The Auburn University swimming and diving teams know how to take an individual sport and make it about team.

Just look at the ceiling of the James E. Martin Aquatics Center on AU’s campus.

There, 12 NCAA Championship banners hang, along with 19 SEC Championship reminders. All achieved by the men’s and women’s teams.

Sure, you can only fit one person in a swimming lane at a time. But for the Auburn Tigers, that one person isn’t swimming just for his or her personal best. They’re swimming for something bigger. Something larger. Hence, the banners.

And when the three-day Ralph Crocker Invitational begins today, the Auburn University swimmers will hit the pool to prove that philosophy once again.

But this time, it’s not for a banner, but a brother.

Ralph Crocker coached distance swimmers as an assistant at Auburn from 1999 until his death in 2007. Crocker, who also swam for Auburn from 1972-75,  actually started the event his first year on the Plains when it was called the Orange and Blue Classic.

But when Crocker died after a battle with cancer in January 2007, then-Auburn head coach David Marsh and Auburn Aquatics head coach Jeff Dellenger decided to change the name to honor their friend.

“We try to come together as a group — a family,” said current co-men’s head coach Brett Hawke, who was a senior at Auburn in Crocker’s first year with the Tigers. “And Ralph was a part of our family. It’s good to get everyone to remember Ralph and what he stood for — hard work, dedication, perseverance ... Ralph embodied all those qualities.”

Today through Sunday at the Aquatics Center, more than 800 swimmers ranging from 7 years old to professionals, including Olympian and former Tiger Fred Bousquet, will compete in the Ralph Crocker Invitational.

Auburn University swimmers will also compete in the event, which will allow them to sharpen skills and earn NCAA qualifying times, but more importantly, it’s about honoring Crocker and his family.

“An event like this helps (our swimmers) put things into perspective as far as allowing them to compete for an even greater cause,” AU women’s coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker said. “It takes it away from being about themselves and it gives them a little more purpose.”

A portion of the entry fees will go to the Ralph Crocker scholarship for distance swimmers.

On Feb. 14, the Auburn swimmers will be honoring another one of their family members, head coach Richard Quick, who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in late December.

Swim Across America will host a national, open invitation fundraising event, “Swim Quick,” as a tribute to Auburn’s head coach, and in an effort to raise money to find a cure.

“For us it’s about family,” Hawke said.

The Ralph Crocker Invitational begins at 5 p.m. today. Competition will resume at 10 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday.

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