Swimcloud

Georgia Last Chance Meet Recap - Sunday Edition

Arkansas

Four Arkansas swimmers recorded eight swims faster than the NCAA ‘B’ cut time standard during the Bulldog Invitational Last Chance Meet held at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga. Juniors Julia Banach (Eilat, Israel) and Lauren Jordan (Carmel, Ind.) and sophomore Nina Drolc (Velenje, Slovenia) represented the Razorbacks in swims during the final day of competition Sunday.
 
Drolc placed second in the final of the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.56. Both her prelim and final times were faster than the NCAA ‘B’ cut standard. Drolc had two additional swims Saturday morning faster than the NCAA 'B' standard, clocking a 22.88 in the 50 freestyle. She placed fourth overall in the final with a time of 22.89.
 
Banach swam the sixth-fastest 200 breaststroke in the prelim with an NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 2:14.66. She finished eighth in the event final. Jordan rounded out Arkansas’ swims on Sunday, placing fourth in the 1,650 freestyle.
 
On Saturday evening, sophomore Rachel Stoehr (Lake Forest, Ill.) recorded a personal-best swim by registering the fastest prelim time in the 500 freestyle with an NCAA 'B' cut time of 4:45.72. That swim cut 0.98 seconds off Stoehr's previous best time recorded at the SEC Championships last week. Stoehr finished second in the event final.
 
Freshman Aiden Lister (Toowoomba, Australia) swam an NCAA 'B' cut time of 4:47.30 in the 500 freestyle prelim and placed third in the final. Jordan also represented Arkansas in the 500 freestyle, placing sixth in the prelim.
 
The Bulldog Invitational Last Chance Meet served as an opportunity for Razorbacks to lower their times before NCAA selections. The NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships will be held March 20-22 in Minneapolis, Minn.
 
The Razorbacks will be back in action March 6-9 when the team sends select swimmers to USA Sectionals held in Jenks, Okla.


Florida 

Florida swimmers notched multiple NCAA provisional qualifying times and personal bests at the Bulldog Last Chance Meet in Athens, Ga. The two-day event served as the final opportunity for swimmers to post a swim that would qualify them for the NCAA Championships.


The Last Chance Meet operated as a time trial with no team scoring. If swimmers were unable to hit the automatic qualifying times they can still advance to the NCAA meet in events that are not filled up with the automatic qualifiers.

Following the SEC Championships, the Gators have qualified all five relays for the men's and women's teams, nine individual men and six individual women.

Top Performers: All of the below listed times are NCAA provisional qualifying marks.

*         Sophomore Ashlee Linn posted a top-25 time nationally in the 200 backstroke (1:54.52).

*         Colin Hamilton, Matt Thompson and Alex Dehner registered marks of 1:44.00, 1:44.25 and 1:46.08, respectively, in the 200 back. Thompson posted his personal best of 1:35.58 in the 200 free.

*         Autumn Finke notched a pair of personal bests in the 1650 freestyle (16:21.82) and the 500 freestyle (4:46.23). Finke's mile time ranks her in the top-50 nationally.

*         Matt Curby shaved .06 off of his 100 free time from SECs, and his time of 43.30 ranks in the top-40 nationally.

*         Billy Silva lowered his time in the 400 individual medley to 3:49.96. Adam Bull also dropped time in the 400 IM (3:49.86).

*         Thomas Veale registered a mark of 4:20.63 in the 500 free.

*         Luke Torres achieved a season low times of 48.15 in the 100 butterfly and 1:46.33 in the 200 butterfly.


Georgia

Georgia swimmers concluded action at the Bulldog Last Chance Meet on Sunday in what was the team's final Gabrielsen Natatorium appearance for the 2013-2014 season.

The meet offered individuals an opportunity to qualify or improve their swimming times for the upcoming NCAA Championships. The NCAAs for the women are slated for March 20-22 in Minneapolis and the men will compete March 27-29 in Austin, Texas.

During Sunday's sessions, Yousef Alaskari improved his NCAA provisional qualifying standard in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:45.38. Derek Onken swam the 200 freestyle for the first time this season and earned a B cut, clocking in at 1:37.94. Nick Salyers improved his B-cut time in the 100 backstroke to 48.52.

"This weekend gave everybody a chance to put their suits on and race one more time," UGA senior associate head coach Harvey Humphries said. "We had some really pleasant surprises this weekend that make us realize we can be an even stronger team, especially in areas where we thought we might be a little weak."

On Wednesday, the NCAA will release lists of the qualified swimmers, eligible relays and alternates for the women's NCAAs. The same information for the men's NCAAs will come out the following Wednesday. Georgia can bring a maximum of 18 swimmers or 17 swimmers and one or two divers to the NCAAs. A swimmer at the NCAAs may enter a maximum of three individual events and compete on up to four relays. A diver may compete on all three boards once qualified.

Courtney Peters improved her B-cut time as she recorded a 1:56.43 in the 200 butterfly on Saturday, the first day of the meet. Jessica Graber lowered her B cut to 22.52 in the 50 freestyle leading off the 200 freestyle relay and Anna Neumeister moved to 4:12.65 in the finals of the 400 individual medley. For the Bulldogs, Conor Sweeney improved his B-cut time to 1:37.52 in the 200 freestyle, while Pace Clark went 47.57 in the 100 butterfly.

Nine swimmers who have already qualified for the NCAAs either reached or improved B cuts in events on Saturday, including Melanie Margalis (100 butterfly, 100 backstroke), Shannon Vreeland (200 individual medley, 100 butterfly), Brittany MacLean (200 individual medley), Maddie Locus (200 freestyle), Amber McDermott (200 individual medley), Hali Flickinger (100 butterfly, 100 backstroke) and Rachel Zilinskas (200 individual medley) for the women and Matias Koski (50 freestyle) and Ty Stewart (100 butterfly) for the men.

In diving, Laura Ryan, Ann-Perry Blank, Darcie O'Brien and Ansley Long for the women and Spencer Madanay for the men have Zone B qualifying scores already. They will compete March 10-12 at the Zone B Championships in an attempt to advance to the NCAA Championships.

Both Georgia teams are coming off strong showings at the Southeastern Conference Championships in Athens as the Lady Bulldogs placed first for the fifth straight year and the Bulldogs took third for the third consecutive season. Highlights of the SECs will be shown on Monday on ESPNU. The women's meet will air at 3 p.m., followed by the men's meet at 4:30 p.m.


Kentucky

Freshman swimmer Kendra Crew set a new UK record in the 200 breaststroke to highlight the final day of the NCAA Last Chance Qualifier in Athens, Ga., Sunday for the University of Kentucky swimming program.

All five Wildcats to compete on the event’s second day placed in the top four of their respective events, and all earned NCAA B qualifying times.

Crew finished fourth in the A Final of the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:13.01. The school-record time is the eighth UK record broken during the 2013-14 season by Kentucky swimmers.

Freshman Kelly Berger placed second overall in the 1,650 yard freestyle in 16:22.01, the third-fastest time in school history. Fellow freshman Kendal Casey touched the wall in in 16:29.80, just behind Berger in third.

Kyle Higgins, also a freshman, added a fourth-place finish in 200 butterfly A Final with a time of 1:46.59. Senior Maclin Simpson was third in prelims of the same race and finished in 1:46.73 but did not race in the finals.

On Saturday, the first day of the Last Chance Qualifier, senior Lucas Gerotto, junior George Greenhalgh and Crew represented UK in an effort to improve their season-best times to earn an NCAA A or B qualifying time. 

Greenhalgh, who posted the top time in the prelims of the 100 yard breaststroke, placed second in the A Final with a 53.77 after a 53.66 in the prelims. 

Gerotto finished third in the A Final of the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 47.52. He also finished third in the prelims with a 47.40.

Both of Greenhalgh and Gerotto’s times were NCAA B qualifying times.

Crew recorded the sixth-fastest time in the prelims in the 100 yard breaststroke with a 1:02.75. While she qualified for the A Final, she did not compete in the evening final.


Nebraska

Taryn Collura swam a career-best time to take home the 100-yard freestyle title and conclude her participation at the University of Georgia's Last Chance Meet on Sunday afternoon at the Gabrielsen Natatorium. 

Collura finished the preliminary round of the 100 free in first place with a career-best 49.30, shaving 24-hundredths of a second off her time at last weekend's Big Ten Championships. The sophomore defended her position, swimming a 49.39 in the final to earn the victory. 

Despite her career-best time, Collura fell short of the NCAA A-cut time of 47.96 and will see her season come to an end. As a freshman, Collura swam in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyles at the NCAA Championships, finishing 33rd and 56th, respectively. 

The Nebraska divers will take their shot at reaching the NCAA Championships when they head to Minneapolis, Minn., on March 10-12 for the NCAA Zone D Diving Meet. 

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