Nov. 22, 2009
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams ended the final day of competition at the 2009 GT Invitational on Sunday in fourth place, as the men’s team tallied 453 points on the weekend, while the women’s squad finished with 392.5 points.
Overall, Florida State finished first on both the men’s and women’s sides. The Seminole men ended the weekend with 1055 points, while the women finished with 977.5 points.
“I’m very pleased with how we performed overall on the weekend,” said swimming head coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “I can say that our team right now is much faster now then we were at this point last year, which is very encouraging. We had some great individual performances from Nigel Plummer, Gal Nevo and Agatha Kwasnik, along with a great effort from our divers as well.
“Now, we’ll use the time we have off to train and get ready for the final leg of the season and the ACC Championships.”
Action started on the afternoon with the finals in the women’s 1650-free, in which senior Jing Li was Tech’s top finisher with an 11th place finish in 17:18.98 to earn the Jackets six points. On the men’s side, freshman Colin Schouten was Georgia Tech’s top finisher in 11th in a time of 16:14.43 to earn six points.
Next in the women’s 200-back, sophomore Keren Siebner finished eighth after hitting the wall in 2:02.70 to earn the Jackets 11 points. On the men’s side back, Ilia Ayzenshtok was the Jackets’ top finisher in 12th in a time of 1:51.30 to earn the men’s team five points. Senior Way Joe Lee finished right behind Ayzenshtok in 13th after hitting the wall in 1:51.49 to earn four points.
Next in the 100-free, Kwasnik had an impressive showing, finishing in fourth place in 50.75 to earn 15 points for Tech. Freshman Kate Riley hit the wall in 51.55 to finish 12th and earn the Jackets five points, while Sarah Broadley finished in 51.58 to place 12th and earn four team points.
In the men’s 100-free, Nigel Plummer continued his impressive season with a victory in the event after hitting the wall in an NCAA B-Cut time of 44.27. Meanwhile, freshman Eric Chiu finished 11th in the event after hitting the wall in 46.13 to earn six points for Georgia Tech.
Next in the women’s 200-breast, Hen Pauker was Georgia Tech’s top finisher in 14th with a time of 2:22.84, earning three points, On the men’s side, Nevo registered a solid third place finish after hitting the wall in 2:03.17 to earn 16 points. Sophomore Matthew Vaughan finished sixth in the event in a time of 2:04.67 to earn 14 points for the Jackets, while Jeremy Jackson placed 14th in 2:08.78 to pick up three points.
Next In the women’s 200-fly, Christine Chuang was the Jackets’ top finisher in a time of 2:02.90 to earn six points, while Taylor Flynn finished in 13th in a time of 2:03.84 to earn four points. On the men’s side, Ralph Long finished eighth after hitting the wall in 1:51.15 to earn 12 points, while Nevo finished 11th overall in a time of 1:49.57 to earn six points.
In the women’s platform dive, Michele Bertolino was Tech’s top finisher in ninth place after posting a score of 183.45 in the finals to pick up nine points. In the men’s platform, freshman Chris Khosravi finished in seventh after posting a score of 276.70 in the finals to earn the Jackets 12 points.
The final two events of the day were the women’s and men’s 400-free relay. In the women’s event, the team of Kwasnik, Siebner, Broadley and Riley finished in third place after posting a time of 3:24.97 in the finals to earn 32 points for the Yellow Jackets. On the men’s side, the squad of Matt Tang, Plummer, Phillips, and Chiu finished fourth in 3:02.94 to earn 30 points.
The Georgia Tech swimming team is now idle until Jan. 16th when they host NC State. The diving squad will take part in the Bama Diving Invite from Dec. 17-19.
