TUSCALOOSA — The Auburn men’s swimming and diving team is currently in first place at the 2008 SEC Championships after earning three championships on Thursday.

The women’s team moved to second place after finishing the first day in sixth. The Tigers have 230 points and trail Florida (272) with two days left in the meet. Auburn’s men finished the day with 322 points, distancing itself from Florida, its nearest competitor with 233 points.

“We feel good about where we are right now,” said head coach Richard Quick. “(Today’s) preliminaries will be critical to our success and how the meet works out. On paper, (today) should be our best day, but we have got to step up (today) and win the preliminaries.”

The men’s team scored almost 200 points on Thursday, opening the day with a win on the 1-meter springboard. Kelly Marx earned his first SEC title, scoring a 352.20 to take the win.

“That was a great win for Kelly,” said head diving coach Jeff Shaffer. “When you minimize your mistakes, you maximize your opportunity and you will be successful and that is really how that contest played out.”

Softball’s Thompson named preseason All-SEC
Auburn sophomore pitcher Anna Thompson has been named to the Preseason All-Southeastern Conference Second Team for softball, it was announced by the league.

Thompson, a native of Huntsville, set an Auburn freshman record with 15 wins in 2007. Thompson finished second in the SEC with 291 strikeouts. Thompson had a 1.72 ERA last season and held opponents to a .169 batting average.

“This is a well-deserved honor for Anna and we are all very proud of her,” Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. “She did an outstanding job last season and everyone is looking for her to continue her progress in 2008.”

Men’s golf remains in first in Hawaii
WAHIAWA, Hawaii — Led by junior Glenn Northcutt’s second round 66, the No. 15 Auburn men’s golf team shot 15-under par on Day 2 of the John Burns Intercollegiate at the par-72, 6,916-yard Leilehua Golf Course on Thursday.

At 25-under, the Tigers (273-551) retained first position after a first round tie with Arizona and San Diego State.

Senior Jay Moseley (70-136), who finished sixth in last year’s John Burns, is tied for fifth.  Northcutt (66-137) is tied for eighth.

Senior Steven Groover (69-140) is tied for 25th, junior Cole Moreland (68-141) is tied for 30th and senior Jamie Bowen is tied for 52nd.

Soccer hires Berbary as assistant coach
A former standout for the University of Georgia soccer team, and now a rising star on the sidelines, Amy Berbary has been hired as an assistant coach on Karen Hoppa’s staff at Auburn.

Berbary, who lettered at Georgia from 1998-2001, spent the past four seasons on the staff of Mike Tucker at the University of Dayton.

“We are thrilled to have Amy join our staff,” Hoppa said. “Her experience as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at Dayton, along with her playing experience in the SEC, has prepared her to make an immediate impact on our program.”

Gymnastics set to take on Gym’Backs
The No. 14 Auburn gymnastics team (4-5, 0-5) will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to take on the No. 10 Arkansas Gym’Backs (3-4, 1-3 SEC) for its final conference meet of the season today at 7 p.m. in Barnhill Arena.

“It is an intense and fun rivalry for both of our schools,” said Auburn head coach Jeff Thompson. “Our gymnasts know that the theme is to get off to a good start. If we go up there and do really well on the first two events, it’s going to be a really exciting and really close meet.”

Men’s tennis set to host South Florida
The No. 36 Auburn men’s tennis team returns to action today with a 1:30 p.m. matchup against No. 55 South Florida at the City of Auburn / Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center.

Auburn is 3-2 on the season coming off last weekend’s 4-3 loss to Tulsa. South Florida also enters the match with a 3-2 record.