Georgia's swimming and diving teams grabbed the first-day leads on Friday in the UGA Fall Invitational at Gabrielsen Natatorium.
The Bulldogs rolled up 275 points to stand ahead of California (269) and Auburn (188), while the Lady Bulldogs posted 277 points to lead Virginia's 230 and Cal's 223. The three-day meet will continue on Saturday and will conclude on Sunday.
"We're pretty happy about today's meet," said Harvey Humphries, Georgia's Acting Head Coach. "We were going over our stats from a year ago when we were swimming at this same meet at Auburn and we were pretty much faster in everything today. Our freshmen have been slowly but surely moving forward. Most of them had some real good breakout swims today so we're real proud of them. They're doing great."
Matias Koski took first in the 500 freestyle with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 4:13.36. Chase Kalisz led a 1-2-3 Georgia finish in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:43.10.
Chantal Van Landeghem took the 50 freestyle with an A-cut time of 21.88. Amber McDermott and Brittany MacLean took third and fourth, respectively in the 500 freestyle with NCAA automatic qualifying times. McDermott stopped the clock in 4:35.89, while MacLean touched in 4:36.42.
Georgia recorded two A-cut times in relays. The 200 freestyle relay of Olivia Smoliga, Van Landeghem, Maddie Locus and Lauren Harrington went 1:27.83, while the 400 medley relay of Kylie Stewart, Annie Zhu, Harrington and Van Landeghem stopped the clock in 3:32.64.
The UGA Fall Invitational will continue on Saturday with swimming prelims at 9:30 a.m., followed by diving prelims at approximately 11:30 a.m. The finals will take place at 5 p.m. There is no cost for admission.
"Tomorrow should be a little better day for us," Humphries said. "We're going to be really strong in the 400 IM. Our 200 freestyle will be strong and our backstroke is good all up and down for the guys and the girls, so tomorrow could be a really good day."
California
The Cal men's swimming team had an impressive first day at the 2014 Georgia Invitational, winning both the 200 free relay and the 400 medley relay, while junior sprinter Tyler Messerschmidt was the 50 free champion Friday in Athens, Ga.
The Golden Bears, the defending 2014 Pac-12 and NCAA champions under coach David Durden, won the competition's opening event, the 200 free relay with automatic NCAA qualifying time of 1:17.97, behind the swims of senior Seth Stubblefield, Messerschmidt, senior Henry Chung and sophomore Ryan Murphy.
Cal also captured the evening's final race, the 400 medley relay (3:05.90, NCAA A Standard) with standout backstroker Murphy leading off, senior breaststroker Chuck Katis, freshman butterflyer Justin Lynch and freestyler Stubblefield.
Messerschmidt was also a champion in the 50 free with an NCAA B Standard time of 19.46. He was joined by Stubblefield (fifth 19.96 NCAA B Standard) and Chung (eighth 20.28) in the finals of the 50 free.
Another top effort for Durden's squad was senior Adam Hinshaw's third place finish in the 500 free with a time of 4:18.74 (NCAA B Standard), while sophomore Long Gutierrez was the B Final champion in the 500 free (4:21.75).
The Bears also had an impressive four swimmers final in the 200 IM with NCAA B Standard times. Junior Josh Prenot was fourth (1:43.88), senior Will Hamilton was fifth (1:44.58), Murphy was sixth (1:45.05) and Katis was seventh (1:45.36).
Auburn
Both the Auburn men’s and women’s 200 freestyle relay teams collected NCAA automatic qualifying times and 15 swimmers earned ‘B’ cuts to highlight the first day of action at the Georgia Invitational on Friday.
Auburn’s men’s 200 free relay squad of Kyle Darmody, Michael Duderstadt, Arthur Mendes and Jacob Molacek took second, touching in at 1:18.04, to match the NCAA automatic qualifying standard. The time by the Tigers ranks as the fourth-best time in the nation heading into the weekend.
For the Auburn women, it was the team of Allyx Purcell, Megan Fonteno, Ashton Ellzey and Valerie Hull that opened the session with a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:28.41 in the 200 free relay, finishing third. That mark ranks inside the top-5 in the nation, so far this season. Purcell led off the event with a lifetime-best 22.14 in the 50 free, which ranks as the fifth-fastest time in Auburn history.
“I thought we came out tonight and had a much better performance than we did this morning,” head coach Brett Hawke said. “We came back and raced really well. It’s always good to get ‘A’ cuts in the middle of the season. Overall, we are lot better at this point in the season than we were this time last year in the relays.”
Darmody lowered his time in the 50 free to a season-best 19.69, finishing third in the championship final. Mendes continued his strong performance during the opening day of action, setting a personal-best at 19.75. Jones finished third in the B-final with his fastest time of the season at 20.14.
Purcell went 22.24, taking fourth in the women’s 50 free championship final. Megan Fonteno set a personal-best at 23.39 as the senior took second (10th overall) in the B-final, while Valerie Hull’s 22.65 was a season-best for the freshman to finish 14th. Ashton Ellzey took 23rd overall, clocking a 23.18 in the C-final.
Joe Patching won the consolation final of the 200 IM with a season-best time of 1:44.76 to lower his NCAA ‘B’ cut time. Michael Duderstadt took 13th overall with a near personal-best swim of 1:46.48, while Alex Hancock was 14th overall with a 1:47.81 in the B-final. Jordan Jones earned a 19th-place finish in the C-final at 1:49.37, while Molacek tied for 21st with his time of 1:50.02.
McKenna DeBever lowered her NCAA ‘B’ cut time in the 200 IM C-final, touching in at 1:59.80 to take 20th overall. Annie Lazor’s 2:00.55 finished 21st overall.
Zoe Thatcher was 12th in the women’s 500 free consolation final. The freshman was faster in the night session, posting a 4:43.28. Her swim ranks as the ninth-best time in school history in the event. Ashley Neidigh finished 23rd overall in the event, swimming a 4:50.73 in the C-final. In the men’s 500 free, Logan Samuelson went 4:32.58 in the C-final for the Tigers.
The Tigers closed out the first day of action with ‘B’ cuts in the 400 medley relay on both sides. In the men’s final, Joe Patching, Michael Duderstadt, Arthur Mendes and Kyle Darmody claimed third at 3:10.11, while Jillian Vitarius, Natasha Lloyd, Megan Fonteno and Allyx Purcell took fourth at 3:34.28 for the Auburn women.
Fraser McKean led Auburn’s men in diving, taking second overall on the 1-meter with six-dive list of 369.40 in the 16-diver final. Justin Youtsey scored 325.40 to take fourth, while Pete Turnham was ninth at 293.45 to give all three men’s divers a top-10 finish. Cinzia Calabretta led the Auburn women with a 263.40 on 3-meter to place 11th overall, while Morgan Mullins logged a 244.85 to finish 14th.
Virginia
Virginia’s women swimmers broke five school records as the Cavalier swimming and diving teams competed action on day one of the Georgia Fall Invitational Friday at Gabrielsen Natatorium.
After one day of action, the Cavalier women are in second with 230 points, behind host Georgia (277), but ahead of California (223), Auburn (108), Penn State (105) and Florida State (60). Virginia’s men are in fourth place with 139 points, behind Georgia (275), Cal (269) and Auburn (188), but ahead of Florida State (85) and Penn State (82).
“All in all it was a really good day,” UVa head coach Augie Busch said. “We had a lot of highlights and best times, especially coming within a few tenths of a second of three NCAA records. Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity for everyone to be better than they’ve been and we’re excited for that.”
The women’s 400 medley relay of junior Courtney Bartholomew, sophomore Laura Simon, junior Ellen Williamson and sophomore Ellen Thomas broke the ACC and Virginia record in 3:27.84, just 0.33 off the NCAA and US Open record. Bartholomew’s lead-off 100 back of 50.01 is the second-fastest time ever, second only to Natalie Coughlin’s 49.97 at the 2002 NCAA Championships.
Sophomore Leah Smith won the women’s 500 free in a time of 4:32.70, but in the prelims she broke the ACC and Virginia record in 4:32.61, just .08 off the NCAA record, and the ninth-fastest time in the history of the event.
All in all, the Cavalier women missed three NCAA records by a combined 0.45.
In the women’s 200 IM, junior Courtney Bartholomew, Kaitlyn Jones and Ellen Williamson placed third (1:55.27), fifth (1:56.07) and sixth (1:56.11), while senior Shaun Casey was eighth in 1:58.36. In the prelims, the Cavaliers' top three went under Williamson’s previous school record of 1:56.13. Jones and Williamson went 1:55.61 and 1:55.93, respectively, before Bartholomew followed in the next heat in an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 1:55.23 to set the new school record.
The women’s 200 free relay of freshman Caitlin Cooper, sophomore Shannon Rauth, Thomas and Williamson placed fourth in a school-record time of 1:28.54. That time was also an NCAA automatic-qualifying time.
Senior JB Kolod won the men’s 1-meter diving event with a score of 370.80, while juniors Colby Shinholser and Carl Buergler finshed 11th (273.35) and 12th (269.35), respectively.
In women's 3m diving finals, junior Becca Corbett placed 4th with a score of 313.90, while freshman Emily Langworthy was 13th with 253.70.
“We had a solid day one,” UVa head diving coach Jason Glorius said. “We continue to compete well and carry over what we work on in practice to the meet.”
Sophomore Austin Quinn placed fourth in the men’s 500 free in 4:19.90, while freshman Luke Georgiadis was eighth in 4:27.36.
In the women’s 50 free, sophomore Ellen Thomas placed fifth in 22.29, while freshman Caitlin Cooper was eighth in 22.71. In prelims, Thomas went 22.14 to rank second on UVa’s all-time list, while Cooper won a swim-off in 22.37 to rank third and move on to the A final.
The men’s 200 free relay of sophomore Matt Lockman, freshman Nick Magana, sophomore Adam Whitener and Luke Georgiadis placed sixth in 1:21.17. Lockman also touched sixth in the men’s 50 free in 20.00, which ranks in a tie for seventh all-time in UVa history.
Also in the women’s 400 medley relay, senior Emily Dicus led off the B relay with a time of 53.23, while freshman Jennifer Marrkand led off the C relay with a 100 back of 53.36. Those times rank eighth and ninth on UVa’s all-time list, respectively.
Virginia Tech
The Virginia Tech men’s and women’s diving teams completed the first day of competition at the University of Georgia Fall Invitational Friday night, led by Kaylea Arnett, Ashley Buchter and Logan Stevens, who all earned top-five finishes.
“The competition was very strong here tonight,” head diving coach Ron Piemonte said. “For us to put three men and three women into the top-eight finals in the first day is quite a great accomplishment. Kaylea Arnett and Ashley Buchter were really solid on the 3-meter to get us a really good start. It was a very difficult one-meter meet for the men so to get those three guys in the finals was great.”
For the women, Arnett and Buchter were the top finishers, taking second and third in the 3-meter diving event. Arnett scored 331.65 and Buchter posted 318.70.
Kelli Stockton finished in the seventh spot, scoring 284.55. Emma Villarreal finished tenth, notching a score of 281.25, and Katie Bean took sixteenth, scoring 219.25.
Among a field which included No. 2 Georgia, No. 5 California, No. 6 Auburn, No. 9 Virginia, No. 15 Penn State and No. 19 UCLA, the H2Okies had five divers finish in the top sixteen. No other team had more than two divers in the top sixteen.
For the ninth-ranked men’s squad, Logan Stevens was the top finisher, taking fifth in the one-meter with a score of 307.05. Behind him, Mauro Castro-Silva took sixth with a score of 294.85. One spot past Castro-Silva, Thomas Shinholser finished seventh with a score of 294.40.
Kyle Butts posted a score of 308.65, the fifth-highest score of the finals, but he finished in the ninth spot because only the top-eight preliminary finishers can finish in the final top-eight final spots. Jack Gigliotti finished 13th for the H2Okies, scoring 253.85.
Like the women’s event, the H2Okies' five top-sixteen finishers in the men's event were the most from any team.
Penn State
Setting season-best top times in five events, the No. 15 Penn State women’s swimming and diving team ranks fifth of nine teams with a score of 105 through the first day of the Georgia Fall Invitational Friday. Including the 3-meter diving, there were six women’s events, which consisted of prelims in the morning and finals in the evening.
The day was highlighted by a record-setting performance from senior Megan Siverling (Chester Springs, Pa.). In the prelims of the 500-yard freestyle on Friday morning, Siverling set the school record by touching the wall in 4:41.86. She passed junior teammate Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec), who held the previous best mark of 4:42.11 in 2013. Siverling placed sixth in the finals of the event, clocking in at 4:41.88.
The 200-yard freestyle relay group had the best finish of the day for the Nittany Lions, as Ackman, sophomore Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.), senior Carolyn Fittin (Sea Girt, N.J.) and senior Katelyn Miller (Hershey, Pa.) took fifth with a mark of 1:29.80, shattering the team’s previous season-best time of 1:32.02.
Later, Ackman, junior Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico), junior Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) and Fittin also notched a sixth-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay with a 3:37.48, their best time of the season.
Fittin had a career-best time of 22.42 in the prelims of the 50-yard freestyle event, taking seventh with a mark of 22.50 in the finals. Rowe was the team’s top finisher (13th) in the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:59.31 in the evening session. She had a season-best 1:58.75 in the prelims.
Georgia leads the women’s field through day one, posting a score of 277. The Nittany Lions are just three points back of fourth-place Auburn, who sits at 108.
After one full day of competition at the Georgia Fall Invitational, the Penn State men’s swimming and diving team sits in sixth place with a total of 82 points. Senior Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.) had a standout day in the pool, scoring PSU a dozen points with his seventh place finish (20.23) in the 50-yard freestyle, just hours after setting a new career best time in the event, with a 20.17 effort during preliminaries.
Also earning their team points in the championship style meet were Nick Ankosko (East Brunswick, N.J.), Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.) and David Gross (Perryville, Md.), who netted the Nittany Lions a total of 10 points between the trio during the 500 freestyle. Senior Jeff Young (Hershey, Pa.) also scored a pair of points with his 20.48 performance in the 50 free.
Although he did not score any team points, redshirt senior Tim Maurer (Hershey, Pa.) did net some personal ones with a career best 1:48.78 time in the 200-yard IM. During the diving portion of the competition, freshman Conner Scanlon (Laurel, Md.) earned a 225.45 score in the one meter and fellow freshman Travis Wright (Derby, N.Y.) followed up his teammate with a 220.95 total in the same event.
As a team, the Lions finished fifth in the 200 freestyle relay with a season best 1:20.22 time, netting themselves 28 points. Another 26 points were scored during the final event of the night, with a 2014 top time of 3:13.82 and a sixth place performance in the 400-yard medley relay.
The second day of the three-day event starts Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m., with preliminaries. Finals then begin at 5 p.m. in Athens with a total of 16 events on the docket for both the men and the women.
As a unit, the Nittany Lion men and women sit in fifth place with a combined team score of 187 points. The Penn State men saw a total of 21 times during the first day of competition that were either career best or season fastest times in the pool.
Florida State
The Florida State swimming and diving teams opened up competition at the Georgia Invitational on Friday evening. The women sit in fifth place (85) while the men are in sixth (60) heading into the second day.
“We had a solid day,” FSU head coach Frank Bradley said. “We were about where we were two weeks ago, so it’s great to see us be consistent at this time. Hopefully we rise up to our level of competition and continue to compete well throughout the weekend.”
Florida State started the evening with a sixth place finish in the women’s 200 free relay, taking sixth place with a team of Kaitlyn Dressel, Alexi Smith, Bianca Spinazzola and Chelsea Britt. They turned in a time of 1:30.49.
Dressel and Smith would score points for the Seminoles in the 50 free as Dressel touched with a time of 22.54 for 12th and Smith would finish 16th at 22.84.
The Seminoles closed out the evening finishing fifth in the 400 medley relay with the team of Spinazzola, Natalie Pierce, Britt and Dressel, touching with a time of 3:34.40.
“It was good for these ladies to compete in that type of elite field tonight,” Bradley said. “These will be the teams competing in that top heat at NCAA’s, no doubt and it’s great experience for them to get up and race. They had great splits and I like where we are with this relay.”
The men placed fourth in the 200 free relay to start off the evening with a team of Jason McCormick, Cadell Lyons, Jason Coombs and Connor Knight, with a time of 1:19.36 – a season best.
Kevin Rogers put up his best 500 free swim of the season and placed seventh with a final time of 4:23.57, which is an NCAA B standard. Coombs picked up 16th place points in the 200 IM with a final time of 1:49.02 after swimming a 1:47.09 in prelims.
In the 50 free, McCormick won the ‘B’ final with a season best swim of 19.95, while Knight finished 12th with a time of 20.19, which is his best showing in the race.
The Seminoles concluded the evening with a fifth place finish in the 400 medley relay with the team of Josh Friedel, Coombs, Knight and McCormcik, who turned in a time of 3:12.61.
