Special to the News

The Auburn swimming and diving teams split their final SEC dual meet of the season with conference rival Florida on Saturday afternoon at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.

The No. 7 Auburn men earned their ninth win in 10 meetings against the sixth-ranked Gators, outscoring Florida, 166-132. On the women’s side,
No. 5 Auburn was outscored 169-114 by sixth-ranked Florida, snapping a 12-meet winning streak for the Tigers.

Senior Matt Targett picked up his first win of the day in the 200 free with an Auburn top-time of 1:37.03. The 2008 Olympic medalist would win two more events before the day was done.

On the boards, the Auburn men swept the 1-meter springboard competition and placed top-two on the 3-meter with juniors Kelly Marx and Dan Mazzaferro rounding out the top of both fields.

For the women, junior Ava Ohlgren led the Tigers with wins in the 200 butterfly and the 200 individual medley with times of 1:57.35 and 2:00.29, respectively. Finishing just behind Ohlgren for second in the 200 IM was Caitlin Geary at 2:00.92.

For the women divers, Vennie Danton finished second on the 3-meter platform with a personal top-score of 305.55. Danton also led the Tigers in the 1-meter with another personal top-score of 246.15.

Next up for the Tigers is the Ralph Cracker Invitational scheduled Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.

Track & field posts 6 NCAA marks
The Auburn men’s and women’s track and field teams posted six provisional NCAA qualifying marks while competing Saturday at both the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Fla., and the Terrier Invitational in Boston.

Freshman Girma Mecheso won the men’s 5,000 meters in Boston with a time of 14:01.14 that ranks second in school history. 

In the 3,000 meters, Auburn runners posted three of the top 10 marks in school history, with junior Jean-Pierre Weerts taking second out of 101
runners with a time of 8:01.47, junior Elkanah Kibet placing fourth in 8:03.83 and senior Scott Novack finishing eighth in 8:08.87. 

Junior Felix Kiboiywo finished fourth in the mile in a field of 132 with an indoor personal-best time of 4:02.93.

Meanwhile in Gainesville, sophomore Joanna Atkins posted a provisional qualifying mark in the 55-meter dash, finishing sixth overall but second among collegiate athletes with a time of 6.91 seconds.

Junior Eric Werskey earned a provisional qualifying mark in the men’s shot put, finishing second oval and first among collegians with an indoor personal best of 18.56 meters (60-10.75).

Equestrian downs Delaware State
The top-ranked Auburn equestrian team (4-0) defeated Delaware State (2-4) on Saturday at the Auburn Equestrian Center. The Tigers defeated the Hornets 8-2 in Hunt Seat and 9-0 in Western.

Auburn won Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences 4-1 behind MVP Chelsea Anheuser. The Tigers won Hunt Seat Equitation on the Flat 4-1 behind MVP Katie Breedlove. They also won Western Horsemanship 4-0 behind MVP Jessica Jones. Auburn swept Western Reining 5-0 behind MVP Paige Monfore.

Men’s tennis competes in Spring Classic
On Day 2 of the Auburn Spring Classic, the Tigers faced off against Arkansas at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.

Starting the afternoon with doubles play, senior Lukas Marsoun and freshman Alex Stamchev took the only Auburn doubles victory of the day, defeating Taylor King and Christopher Nott, 8-3, on flight two.

Finding the Tigers’ first singles victory, Krnjetin took a 6-2, 6-4 win over Bradwin Williams. Following Krnjetin, Petropoulos and Stamchev defeated Taylor King (6-2, 6-4) and Dmitry Lebedev (6-4, 6-4), respectively.

In the flight two singles match, sophomore Puetz battled back from an early dropped set to take a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Matthew Hogan. The finale of the night came when Marsoun emerged with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4) victory to top Auburn’s night.

The Auburn Spring Classic will come to a close today, with action starting at 9 a.m.