Georgia Tech
The 24th-ranked Georgia Tech men's swimming & diving team is in second place after Day 1 of the 2014 GT Invitational as senior Andrew Kosic helped the Yellow Jackets keep pace with No. 7 Florida.
The Gators scored 514 points on Day 1 and lead the men's meet, followed by the Yellow Jackets (261), No. 20 Florida State (253), Indian River (178), Florida Atlantic (111), South Carolina (40), Auburn (40), Utah (26) and College of Charleston (1).
The 11th-ranked Florida women's team leads the women's meet with 408 points, followed by Arkansas (253), Florida State (237), FGCU (189), FAU (124), Vanderbilt (110), Colorado State (102), Georgia Tech (91), Miami (91), Bowling Green (85), Indian River (67), South Carolina (59), Campbell (42) and Auburn (30).
Meet Notes
• The Florida women's 200 free relay set a pool record and achieved an NCAA A-cut with their winning time of 1:28.94. The previous pool record was also held by the Gators, set in 2009 (1:29.61).
• Florida's Caleb Dressel also set an NCAA A-cut in the 50 free, edging Georgia Tech's Andrew Kosic with a time of 19.31.
• Action continues Friday morning with preliminaries at 10 a.m.
Men's Highlights
• Senior All-American Andrew Kosic had a big night, posting a lightning-fast NCAA B-cut in the 50 free, while helping the 200 free relay and 400 medley relay to a second-place finishes.
• After putting down a 19.70 in the 50 free during the prelims as the top qualifier, Kosic came back in the finals and dropped a 19.44 (NCAA B-cut), which was .04 seconds off his school-record time of 19.40.
• Kosic was just edged at the wall in the 50 free final by Florida's Dressel, who was clocked at 19.31 - an NCAA A-cut.
• Kosic teamed with Noah Harasz, Youssef Hammoud and Andrew Chetcuti to finish second in the 200 free relay in a time of 1:19.75.
• The 400 medley relay of Brad Oberg, Ricky Lehner, Ben Southern and Kosic finished just .03 shy of the school record in finishing second in a time of 3:11.32.
• Behind Kosic in the 50 free were Hammoud in ninth (20.64) and Harasz in 10th (20.67). The B-final of 50 free included Taylor Wilson (17th), Chetcuti (18th) and Dan Cohan-Solal (19th).
• Yuval Safra swam to an eighth-place finish in the 500 free in a time of 4:28.25. Elliott Brockelbank was 13th in the 500 free (4:27.44) after shaving four seconds off his prelim time, while Michael Kenney was 16th(4:30.38).
• The Jackets had two men in the 200 IM A-final, with Manuel Barragan taking fifth (1:51.44) and Alex Kimpel in sixth (1:51.59).
• Brad Homza finished third on the 1-meter springboard, with Omar Eteiba coming in 10th. Homza scored 329.25 in the prelim and followed with a 334.75 in the finals. Eteiba scored 267.70 and followed with 275.30 in the finals.
Women's Highlights
• Shannon Lumbra was impressive on the 3-meter springboard, finishing fifth overall. Lumbra scored 290.20 in the prelims and followed with a score of 300.45 in finals.
• The women's 200 free relay got the finals started as Chiara Ruiu, Erika Staskevicius, Kira de Bruyn and Efrat Rotsztejn finished eighth in a time of 1:34.92.
• Ruiu and teammate MaryKathryn Terry each scored points in the 500 free B-final, with Ruiu finishing 19th (5:00.26) and Terry 20th (5:08.50).
• de Bruyn won the C-final in the 200 IM with a time of 2:01.89, shaving four seconds off her prelim time. Frederique Lefebvre was 28th (2:08.42).
• The Jackets' 400 medley relay of Maddie Paschal, Darelle Cowley, Kate Brandus and Ruiu finished 10th in a time of 3:47.97.
Florida
Florida’s No. 7-ranked men’s swimming & diving team captured two individual titles and had two relay victories, while UF’s No. 16 women’s squad won two individual events and had one relay win as well on day one of the Georgia Tech Invitational.
The Gators are competing in this event for the first time since the 2011-12 season, when Florida’s women won the meet and the Gator men finished runner-up. The three-day meet is being held in Atlanta, Ga. and is hosted by Georgia Tech in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
UF’s men currently stand in first place with 514 points, while the women rank first with a score of 408.
Individually, the Gator men were led by freshman Caeleb Dressel, as he won the men’s 50-yard freestyle in an NCAA ‘A’ standard time of 19.31 seconds and he was a member of two first place relay teams. Natalie Hinds paced the women’s team, as she won the 50-yard freestyle in an NCAA ‘B’ time of 22.07 seconds. In addition, Hinds was a member of UF’s first place 200-yard freestyle relay time
Throughout the day, the Orange and Blue registered three NCAA ‘A’ standard times.
TROY’S TALKING
“It was a very good day. We raced especially well in the morning and at night.” – Head Coach Gregg Troy
RELAY MAGIC
UF won the women's 200-yard freestyle relay, as Sinead Russell, Lindsey McKnight, Ashlee Linn and Hinds clocked a time of 1:28.94. The men notched a relay win in the 400-yard medley relay, as Jack Blyzinskyj, Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez, Corey Main and Dressel clocked an NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 3:09.55. In addition, the Florida men won the 200-yard freestyle relay (Dressel, Christian Homer, Enzo Martinez-Scarpe, Corey Main) in 1:18.90.
GOING THE DISTANCE
Jessica Thielmann and Taylor Katz placed first and second in the women's 500-yard freestyle in NCAA 'B' standard times of 4:37.82 and 4:42.79, respectively. Senior Dan Wallace followed their lead as he won the men’s race in an NCAA 'A' standard time of 4:14.53.
IM IN
McKnight and Solaeche-Gomez notched individual victories in the women’s and men’s 200-yard individual medley. The tandem each clocked NCAA ‘B’ standard times of 1:57.40 and 1:44.16, respectively.
POSTSEASON FOCUS
In addition to competing in an NCAA Championships-style format this week, the Gators had three NCAA ‘A’ standard marks on day one.
· Women’s 200 FR (Russell, McKnight, Linn, Hinds – 1:28.94)
· Caeleb Dressel (50 Free – 19.31)
· Dan Wallace (500 Free – 4:14.53)
Bowling Green State
The Bowling Green State University swimming and diving team currently sit in 10th place at the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational, as the Falcons opened day one of competition Thursday. BGSU finished the first day of the meet with 85 points.
“We had a pretty solid first day, and are excited about several in season best times,” Head Coach Petra Martin said. “I also like the fact that we were able to make improvements from this morning and get faster tonight. This is a very fast meet and so far we are doing what we need to as far as competitiveness, focus, sticking together as a team and responding well to a very different environment for us.”
Following the morning prelim sessions, the evening began with the 200 freestyle relay. Bowling Green’s team of Victoria Griffin, Sadie Ahlers, Maya Skorupski and Hannah Newman swam a season best time of 1:35.28.
Although they did not qualify for the final heats, Natalie Criswell and Hannah Albion both set personal bests in the 500 freestyle. Criswell swam a 5:06.98 and Albion beat her last season’s PR by three seconds, finishing with a 5:08.90.
Estela Davis continued her strong start to the season, qualifying for the consolation final and placing 13th overall in the 200 individual medley finals. Jordan Bullock finished in 20th place and was followed by Kristin Filby in 24th in the non-scoring bonus finals heat. Both swimmers set season personal best times.
In her second race of the night, Griffin finished 15th in the consolation finals in the 50 freestyle with a season PR of 23.27.
Competing in 3-meter diving, Rachel Perry set a career high score of 159.20. Her previous best score was 140.05. Devan Hennig also competed for BGSU.
The 400 medley relay team of Ortiz, Filby, Bullock and Griffin qualified for the championship heat, swimming the eighth fastest time in prelims. The team finished fifth overall in the finals and swam a season best time of 3:43.57 to wrap up day one competition.
“The 400 Medley relay did a great job this evening as well," Martin said. "We were happy about the 5th place, but I know that with some more tweaks we can be even faster.”
The Falcons return to the pool tomorrow for morning prelims at 10 a.m. with finals following that evening at 6 p.m.
Florida State
The Florida State swimming and diving teams picked up two wins on the first day of the Georgia Tech Invite. Redshirt senior Katrina Yong won 3-meter diving before the women’s 400 medley relay closed out the session with a victory.
A U.S. national team member, Young put up a score of 327.50, ten points ahead of the second place finisher.
Following, Young’s win, the team of junior Bianca Spinazzola, freshman Natalie Pierce, junior Chelsea Britt and senior Kaitlyn Dressel swam a season best time of 3:34.90, touching over a second faster than Florida’s top team (3:35.95).
“This relay just continues to get better and better,” FSU head coach Frank Bradley said. “All of those ladies either turned in career best splits or they were very close to them. I was very impressed with them.”
Britt turned in a third place finish in the 200 IM with a career best time of 1:58.91, which is an NCAA B standard.
The Seminoles had two ‘A’ finalists in the 50 free as Dressel touched in third with an NCAA ‘B’ time of 22.55 ahead of Alexi Smith who was fifth with a time of 22.75.
Florida State started the evening with a second place finish in the 200 free relay with the team of Dressel, Smith, Spinazzola and senior Haley Powell, touching with a time of 1:30.76.
The women are in third place with a total of 237 points behind No. 16 Florida (408) and Arkansas (253).
“We swam solid today,” Bradley said. “I was pleased with the effort and how we raced. I am anxious to see how they response to the challenges of day two. We’re young and that’s something we need to handle.”
The 20th ranked men’s team sits in third place with a total of 251 behind No. 7 Florida (514) and No. 24 Georgia Tech (261).
“Overall is was a good session for the guys,” Bradley said. “We could have been better in spots and we had a few mishaps, but we handled it well. Once again, we’re young and growing this year and I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
Sophomore Jason Coombs placed third in the 200 IM with a time of 1:48.91 while junior Kyle Doxtater took ninth with a 1:53.67.
In the 50 free, sophomore Jason McCormick placed fifth with a time of 20.39 just ahead of senior Connor Knight who was sixth with a 20.46.
In diving, the men competed in 1-meter with freshman Tyler Roberge placing fifth with a score of 329.80, while sophomore Dylan Grisell finished in seventh posting 325.25 and junior Kalonji Cole was ninth with a score of 284.95.
The Seminoles closed out the session with a third place finish in the 400 medley relay with the team of senior Kevin Rogers, Coombs, Knight and McCormick at 3:16.41.
South Carolina
In the one-meter final, senior Cole Miller and sophomore Jordan Gotro finished second (342.80) and eighth (342.75), respectively. Miller placed seventh in the preliminary to advance, while Gotro placed sixth.
In the three-meter final junior Lauren Lamendola finished fourth (306.20), senior Patricia Kranz placed sixth (295.85) and freshman Julia Vincent finished eighth (282.10).
Utah
Jacob Crayne won the one-meter event over 22 other divers today at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
Crayne won the one-meter with a score of 371.10. This marks Crayne’s fourth straight win at an Invitational on the one-meter. He placed first at the Missouri, UCLA and Air Force Invitationals.
“Jake is on a roll,” said Utah head diving coach Richard Marschner about Crayne. “He won his fourth consecutive one meter title at a major invite dating back to last year and the list of teams he has won against is very impressive and spans from coast to coast. His confidence is growing and he keeps getting better despite losing his friend and training partner, Josiah for the year due to injury.”
In the three-meter event, Amanda Casillas took 24th with a score of 237.60. There were 45 entries in the event.
“Amanda made some very good changes that we have been working on and it's only a matter of time before she really starts nailing those dives that she was just a bit off on today.”
The two divers continue competition tomorrow with women’s one-meter beginning at 1 p.m.
Colorado State
The Colorado State swimming & diving team got off to a strong start on Thursday, the first of the three-day Georgia Tech Fall Invitational. Through the first day of action, CSU sits in seventh place out of 14 teams, earning 102 points.
The morning session saw several top performances, as seven student-athletes swam to season-best times. Four swimmers advanced to the night finals, in addition to two relay teams and diver Ariana Milone.
Milone, a junior from The Woodlands, Texas, stole the show, scoring 317.25 on the 3-Meter boards. The score is the fourth-best in CSU history, and comes just two weeks after she totaled 322.50, the third-best. Milone now holds four of the top six spots in the record book.
In the pool, freshman Katie Kicklighter had the best individual performance, finishing 11th in the 50 Freestyle (23.12). The time was a season best and just 13-hundredths of a second shy of NCAA qualifying and 12-hundredths away from top five in CSU history.
Sophomore Karin Roh also competed in the finals in the 50 Freestyle, finishing 27th with a time of 24.07. In the 200 IM, CSU had two swimmers compete. Junior Jessica Shepard finished 23rd (2:05.82) while sophomore Alexandra Jacobs finished 25th (2:06.59). Both athletes shaved off roughly a full second from their prelims time earlier in the day. Shepard’s time was more than four seconds better than her previous season high, while Jacobs was nearly five seconds better.
The Rams took seventh in the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:34.84) and 11th in the 400 Medley Relay (3:48.21). Both times were season bests.
