The No. 9 University of Minnesota men's swimming and diving team routed Georgia Tech 171-120 this afternoon at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Ga. The Gophers won 12 of 16 events and improved to 5-0 on the season.

“This is the third nationally-ranked team we’ve swum this year,” said Georgia Tech head coach Stuart Wilson. “It’s good for us to compete against this caliber of teams.”

Senior Adam Mitchell led the Gophers winning three individual events while Minnesota posted at least the top three times in nine different events.

Mitchell won the 200 butterfly in 1:52.70 while Russ Payne was second in 1: 54.16. Later in the meet, he cruised to a win in the 200 individual medley in 1:52.38. Payne's time of 1: 55.14 earned him second place. In the closest event of the meet, Mitchell won the 200 backstroke over teammate David Plummer in 1:49.87. Plummer finished just .09 behind.

The Gophers started the meet with a dominating performance in the 200 medley relay. The Gophers claimed the top three finishers, all ahead of the Yellow Jackets' A team. Minnesota's A team of Mitchell, Dan Berve, Colin Lee- To and Ales Volcansek and the B team of Plummer, Neil Osten, Sean Kelly and Jason Timmer tied for the victory in 1:31.09. Minnesota's C team was third in 1:32.87.

Plummer picked up an event win in the 100 backstroke, touching the wall in 49.63. Berve was second in 50.88 and Mike Woodson was third in 50.91. Freshman Colin Lee- To remained undefeated in the 100 breaststroke, clocking a 56.31 to win the event. Drew Knoechel was second in 57.22 and Kelly was third in 57.72.

The Gophers also went 1-2-3 in the 50 freestyle, led by Volcansek with a winning time of 20.80. Igor Cerensek followed in 21.02 and Osten in 21.19. In the 100 freestle, Mario Delac touched first in a time of 45.44. The Gophers had the next three finishers as well with Tyler Schmidt in 46.66, Evan Bernier in 46.79 and Kiel Ochalek in 47.63.

Cerensek won the 200 freestyle with ease, clocking a 1:40.25. His closest competition was Georgia Tech's Noah Copeland in second at 1:41.60. Kelly led the Gophers in the 200 breaststroke, winning in 2:05.80. Knoechel was second with a time of 2:06.24.

Osten posted the victory in the 100 butterfly with a time of 50.48 while Berve was second in 51.07.

The Gophers won the 400 freestyle relay to end the meet. The Gophers A team of Cerensek, Delac, Schmidt and Woodson clocked a 3:01.93 to win the event by almost seven seconds.

Tech senior All-American Sam Morgan captured the 500- and 1000-yard freestyle events to lead the Yellowjackets.

Morgan, a native of Gainesville, Ga., clocked season-best times in the 500 free (4:31.68) and 1000 free (9:14.83) to pace the Jackets.

“It was good to see Sam [Morgan] get his confidence back today,” said Wilson. “He’s back to his old self and hopefully he can continue to help us in dual meets the rest of the year.”

The Jackets swept the diving events as junior Tony Burkhardt won the one-meter board and sophomore Evan Stowers finished first on the three-meter board. Burkhardt, a native Phoenix, Ariz., tallied a season-best score of 327.75 on the one-meter board. Stowers, a native of Independence, Ky., posted a Tech season-best score of 344.10 on the three-meter board.

“Tony and Evan did a nice job for us on the springboards,” said Wilson. “Tony had a high score on the one-meter board and Evan came close to our school record on the three-meter board.”

The Yellow Jackets will return to the pool on Nov. 18-20, for the second annual Georgia Tech Invitational. While the Gophers will host their own three-day invite.