Three Auburn Men Hit Olympic Trials Cuts at Wednesday Time Trial

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

2024 Auburn Leap Year Qualifier

• February 28, 2024
• Martin Aquatic Center, Auburn, Alabama
• Long Course Meters (50m), Time Trial
• Full Meet Results

Three Auburn Tigers stamped tickets to the 2024 US Olympic Trials on Wednesday in their home pool. The event was an Auburn intra-squad time trial event – meaning that the times are not eligibile to be converted for NCAA purposes, but USA Swimming rules allow Olympic Trials cuts to come in single team time trial event.

Logan Tirheimer, Britton Spann, and Jacques Rathle all swam new Olympic Trials times in the single-session affair.

Tirheimer swam 22.73 in the men’s 50 free, slipping under the qualification standard of 22.79. His previous best time, done at the 2022 US National Championships, was 23.20. That long course swim follows an 18.95 that he swam at the SEC Championships last week for 5th place. That was a two-tenths improvements over his time at the 2023 SEC Championships.

Spann swam 2:15.76 in the men’s 200 breaststroke to get under the Olympic Trials standard of 2:15.99. His previous best in that event was 2:17.06 done at the long course time trial during the George Fall Invite in November.

For the Auburn freshman, his best when he arrived at Auburn was a 2:18.65 from the 2022 Junior National Championships.

The third swimmer to book their ticket to Trials was Rathle, who swam 2:03.13 in the men’s 200 IM, getting under the Olympic Trials standard of 2:03.49. His previous best of 2:03.85 was done at the 2023 US National Championships.

Rathle was also under the Olympic Trials standard in the 400 IM at the 2022 US National Championships, but that was prior to the opening of the qualification period.

Spann wasn’t on Auburn’s SEC Championship roster. Rathle is likely to be invited to March’s NCAA Championships via his 3:41.52 in the 400 IM while Tirheimer’s 50 free is a near-lock for his NCAA invite.

Those three join seven Auburn women and three other Auburn men with qualifying standards for the Olympic Trials. The meet will be held from June 15-23 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

SwimSwam: Three Auburn Men Hit Olympic Trials Cuts at Wednesday Time Trial