Auburn men swimming’s 16-year SEC title run dries up

Marcelo Chierighini celebrates winning the 100 yard freestyle Saturday at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, TX.
Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn Athletics

The 16-year SEC championship reign of Auburn men’s swimming came to an end Saturday in College Station, Texas as the Tigers took five of six individual events on the final day of competition but Florida took home the conference crown. The Gators won 1,408 to Auburn’s 1,196 points, ending the third-longest streak of SEC championships in any sport in conference history.

“It has been an incredible streak which I was a part of as an athlete or coach for nine years, so I understand how hard it has been to maintain,” Auburn coach Brett Hawke said. “It’s disappointing, but I am very encouraged at how fast we swam this meet. We had so many fast times and PRs, which really sets us up well for NCAAs next month. Give credit to Florida, they had a great meet and swam really well. This meet will fuel us moving forward, and we will continue to work tirelessly to represent Auburn at the highest level. We have a month to improve and hopefully we can build off our fast times this meet to swim even faster at NCAAs.”

Senior Kyle Owens and junior Marcelo Chierighini defended their 2012 titles in the 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle, respectively, junior Zane Grothe won Auburn’s first title in the 1,650-yard freestyle since 1999 and junior John Santeiu won the platform diving event for his first individual conference title.

Chierighini was named SEC Men’s Swimmer of the Year and Owens was the runner-up for the Commissioner’s Trophy, awarded to the high-point scorer of the meet, which went to Missouri diver David Bonuchi.

“It was huge (to repeat as champion). I was trying to be more under control tonight,” Chierighini said. “I was surprised with 42.0 this morning, so I knew I could go 41 (seconds) tonight. I just tried to go out a little bit faster, and that’s all I needed to do. Before the year, I thought 41.9 or 42.0 would be a good time, so I’m really happy.”

Grothe captured Auburn’s second all-time SEC title in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 14:41.45, the second-best swim of his career.

“We came out and got the ball rolling early tonight,” Hawke said. “(Grothe) just wanted it from the very first stroke, and it’s great that we can come to a meet like this and win the fastest event and also the mile. We’ve got the full spectrum there and we feel really good about it. It’s hard when you’re out on the end of the pool and you can’t see what’s going on. He had to set his own pace. He got into a rhythm early, and that was the key to his success. He’s been runner-up a few times, and I think that really got to him. He was ready to win.”

Auburn won a total of six individual events and four relays during the five-day meet at Texas A&M. It marks the most event victories for the Tigers at an SEC meet since also winning 10 titles at the 2010 SEC Championships.

The Auburn women finished in fifth place with 860 points. Georgia won its fourth straight title with 1,420 points, and Texas A&M was the runner-up with 1,296. Florida (1,190.5) was third and Tennessee (1,018) took fourth.

With information from Auburn Athletic Communications