Auburn University’s swimming and diving teams opened the NC State Invite in Greensboro, North Carolina, with a strong performance on Thursday. The Tigers recorded seven top-10 times in program history and several personal bests during the first day of competition at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Lora Komoroczy led Auburn’s women in the 100-yard butterfly, posting a season-best time of 52.12 seconds to qualify for the A final. Carissa Rinard (52.72) also made the A final, while Morgan Carteaux (52.99), Izzy Iwasyk (53.24), and Taylor Bacher (53.35) advanced to the B final. Ellis Fox (53.41) qualified for the C final.
On the men’s side, Abdalla Nasr qualified fourth overall in the 100 fly with a time of 45.75 seconds, followed by teammate Sohib Khaled at 45.85 seconds. Bradford Johnson (46.60) and Luke Bedsole (47.10) reached the B final, and Sam Empey (47.31) made it to the C final.
During finals, Khaled achieved a season-best 45.54 seconds to take second place overall in his event, with Johnson finishing fifth at 46.27 seconds.
Three Auburn swimmers—Maggie McGuire (4:14.10), Sammie Hamilton (4:20.03), and Audrey Crawford (4:20.21)—qualified for the A final in the women’s 400 individual medley during morning heats; Coco Croxford (4:24.01) reached the C final as well. In finals, Hamilton finished fifth with a time of 4:16.70.
In men’s events, freshman Luke Waldrep swam a time of 3:44.28 in preliminaries for seventh all-time among Auburn performers in that event; Maston Ballew moved into tenth with his own swim of 3:45.73 as both reached the A final alongside Mack Schumann (3:48.06) and Danny Schmidt (3:49.45). In finals, Schumann improved to seventh all-time by clocking 3:44.25.
Bella Ekk (1:45.72) and Wyllo Hanson (1:46.54) secured spots in the A final of the women’s 200 freestyle during morning sessions; Lilly Gault Abdella and Julia Strojnowska reached the B final.
Daniel Krichevsky posted a morning time of 1:33.27 in men’s mid-distance freestyle to qualify for finals alongside Warner Russ (1:33.80). In finals, Krichevsky lowered his No. 3 mark on Auburn’s all-time list with a swim of 1:32.18; Russ surpassed Rowdy Gaines on that same list with his own time of 1:33.62.
Four Tigers—Annika Finzen (1:00.61), Zoe Zeller (1:00.63), Hanna Schmidt (1:00.83), and Kiia Metsakonkola (1:00 .85)—reached the A final in women’s breaststroke; Zeller later placed fourth overall after dropping her time to 1:00 .27 during finals.
Uros Zivanovic briefly held tenth place all-time at Auburn after swimming a morning breaststroke heat in 52 .58 before freshman Maston Ballew overtook him with a faster evening swim at 52 .56.
Auburn relays were competitive as well—Komoroczy, Metsakonkola, Iwasyk ,and Elizaveta Klevanovich combined for Auburn’s second-fastest women’s 200 medley relay ever at 1 :34 .94 , while Ivan Tarasov ,Zivanovic ,Khaled ,and Kalled Makinen produced their school ‘s fifth-fastest men’s relay performance with a time of 1 :22 .72 .
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