<p>Congratulations to the Auburn men SEC Swimming and Diving Champions! 16 in a row!</p>
<p>Unknowingly, our 2009 hotel stay at the Waldorf Astoria in Rome coincided with the FINA World Championships. At the breakfast buffet my 8 year old daughter became overly excited and told me to look at the back of someone’s t-shirt that read “Nothing Meaner Than A Wet Cat” with the most beautful shades of orange and blue! She leaned over to him and said “War Eagle!” The gentleman turned around and it was Rowdy Gaines, former AU swimmer and classmate, Olympic Gold medalist and NBC Olympic analyst. He encouraged our family to go to a few FINA swimming events and boasted that Auburn was well represented and could literally be a nation unto itself as there were 17 Auburn swimmers there. We did go and quite frankly it was a great day to be not only be an American but an Auburn Tiger! </p>
<p>The results: “had Team Auburn been a sovereign nation we the Tigers would have tied Australia for fourth in the overall medal count with 15, trailing only China (28), United States (25) and Russia (19). In all, Auburn swimmers set three world and 13 meet records while picking up six gold, four silver and five bronze medals over eight days of swimming competition.”</p>