Oct. 16, 2008

AUBURN - The SEC Champion Auburn swimming and diving teams take to the pool for the first time this weekend as the Tigers compete in the War Eagle Invitational at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.

Hosted by the Auburn Aquatics club team, the War Eagle Invitational is an age-group club meet with swimmers of all ages set to compete in the three-day meet. Auburn swimmers will compete in the 15 and over division and will begin at 5 p.m., Friday with the 50 freestyle, 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle.

While the team will not compete against any other colleges or universities, head coach Richard Quick said the opportunity to get in the pool early in the season is an opportunity they will not pass up.

"This meet is a very good opportunity for our team to race a little, get a feel for racing and for the coaching staff to identify things we need to work on in the next month or so," said Quick. "We value every time we get to race and the opportunity to learn from it."

Auburn has held two intrasquad meets this fall, one at the Martin Aquatics Center and one at Lake Martin, but this weekend's meet will be the first opportunity for the team to swim with the clock running.

The Tigers are coming off a sweep at the SEC Championships and top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships. The women finished second at NCAAs last season after back-to-back titles while the men finished fifth after a run of five-straight titles.

Auburn returns 25 All-Americans and four NCAA champions from last year's team, as well as six swimmers that competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Competition at the War Eagle Invitational begins at 5 p.m., Friday at Auburn's James E. Martin Aquatics Center. The meet continues at 9 a.m., Saturday and Sunday with the younger age groups, followed by the older groups, including the AU swimmers, at 2 p.m.