02/07 at 12:21 AM

The defending Southeastern Conference champion Auburn swimming and diving teams return to action today as the men’s and women’s teams face off with the Florida State Seminoles.

The women will also compete against Texas A&M as part of the meet.

The meet is set to begin at 11 a.m. at the Morcom Aquatics Center in Tallahassee, Fla.

This weekend marks the final competition for Auburn prior to the SEC Championships. The men’s and women’s teams will be looking to nail down their SEC lineups.

“We’ll be testing five or six athletes against each other,” said Auburn men’s co-head coach Brett Hawke.  “They’re fighting for those last few spots still open (in) SECs.”

Each school brings 18 swimmers and three divers to the SEC Championships.  Each competitor is allowed to compete in three individual events.

“We’ll be looking to find those second and third events for our swimmers,” said Auburn women’s co-head coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker. “We are focused on winning this meet.”

The Auburn men’s and women’s diving teams are returning from strong showings against Florida on Jan. 24. 

“It’s our last dual meet of the season so we’re trying to finish with a solid performance,” said Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer.  “All four women will go.  Adam Godzinski and Scott Morgan are going on the road for us.  This is an excellent opportunity to focus on the corrections they’ve been making in practice - taking those efforts from practice to competition.”

The last time the Tigers squared off with ‘Noles, Auburn earned three victories as the fifth-ranked Tigers swept Florida State along with a women’s victory over Arkansas. The men’s team defeated the Seminoles 190-106, while the women earned a 177-118 victory over No. 22 FSU and a 182-113 win over Arkansas.

It was the same story for Auburn in its last meeting with the Aggies. Auburn picked up a trio of wins at Texas A&M as Auburn’s No. 8-ranked men dominated the No. 20 Aggies, 210-90. The top-ranked women pulled out wins over No. 6 Texas A&M (155-139) and No. 12 Southern Methodist (218-72). 

Swimming hosting ‘Swim Quick’
Auburn University will host a special program as part of the “Swim Quick” national open invitation fundraising event Feb. 14 at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center. The “Swim Quick” event, which has been organized by Swim Across America, pays tribute to Auburn swimming and diving head coach Richard Quick, who has been diagnosed with an inoperable, cancerous brain tumor.

The program will take place from 8:30-10 a.m. at the Aquatics Center. A complete schedule of events follows.

Swim Across America, Inc., is an organization dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through swimming-related events. Although everyone is invited and encouraged to participate in the event in Auburn, those unable to attend can still participate in “Swim Quick” by swimming in any pool in Quick’s honor or donating to the Richard Quick Endowment.

For more information on the event, to register to swim or to make a donation to the cause, visit http://www.swimacrossamerica.org/swimquick. In addition to donating online, donations can be made by sending a check made payable to “Swim Across America” and noting Richard Quick in the memo line and mailing to Swim Across America, One International Place, Suite 4600, Boston, MA, 02110.

Schepperle invited to LPGA’s Kraft Nabisco Championship
Auburn junior Candace Schepperle was selected as one of five amateurs to compete in the LPGA’s Kraft Nabisco Championship, scheduled for March 30-April 5, at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., the association announced this week.

The Kraft Nabisco Championship - now in its 38th year - is the first LPGA major tournament of the year.

“I am really happy and very honored to be chose as one of five amateurs, It is pretty exciting,” said Schepperle. “This is my third pro event to play in and it is always fun to go out and compete with the pros and see how your game compares to some of the best players in the world.”

Schepperle, a Birmingham native, will join Amanda Blumenherst (Duke), Tiffany Joh (UCLA), Azahara Munoz (Arizona State) and U.S. Girls Junior champion Alexis Thompson in the tournament field.

“She is so deserving of this exemption,” said Auburn head golf coach Kim Evans. “Candace is doing so many great things with her golf game right now and she is having a blast doing it. It is a lot of fun to watch.”

The event will be the third professional tournament for Schepperle to compete in. She has also competed in the 2006 Chick-fil-A Charity Championship and the 2008 CN Canadian Open.

At the Canadian Open, she tallied a 15-over-par 303 (71-76-77-79), making the cut and finishing in a tie for 78th. She was the only amateur to make the cut at the tournament held at the Otawa Hunt and Golf Club.

In her first professional tournament, the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship, Schepperle was again the only amateur to make the cut as she carded rounds of 75-68-76-72-291, finishing at 3-over-par to take a tie for 75th. The event took place just outside Atlanta, in Stockbridge, Ga., at the Eagles Landing Country Club.

Rowand wins men’s 60-meter at PSU
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Freshman Marcus Rowland won the men’s 60-meter dash to highlight competition for the Auburn men’s and women’s track and field teams Friday during the opening day of the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup, hosted by Penn State.

Rowland cruised to a winning time of 6.68 seconds in the finals to win his second straight 60-meter title in two tries this season. His time was just shy of his season-best and NCAA provisional time of 6.66 seconds that ranks tied for fifth in the NCAA this year. He also had the fastest time in the prelims of 6.72.

“Marcus looked good,” said head coach Ralph Spry. “There was nobody close to him and he won pretty handily. He already had one of the fastest times in the nation, so we just had him focus on mechanical things and try to put two good races together, which he did.”

In the women’s 60 meters, junior Shaquela Williams finished third with a time of 7.48 seconds that ranks her eighth in Auburn indoor history. Sophomore Cache Armbrister was fifth in 7.57 seconds.

Junior Danielle Gilchrist finished third in the women’s 60-meter hurdles in 8.66 seconds, while sophomore Latoya Parkinson was fourth with a time of 8.74. Gilchrist and Parkinson ran times of 8.63 and 8.73 seconds, respectively, in the prelims.

In the men’s weight throw, freshman Wesley Wright was third with a mark of 17.48 meters (57-4.25).

Other top-five finishers for Auburn included sophomore Cathryn Albright in the 5,000 meters (17:51.47) and sophomore Erika Akins in the long jump (5.49 meters, 18-0.25).

Competition at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup continues Saturday when 21 of the 35 events will take place.

Equestrian faces South Carolina
The top-ranked Auburn equestrian team takes on seventh-ranked South Carolina today at 1 p.m. at the Auburn Equestrian Center. Admission is free.

“We’re looking forward to South Carolina coming in,” said Auburn head coach Greg Williams. “We haven’t changed up much for right now; we’ve been riding well, and I think we’ll come out fine. We just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

Auburn is undefeated (4-0) this season, with wins over eighth-ranked Fresno State, seventh-ranked South Carolina, third-ranked Georgia and Delaware State. The Tigers defeated the Gamecocks 10-6 on Oct. 4. South Carolina is 3-4 on the season with wins over Kansas State, Tennessee-Martin and most recently, second-ranked Texas A&M.

Riding for the Tigers in Hunt Seat Equitation on the Flat are Chelsea Anheuser, Katie Breedlove, Ali Loprete, Jenny Reinhart and Rebecca Rifkin with Sara Netherton on demo and Anna Schierholz as the alternate.

Riding in Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences are Jessica Braswell, Elise Fraza, Dottie Grubb, Anna Schierholz and Grace Socha with Mallory Kolpin on demo and Ali Loprete as the alternate.

Riding for the Tigers in Western Horsemanship are Shannon Hinton, Jessica Jones, Courtney Kobak, Kylie Miller and Sarah Whitaker with Anna Beck on demo and Kim Pope as the alternate. Riding in Western Reining are Kelsey George, Ashton Fairey, Lyndsey Jordan, Paige Monfore and Kim Pope with Jessica Jones as the alternate.

The special guest that will ride a horse to kick off each home meet will be Auburn volleyball head coach Wade Benson.

Men’s tennis gets past UAB
The No. 29 Auburn men’s tennis team competed in its first home dual meet of the spring season, as the Tigers hosted No. 75 UAB at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.

Auburn took a 6-1 win over UAB, going undefeated in doubles and winning five of the six singles match-ups.

The Tigers collected the doubles point as they rolled through the competition. First to finish was the No. 10 ranked doubles pair, Alexey Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz, as they defeated Dennis Ehlrich and Slawomir Szeremeta, 8-5. Next to win were Lukas Marsoun and Alex Stamchev, the No. 19 duo, who earned an 8-5 win over Brian Ly and Alex Emery. Both Auburn doubles teams are currently undefeated in dual match competition.

“I thought we continued our strong doubles play today,” head coach Eric Shore noted. “It’s nice to get that first point.”

In the final doubles matchup, Milan Krnjetin and Alex Petropoulos took an 8-4 win against Daniel Moser and Dan Cornei, giving the Tigers the doubles point and an early lead in the match.

“It’s good when your top two doubles teams can look down and see that you’re winning at three,” said Shore.

Leading Auburn in singles play, Tim Puetz took a quick win over Dennis Ehrlich, 6-3, 6-1. After three dual matches, Puetz remains the only Auburn player to hold a flawless singles record.

Following the sophomore, Alexey Tsyrenov battled through a tough first set to earn a 6-4, 6-0 win over Brian Ly. Next in line for the win was Alex Petropoulos, who took a 6-3, 7-5 against Alex Emery. With another victory for the team, senior Milan Krnjetin recorded a 6-4, 6-4 win over Daniel Moser.

Finishing the afternoon action for the Tigers, Lukas Marsoun came back from a dropped first set to take a 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8) victory over Dan Cornei.

“He’s been able to do that quite a bit over his career,” Shore said of Marsoun. “He brought some of his best stuff today, fought hard, competed and was able to pull out the win.”

In the fourth singles match to finish, Alex Stamchev took a 6-1, 6-2 loss against Thomas Petrich.

With the win, Auburn moves to 2-1 in dual match competition, while UAB evens out at 1-1 on the season.

The Tigers will have a nine-day resting period before returning to action.

“They’ll get the weekend off so it’ll be nice for them,” Shore mentioned. “We haven’t been playing outside much and this will give us a week to get used to it again.”

Next on the schedule for Auburn will be Central Florida, when the Tigers will host the Golden Knights on Feb. 15 at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.