Auburn Men, Florida State Women Earn NCAA A Cuts at Auburn Invitational
Auburn’s men’s 200 freestyle relay and Florida State’s women’s 200 medley relay each earned automatic NCAA times at the Auburn Invitational this weekend.
Florida State ended the first day of the two-day meet on Friday with an emphatic 200 medley relay swim. The quartet of Tania Quagliere, Nina Kucheran, Jenny Halden and Rebecca Moynihan clocked in at 1:36.37, getting .03 under the auto standard.
Auburn needed a time trial to get its A cut, but the Tigers got the job done. The foursome of Nathaniel Stoffle, Aidan Stoffle, Logan Tirheimer and Matthew Yish went 1:16.82 to get 35 hundredths of a second under the cut. Yish brought it home in 19.01. It’s the fastest time for a Tigers’ relay since the 2017-18 season.
The meet served as Auburn’s senior day, and the Tigers celebrated with a slew of best times. Avery Bargeron won the women’s 200 fly in 1:55.99, the sixth-fastest time in SEC this season and eighth-best in program history. Bargeron also won the 100 fly in 52.43 to move into ninth all-time. Anastasia Makarova posted a top-10 program time in the 200 breaststroke at 2:11.47 to win. She also won the 100 breast, then went quicker in a time trial at 59.98, ninth-fastest in program history.
On the men’s side, Nate Stoffle led off the 400 medley relay with a 45.93 in the 100 backstroke, the eight-fastest time in Auburn history. Following close behind Lleyton Smith, who won the event in 46.28, the 10th-best time among Tigers all-time.
Meghan Lee was second to teammate Hannah Ownbey in the 200 individual medley in 1:57.59, the ninth-fastest in program history. Lee went 1:53.00 in a 200 back time trial, which is seventh all-time. It was also faster than the time Florida State’s Pia Murray used to win the event.
Ownbey was also second in the 200 breast. Auburn’s Mykenzie Leehy won the 200 free and 100 free and was third in the 50. Claudia Thamm won that 50 and was second in the 100.
The University of Florida picked up a handful of wins on the women’s side. Leah Braswell won the 500 free and the mile. Second in the mile was teammate Madison Kolessar, who won the 400 IM. Katherine Minnich won the 100 back.
On the men’s side, Logan Tirheimer won the 100 free in 43.12 ahead of Aidan Stoffle and Florida’s Chance Tirheimer. Aidan Stoffle also tied Yish for third in the 50 behind Logan Tirheimer in an event won by Alabama’s Benjamin Hines in 19.71. Aidan Stoffle also won the 100 fly (46.76) ahead of Yish.
Mikkel Gadgaard delivered the top performance on the weekend for Auburn, winning the 200 free in 1:34.12. That’s the sixth fastest time in program history. Gadgaard also won the 500 free in 4:16.30 and posted an NCAA B cut in the men’s 100 breast in a time trial (53.60). Teammate Michael Bonson was second in both the 200 and 500 free. Auburn’s Andrew Simmons won the 200 back.
Florida’s Jack VanDeusen won the 400 IM in 3:47.88. He was also second in the 1,650 free (to teammate Brennan Gravley in 15:00.94) and third in the 500 free. Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero won the 200 IM in a best time of 1:46.56. He also won the 200 fly. Raphael Rached Windmuller won the 100 breast in 53.35, then was second to teammate Amro Al-Wir in the 200 breast.
Florida dominated the Auburn Invitational diving competition. Elizabeth Perez was tops on both boards – 316.40 on 1-meter, 339.90 on 3-meter – before finishing third on platform behind teammates Elettra Neroni (290.25) and Lauren Snider (290.10). Leonardo Garcia was the standout for the men, winning 3-meter and platform. He finished second to Anton Svirskyi on 1-meter.
