Erin Falconer holding her medal after her victory
Erin Falconer claimed the first SEC Title of her career on Thursday at the 2019 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships, winning the 200 free to claim Auburn’s first individual conference title since 2017. Her win was one of three podium finishes for Auburn on the night as Aly Tetzloff and Liam McCloskey each finished second in the 100 fly.
“Last SECs, last 200 free, I’m just going to have fun with it,” Falconer said. “The last 25 (yards) I saw some of the girls coming up on me and I knew I had to get my hand on the wall first. We had a lot of second places today and I didn’t want to be second.”
“Hats off to the staff, to the entire swimming and diving program and ultimately to those three athletes,” Auburn head coach Gary Taylor said. “Those three athletes swam really tough tonight. Aly with an outstanding performance in going under 51 for the first time in her career, followed by Liam fighting tooth-and-nail right to the finish for that second-place performance.
“And then finally Erin Falconer, who from Day One has embraced the staff, embodied The New Plains and the idea of getting back to a championship culture,” Taylor said. “I couldn’t be more proud to have her become the first SEC Champion under this staff.”