 10th respectively. Three others made the B Final. 

Auburn also had a strong contingent in the 500 freestyle with two in the A Final and three in the B Final. Sophomore Mikkel Gadgaard led the way with a time of 4:18.37 to place sixth, but Gadgaard, Mason Mathias, Aryan Makhija, Grant Davis and Michael Bonson all earned NCAA B-cut times in prelims. 

In the 50 free, Nate Stoffle and Logan Tirheimer both hit B-cuts and new personal bests. Stoffle set his PR in prelims (19.87) to qualify for the A Final, and Tirheimer did it at night, matching Stoffle's 19.87 to win the B Final. 

The Auburn men just missed an automatic qualifying time in the 400 medley relay, finishing in second with a time of 3:06.65 to wrap up the first day. 

DIVING

Senior Conner Pruitt scored over 400 points on 3-meter for the second straight meet and finished second in the final with a score of 404.75. He was first in prelims with 393.10 points. Hunter Kebler also secured a second list with 336.45 points in prelims. He finished 10th in the final. 

On the women's side, Ashlynn Sullivan made the 1-meter final after posting 262.15 in prelims. Her score of 255.30 in the final was good for ninth place.  

UP NEXT

Events scheduled for the second day of the GT Fall Invite include the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay, 800 freestyle relay, men's 1-meter and women's 3-meter. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. CT with finals at 4:30 p.m. CT.