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Ranking the Classes (W): #4 - Auburn

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. In 2007, freshmen Ava Ohlgren, Melissa Marik, and Maggie Bird helped the Tigers to the NCAA title. The trio persevered to SEC titles in 2008 and 2009 despite the departures of David Marsh and Dorsey Tierney and the death of Richard Quick, but by last March the Tigers had just two top-eight individual finishes.

All of that seemed to turn around when the Tigers signed consensus number-one recruit Dagny Knutson who could be expected to compete for a trio of individual titles all by herself. Knutson, of course, opted to decommit when assistant Paul Yetter opted to return to club coaching, but that wasn’t enough to knock Auburn’s class from the number two spot.

That’s because all five of the Tigers’ prep signees and JC Swimmer-of-the-Year Yennifer Marquez rank among the top fifty in the country. Olivia Joan Scott, Erin Reisinger, Emily Boss, and Haley Krakoski have all posted NCAA consideration times, and are equally valuable because of their versatility.

With Knutson out of the picture, the Tigers lack a top-ten recruit, but then again their 2007 group of freshmen exceeded every expectation placed upon them. If this group can do the same they’ll have something to celebrate when they host the 2012 NCAA Championships. Finally, it would be wrong to consider this class complete. Though painful, the Dagny Departure, undoubtedly freed up a scholarship for a late, or even mid-season international signee.

1.00Knutson, DagnyND
1.34Scott, Olivia JoanIL
1.36Reisinger, ErinGA
1.39Bos, EmilyMI
2.40Krakoski, HaleyAZ
2.42DeVenuto, SienaFL
#1 Stanford
#2 Arizona
#3 Virginia
#4 Auburn
#5 Tennessee
#6 California
#7 USC
#8 Florida
#9 Texas
#10 Ohio St
#11 SMU
#12 Louisville
#13 Princeton
#14 LSU

#15 Georgia
#16 Indiana

#17 Arkansas
#18 UNC
#19 Alabama

#20 Penn St
#21 Duke
#22 SDSU

#23 Texas A&M
#24 Arizona St
#25 Minnesota



















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