Nov. 20, 2008

AUBURN - The No. 7-ranked Auburn swimming and diving teams return to action this week for their second meet in as many weeks as the Tigers travel to meets in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Atlanta, Ga. Auburn's swimmers will head to Tuscaloosa for a long course dual meet against in-state rival Alabama while the divers head to Atlanta to compete in the Georgia Tech Invitational.

Auburn is coming off its first dual meet of the season last week at Georgia. AU's women lost to the Bulldogs, 167-128, while the men defeated UGA, 163-136.

Alabama's women enter the "Iron Bowl of Swimming" with a 4-0-1 record while the men enter with a 2-2 mark.

"We are looking forward to the competition," said Auburn head coach Richard Quick. "On paper we are a much better team on both sides, however, Alabama is using this competition to try to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which means they will be wearing the Speedo LZR suits. We will be wearing our normal dual meet suits, saving the LZR for SEC and NCAA Championship competition. It makes a huge difference in performance, so we are going to find out about the character of our team this weekend."

Quick said the team made the decision to not wear the suit so as to focus more on its training and to save them for the bigger meets of the season. Alabama is not unique in making the decision to wear the suits as several teams around the country have also elected to use it, with some surprising results.

"We have seen several upsets around the country so far this season," said Quick. "But, in our sport, it is what happens in February and March that counts, the rest of the season is just practice."

Auburn and Alabama will swim the entire NCAA Championships program in a long course, dual meet format. The teams will swim two sessions on Friday, the first at 12 p.m. and the second at 6 p.m. The final session will be Saturday at 10 a.m.

The opening session will include the 200m free relay, 400m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 50m freestyle and 400m medley relay. The second session will include the 200m medley relay, 400m individual medley, 100m butterfly, 200m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, 100m backstroke and 800m freestyle relay.

The final session will consist of the 1500m freestyle, 200m backstroke, 100m freestyle, 200m breaststroke, 200m butterfly and 400m freestyle relay.

The meet will take place at the Alabama Aquatic Center and admission is free to all events.

"We will be facing some great athletes that will have a definite advantage over us, so it will be interesting to see how things go," said Quick.

Also competing this weekend are Auburn's divers at the Georgia Tech Diving Invitational. Action in the three-day meet begins Friday with the women's 1-meter and the men's 3-meter. The men will take to the 1-meter on Saturday while the women dive the 3-meter. The meet will wrap up Sunday with the platform diving. The diving gets underway at 12 p.m. ET on Friday and Saturday and at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday.

For more information on the Alabama long course meet, check out www.RollTide.com and for information on the Georgia Tech Diving Invitational, access www.RamblinWreck.com.