Nov. 16, 2016
2016 GT Invitational Schedule (PDF)
THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech swimming and diving program is set to host its annual GT Invitational event this week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 17-19, at the McAuley Aquatic Center. The prelims will begin each day at 10 a.m., while the finals are slated to start at 5:30 p.m. each night.
“We are excited to be hosting a number of the top teams in the nation this week at our invitational,” said head coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “We expect to compete and race hard all three days as we look to help with our seeding in this year’s ACC Championships this spring, as well as set some more NCAA qualifying times. This is always a great meet for our team as we compete against some of the best competition in the nation and push ourselves each race in front of our home crowd.”
The invitational field will include a number of highly touted programs in No. 10 Auburn (women), No. 18 Florida (women) and Alabama (women) who are receiving votes in the CSCAA TYR Top-25 poll. Also participating in the three-day invite will be No. 8 Alabama (men) and No. 9 Florida (men), who join No. 19 Georgia Tech (men) as the three top-25 nationally ranked teams on the men’s side of competition.
Tech is coming off of dual meet losses to the nationally ranked Georgia Bulldogs back on Nov. 2 in which the Yellow Jackets recorded 23 career best times, 15 team season best marks and a total of nine NCAA ‘B’ qualifying times and diving scores.
The women’s team is led by Iris Wang, Kaitlin Kitchens, Chiara Ruiu, Laura Branton and Emily Ilgenfritz, as the quintet has recorded the top-times this season for the Yellow Jackets in a total of 10 events. Wang has the top-times this season for Tech in the 100 free (49.94) and the 200 free (1:48.88), while Kitchens tops the team in the 50 free (23.51). Ruiu has a trio of team best times this season in the 100 breast (1:04.07), the 200 breast (2:17.64) and the 200 IM (2:04.43). Branton set Tech’s top times this season in the 100 fly (55.93) and the 200 fly (2:02.75) in the dual meet versus UGA, while Ilgenfritz has posted the best times for Tech this season in both the 500 free (5:02.74) and the 1000 free (10:22.15).
Leading the way for the Yellow Jackets on the men’s side is the trio of Rodrigo Quadros Correia, Moises Loschi and Ben Southern who have combined to register a total of 10 top-times this season for the Jackets, as well as record 10 NCAA ‘B’ qualifying times on the year. Correia leads the Jackets this year in the 100 free (44.14, NCAA ‘B’ time), 200 free (1:37.42, NCAA ‘B’ time), the 100 back (48.97) and the 200 IM (1:48.05, NCAA ‘B’ time). Loschi has the top time for Tech in four events on the season including the 500 free (4:34.89), the 1000 free (9:15.69), the 100 breast (54.48, NCAA ‘B’ time) and the 200 breast (1:57.89), while Southern’s times in the 100 fly (48.59) and the 200 fly (1:46.37, NCAA ‘B’ time) are tops on the team this year.
On the boards and platform, the Yellow Jackets’ Matt Casillas (326.70, 1-meter) and Nolan Mallet (324.60, 3-meter) are coming off of perhaps their best overall performances this season at the dual meet with Georgia, while on the women’s side Carly Doi and Madison Young will continue to look to score points for the team in all three diving events. Tech will also look for points in the return of Omar Eteiba, who missed the meet with Georgia to compete at a national diving event in Egypt.
Team scores will be kept for the three days of competition by way of championship scoring through the first 20 places: 26-23-22-21-20-19-18-17-16-15-12-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
Live results for the entire invitational can be found HERE.
The GT Invitational will also be shown live via the ACC Network Extra and can be found HERE.
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