Jan. 19, 2013
RALEIGH, N.C. – Georgia Tech swimming & diving wrapped up regular-season ACC action on Saturday, taking on Florida State and NC State in a double-dual meet in Raleigh, N.C. Senior Matthew Vaughan led the way for the Yellow Jackets with his 200 breast victory.
Vaughan was clocked in 2:03.31 in winning the 200 breast, bouncing back from a disqualification earlier in the day in the 100 breast. The senior from Virginia Beach, Va., also helped the men’s 200 medley relay to a third-place finish.
“This wasn’t our best effort of the season, but I was happy with how we turned the meet around in the second half,” said head coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “The intensity and energy we showed as the meet progressed today needs to be there from start to finish on a consistent basis.”
On the men’s side, Tech was clipped by the host Wolfpack, 194.5-103.5, and the Seminoles, 206-92. The women fell to State, 227-72, and to FSU, 226-72.
Also impressive for the Jackets Saturday was newcomer Yuval Safra, an accomplished open water swimmer that enrolled at Tech during the semester break. Safra put down a time of 9:24.63 in taking second overall in the 1,000 free. That time was a season-best for any Yellow Jacket, the eighth-fastest in school history and the fastest 1,000 time at Tech since Ryan Crete (9:16.53) in 2007.
Safra came back later to lead the Jackets in the 500 free, finishing fourth in a time of 4:37.25. Following Safra in the 500 were Zach Tillman in fifth (4:38.66) and Mats Westergren in sixth (4:38.93).
Joining Vaughan on the medley relay was Nicolas Colletti, Nico van Duijn and Andrew Kosic. Tech’s 400 free relay of Kosic, Andrew Chetcuti, Eric Chiu and van Duijn also swam to a third-place finish (3:02.02).
Kosic led a trio of Jackets in the top-8 of the 100 free, as the sophomore finished third in a time of 45.57, followed by Chiu in 7th (46.14) and Chetcuti in 8th (46.57). Kosic was also fifth in the 100 back (50.88), followed by Bo Hatchett in seventh (51.81).
van Duijn enjoyed a solid afternoon, taking second place in both butterfly events. The sophomore from Basserdorf, Switzerland was clocked at 1:49.76 in the 200 fly and put down a 48.93 in the 100. Classmate Mark Sarman was fifth in the 200 (1:51.24) and seventh in the 100 (50.48).
Other highlights for Tech’s men included, Anton Lagerqvist, who was third in the 200 breast (2:04.19) and fifth in the 100 breast (57.96), Chiu, who was fourth in the 50 free (20.98), Sarman, who was fourth in the 200 IM (1:53.79), and Tillman, who was Tech’s top finisher in the 200 free in sixth (1:41.96).
In diving, senior Chris Khosravi was solid, finishing second overall on the 3m board with a score of 337.35 and was third on the 1m board with a score of 302.32
“Chris is only practicing two or three hours per week because of his back injury,” said diving coach John Ames. “For him to come out and perform like that today was good to see.”
Kate Brandus and Shannon Lumbra highlighted the meet for the Georgia Tech women, as Lumbra was second on the 3m springboard and third on the 1m, while Brandus swam to a third-place finish in the 200 fly in a time of 2:07.02.
Lumbra recorded her second-best score to date on the 3m, scoring 313.65 and finishing second — just 1.20 points behind State’s Hannah Hopkins. She posted a 263.62 on the 1m, which was good for third. Ashley Hardy was fourth on the 1m (263.02) and fifth on the 3m (259.95).
Also for the women, senior Kate Riley led Tech in the 100 free with a fifth-place finish in 52.41. In the 500 free, Hailey White touched the wall in 5:07.43 to finish fifth, while Kate Woolbright also claimed a fifth-place in the 1,000 free in a time of 10:25.17. Catherine Richards was sixth in both the 200 breast (2:23.28) and 100 breast (1:06.96).
Tech is back in action versus Emory to conclude the regular season on February 2 at the GT Aquatic Center.
