The Georgia women's swimming and diving team placed first and the Georgia men came in second as the UGA Fall Invitational came to a close on Sunday at Gabrielsen Natatorium.
The Lady Bulldogs won the team title with 916 points, holding off California (907). On the men's side, California won with 921 points, followed by Georgia with 916.
"I am as happy as I can be," said Harvey Humphries, Georgia's Acting Head Coach. "We came into the weekend hoping for something pretty close to what we got. The main goals were to qualify some kids for nationals and to swim well on the last day. We were able to accomplish both of those. We wanted to treat today like an SEC or NCAA meet, when you're swimming for a championship on the last day. It was great to see the kids get up for today the way they did."
Chase Kalisz picked up his second A-cut time of the weekend as he won the 200 butterfly in 1:42.22. On Saturday, Kalisz qualified for the NCAAs in the 400 individual medley. Nicolas Fink notched an A-cut time of 1:53.45 as he won the 200 breaststroke. Matias Koski won the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 14:54.38. Michael Trice, who set the school record in the 50 freestyle earlier in the meet, came in first in the 100 freestyle, touching in 43.20. The 400 freestyle relay of Matias Koski, Fink, Gunnar Bentz and Trice set the school record and came in first with an A-cut time of 2:51.87.
Olivia Smoliga won the 100 freestyle, stopping the clock in 47.92. Brittany MacLean punched her ticket to the NCAAs with a second-place time of 15:51.73 in the 1,650 freestyle. The 400 freestyle relay of Maddie Locus, Smoliga, Hali Flickinger and Chantal Van Landeghem came in second with an A-cut time of 3:12.72.
Next up for Georgia is a swimming dual meet on Jan. 3 at South Carolina and the Tennessee Diving Invitational Jan. 3-5. The next home competition will be Jan. 10 against Texas.
California
The Cal men's swimming team showed its strength Sunday by capturing the 2014 Georgia Invitational, outscoring host Georgia, 921 to 916, in Athens, Ga. Another SEC powerhouse, Auburn, was third with 641 points. During the final day of the competition, the Golden Bears were led by sophomore standout Ryan Murphy's win in the 200 back in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:39.32.
For the three-day meet, David Durden's squad won eight races, including taking gold in the 200 free relay and the 200 and 400 medley relays. Murphy won the 100 back on Saturday to go with his 200 back win on Sunday. Other individual winners for the Bears were junior Tyler Messerschmidt in the 50 free on Friday, and freshman Justin Lynch in the 100 fly and senior Chuck Katis in the 100 breast on Saturday.
Cal, which had narrowly trailed Georgia after the first two days of the meet, got some top performances from several others on Sunday. In the 100 free, senior Seth Stubblefield was the invitational's runner-up with a time of 43.23 (NCAA B standard), while Messerschmidt was third with a mark of 43.27 (B standard) and junior Trent Williams was fifth at 43.97 (B standard).
The Bears had three third place finishes on Sunday. Sophomore Janardan Burns was third in the 1650 free (B standard 15:10.15) and senior Adam Hinshaw was fourth (B standard 15:17.45). Katis was third in the 200 breast with a NCAA B standard time of 1:55.00, and Cal's 400 free relay of Lynch, senior Will Hamilton, freshman Kyle Gornay and senior Fabio Gimondi was third with a B standard mark of 2:54.23.
Other notable swims for the Bears Sunday were junior Jacob Pebley finishing fourth (1:41.74 B standard) and senior Jesse Ryckman placing sixth (1:43.79 B standard) in the 200 back. Sophomore Hunter Cobleigh was the B Final champion in the 200 breast with a time of 1:59.89, and in the 200 fly junior Josh Prenot was fifth (1:43.82 B standard), Hamilton eighth (1:45.02 B standard) and sophomore Long Gutierrez was the B Final champion at 1:44.07 (B standard).
Cal is now off until January when they visit the Arizona schools in Pac-12 dual meet competition. The Bears travel to Tempe on Friday, Jan. 23 (time TBA) and then take on Arizona in Tucson on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 11 a.m. in a dual meet shown on the Pac-12 Networks.
Virginia
The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams closed out the Georgia Fall Invitational with three more school records Sunday (Dec. 7) at Gabrielsen Natatorium. UVa finished the weekend with 11 school records broken for the meet.
On the women’s side, the No. 9 Cavaliers placed third with 748 points, behind only No. 2 Georgia (916) and No. 5 California (907), but ahead of No. 6 Auburn (405), No. 15 Penn State (363) and Florida State (214).
The Virginia men placed fourth with 526 points, behind No. 6 Cal (921), No. 12 Georgia (916) and No. 19 Auburn (641), but ahead of Penn State (331.5) and No. 24 Florida State (311.5).
“For the most part, this weekend went pretty well,” UVa head coach Augie Busch said. “We had lots of best times and school records, we are always pushing for continual improvement and for the extreme majority of the team that is what happened. I thought we had our best session this morning and then tonight, the energy on the pool deck amongst the team was second to none.”
In the women’s 200 breast, sophomore Laura Simon won in a school-record time of 2:06.90, an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark. Junior Natalie Martin placed eighth in 2:13.56.
Freshman Leah Smith won the women’s 1,650 free in an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 15:42.75, less than a second off of her school record (15:42.04). Junior Hanne Borgersen was eighth in 16:23.63.
Junior Courtney Bartholomew placed third in the women’s 200 back in an ACC and school-record time of 1:49.94. Freshman Jennifer Marrkand placed seventh in 1:54.12, while senior Emily Dicus was eighth in 1:55.20. In prelims, Marrkand went 1:54.09 and Dicus went 1:55.09, which rank sixth and 10th on UVa’s all-time list, respectively.
On the men’s platform, senior JB Kolod placed 2nd with a school-record mark of 404.60, while junior Carl Buergler placed fourth on UVa’s all-time list with 320.80 points. Juniors Jordan Sacks (290.50) and Colby Shinholser (272.05) finished eighth and ninth, respectively.
On the women’s side, junior Becca Corbett finished seventh in platform diving with a score of 236.05, while freshman Emily Langworthy was 13th (206.25) and fellow first-year Corey Johnson was 16th (181.65).
“Overall, we had a great weekend,” UVa head diving coach Jason Glorius said. “We had an excellent effort and attention to detail. I’m looking forward to getting back to basics for a few weeks and then amping it back up for championship season.”
Junior Yannick Kaeser touched second in the men’s 200 breast in 1:53.79, just 0.08 off of his own school record, while fellow juniors Eric Holden (1:58.70) and Matheus Martini (2:00.44) placed seventh and eighth, respectively. Holden’s prelim time of 1:57.66 ranks 10th on Virginia’s all-time list.
In the women’s 400 free relay, the team of sophomores Shannon Rauth and Ellen Thomas, freshman Caitlin Cooper and Bartholomew placed fourth in a time of 3:17.96.
Junior Rodney Fentress (15:31.59), freshman Brendan Casey (15:31.81) and junior Greg Stoffa (15:32.65) placed 6-7-8 in the men’s 1,650 free, respectively.
In the men’s 200 back, sophomore Austin Quinn placed eighth in 1:44.09, while in prelims, he went 1:42.88, fifth on UVa’s all-time list.
In the women’s 100 free, Thomas placed seventh in 49.22. In prelims, Thomas went 49.03, while Rauth touched in 49.05, which rank fourth and fifth on UVa’s all-time list, respectively.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Jones finished seventh in the women’s 200 fly in a time of 1:56.50, which ranks seventh on the Cavaliers’ all-time list. In the B final, Marrkand won in a time of 1:56.71, which is ninth on UVa’s all-time list.
Sophomore Matt Lockman placed eighth in the men’s 100 free in 44.51, but went 44.36 in prelims, which ranks in a tie for 10th on the Cavaliers’ all-time list.
In the final event of the meet, the men’s 400 free relay of freshman Nick Magana, Lockman, Quinn and freshman Luke Georgiadis placed eighth in 2:57.93.
The Cavaliers return to action Jan. 16-17, when they host Virginia Tech at the Aquatic and Fitness Center in Charlottesville.
Virginia Tech
The Virginia Tech men’s and women’s diving teams completed the final day of competition at the University of Georgia Fall Invitational Sunday afternoon with an impressive finish in the platform diving event, concluding a ! great weekend of diving. The H2Okie female divers took the top-four spots and Kyle Butts took third in the men’s platform event.
“I thought it was a great meet for us to attend at this time of the year to see where we are at,” head diving coach Ron Piemonte said. “It makes me feel like we are on track to be ready for the championship portion of the season. To be in a competition like this with some great teams and to fair well, is great for us.”
The Tech women dominated the final day of competition, sweeping the platform event. Kaylea Arnett got her second win of the weekend after scoring 288.85. Ashley Buchter picked up second, posting a score of 278.50. Kelli Stockton came in third with a score of 276.75, and Emma Villarreal finished fourth with a score of 270.80.
A few spots below, Katie Bean finished 11th for the H2Okies with a score of 218.85 and Leah Piemonte finished 14th with a score of 202.85.
Over the last three days, the Tech divers have been controlling the diving scores, earning more team points from the diving events than any other team in the highly competitive field. In today’s event, the second-highest team diving score came from Auburn, who scored 20 points. The H2Okies blew that score out of the water after earning 77 team diving points.
The men’s diving squad also had a great day in the platform event, taking third, fifth, sixth and seventh. Kyle Butts finished with his second top-three finish of the weekend after securing the third spot after scoring 330.80. In fifth was Mauro Castro-Silva, who posted a score of 319.70. Behind him, Thomas Shinholser placed sixth with a score of 317.20, and Logan Stevens took seventh with a score of 310.75.
The UGA Fall Invitational was the final event of the fall season, and the H2Okies don’t compete again until January 4 when they battle Buffalo in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Penn State
Senior Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.) notched another top five finish as the Penn State men’s swimming and diving team racked up 106 points on the Georgia Fall Invite’s final day for a fifth place finish out of the eight team field.
The lions ended the three-day championship style meet with 331.5 points , 20 ahead of sixth place Florida State. Savoy, who finished second in the 100 back (46.56) on Saturday, placed fifth in the 200 back on Sunday with a 1:42.60 performance. The time was good enough for an NCAA ‘B’ standard and was the fastest on the team this season, earning his squad a valuable 14 points.
Scoring more points for Penn State on Sunday was senior Jonathan Ekstrom (Silver Spring, Md.), who netted four with his 2:02.66, 13th place finish in the 200 breast. Bob Bantley (Maple, Glen, Pa.) and Jeff Young (Hershey, Pa.) earned a total of three points, finishing 15th and 16th respectively in the 100 free. Kyle Madley (Madison, N.J.) scored the final individual swimming point for head coach Tim Murphy on Sunday as he placed 16th in the 200 fly, with a 1:48.30 time.
Freshman Travis Wright (Derby, N.Y.) was the lone Lion competing in the platform dive on day three as he netted five points with his 12th place, 188.60 performance.
The PSU relay teams had a stellar day, wrapping up competition with a seventh place and 13th place finish in the 400 freestyle. The quartet of Savoy, Young, Bantley and Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.) earned a season best 2:57.74 time and racked up a total of 24 team points. Tim Maurer (Hershey, Pa.), Will Walker (White Lake, Mich.), Ryan O’Neill (Howell, N.J.) and Zach Kantz (Mount Bethel, Pa.) earned another dozen team points with their 3:03.02 time in the event.
Finished with its 2014 portion of the 2014-15 schedule PSU will next take part in its annual training trip to Naples, Fla., before getting back in the pool for a double-dual meet versus Yale and Rutgers, scheduled for Jan. 16-17 in New Brunswick, N.J.
Penn State
Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico), Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec) and Megan Siverling (Chester Springs, Pa.) all earned Penn State crucial points in their ‘A’ finals, Sunday, helping the Lions finish fifth at the Georgia Fall Invite with 363 total team points. Rodriguez’s 2:10.07 time in the 200 breast was the fastest on the team this season and her fourth place finish netted 15 points, which combined with Ackman’s 13 in the 100 free, and Siverling’s baker’s dozen in the 1650 free, gave their team all the cushion they needed to finish ahead of sixth place Florida State.
Ackman finished sixth with a 48.82 time, which was also the fastest on the squad this year, while teammate Cameron Taylor (Burlington, Ontario) also earned a Top 10 finish, just six slots behind Rodriguez in the 200 breast with a career best 2:14.11 time, earning her team another nine points.
Siverling placed sixth in the 1650 with a NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 16:13.73, while Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) was awarded five for her 12th place, 16:29.70 performance, also good enough for a ‘B’ standard. Sophomore Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.) added a pair of points in the event, finishing 15th with a 16:33.84 time.
Other swimmers earning Penn State points on Sunday was Carolyn Fittin (Sea Girt, N.J.) who scored five in the 100 free with her 49.20 time and 12th place finish as well as Casey Fazio (Washington Twp., N.J.) and Sowinski, who were each awarded one with their 16th place finishes in the 200 back and 200 fly respectively.
The Penn State relay teams racked up the majority of the points for head coach Tim Murphy on Sunday, as two squads combined for a total of 34 with their eighth and 14th place performances. The ‘A’ quartet of Ackman, Fittin, Caitlyn Karr (Reading, Pa.) and Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.) finished with a season fastest time of 3:17.96, while the ‘B’ relay team of Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.), Haley Sinatro (West Hartford, Conn.), Sarah Baxter (Canandaigua, N.Y.) and Tommie Dillione (Newtown, Pa.) swam at a 3:23.22 pace.
In all, Penn State swimmers scored a total of 120 points on the championship style meet’s final day to finish 149 ahead of FSU. PSU is now finished with its 2014 portion of the 2014-15 schedule and will next take part in its annual training trip to Naples, Fla., before getting back in the pool for a double-dual meet versus Yale and Rutgers, scheduled for Jan. 16-17 in New Brunswick, N.J.
Florida State
Sophomore Chelsea Britt continued her impressive performance at the Georgia Invite by winning the 200 fly with an NCAA ‘A’ standard of 1:53.68 on the final night of competition.
“Chelsea was outstanding this weekend,” FSU head coach Frank Bradley said. “In addition to that medley, now we have Chelsea set for NCAA’s. As we shift our sights to the turn of the year we’ll look to qualify more ladies but I think our women’s team is going to shape up to have a great finish to the season.”
Britt lowered her school record en route to swimming the second fastest time in the country this season. She, along with the 400 medley relay team will race at the 2015 NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C. from March 19-21.
The Seminoles scored points in the 100 free with Kaitlyn Dressel and Alexi Smith with Dressel placing 14th with a time of 49.35 while Smith followed in 15th with a career best time of 49.61.
In the 200 breast, Natalie Pierce put up a best time of 2:14.98 for 11th, while Caroline Neil was 14th at 2:16.40.
The Seminoles closed the meet with a sixth place finish with the team of Dressel, Smith, Sami Pochowski and Britt, who touched with a time of 3:17.85 in the 400 free relay.
For the men’s team, Josh Friedel earned seventh place points in the 200 back with a final time of 1:44.00 while Kevin Rogers added an 11th place showing from the ‘b’ final with a 1:45.33.
“I thought we had some great improvements from top to bottom in this event,” Bradley said. “Josh had one of his best swims tonight.”
Cadell Lyons won the ‘B’ final of the 100 free with a time of 44.13, while Jason McCormick finished in 12th at 44.49.
“Cadell is really coming on strong,” Bradley said. “He’s one of those guys that could emerge for us in the post season.”
Sophomore Jason Coombs competed in the top heat of the 200 breast, earning sixth with a time of 1:56.77. In the ‘B’ final, Storm Hewitt finished 10th (2:00.61) while Marc Rojas was 11th (2:01.38).
Connor Knight earned third place in the 200 fly with a season best time of 1:43.03. It was the sixth best time in the country this season. Cole Hensley added 12th place points by finishing with a 1:45.76.
The Seminoles capped off the night by placing sixth in the 400 free relay with the team of Lyons, Coombs, McCormick and Rogers, turning in a time of 2:57.22.
“I thought all the way around the board our morning session was one of the best outings we’ve had all year. I was impressed with their efforts and how they came out but we still have a way to go for the postseason. I’m liking where we are right now, but it’s back to training for a few weeks.”
