THE FLATS – Georgia Tech women’s swimming defeated Vanderbilt’s women, 190-64, in a dominant display that saw the Yellow Jackets take gold in every single event at the Saturday afternoon dual meet at McAuley Aquatic Center. The Jackets won all 14 events against the Commodores to close out the two meet weekend.
“I am so proud of how our women went out and performed today,” said Toni M. and Richard L. Bergmark Swimming & Diving Head Coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “They came back for a second consecutive day of competition and raced hard in every event. We are looking forward to using the momentum and confidence heading into the postseason.”
The women’s 400 relay team (Allie Paschal, Claudia Butterfield, Lindsey Merk & Emily Graham) gained an early advantage for the Jackets, coming in at 3:42.76 to place first in the opening event.
Morgan Johnson followed the relay squads performance up with a 9:56.79 win in the 1000 free. Afterwards, Pascal (1st, 54.65) along with Grace Mauldin (2nd, 55.12) & Jami Williams (3rd, 55.21), swept the podium in the 100 back.
Following up the Jackets sweep of the 100 back, Catriona MacGregor and Nicole Williams took first and second in the 100 back, registering times of 1:02.81 & 1:03.03, respectively.
Tech’s swept the podium in the next three consectuive events starting with the 200 fly, backed by the collective effort of Rei Kuramoto (1st, 2:01.23), Merk (2nd, 2:01.28) and Abby Cohen (3rd, 2:04.50). Mauldin (1st, 23.35), Graham (2nd, 23.75) and J. Williams (3rd, 24.28) were the next Jacket trio taking the 50 free. Brooke Switzer (1st, 50.92) , MacGregor (2nd, 51.91) and Kyrsten Davis (3rd, 52.39) completed the three event win streak in the 100 free.
Next, Pascal picked up her second individual win of the day in the 200 back touching the wall at 1:59.54. Julia Shuford swam to a 2:15.36 first-place finish in the 200 breast, before Arianna Sakellaris had a 4:54 gold effort in the 500 free.
Merk and McKenzie Campbell collected Tech’s final two individual victories in the 100 fly and 400 IM, respectively. Merk, the top finisher in the 100 fly, clocked in at 54.62, while Campbell earned a 4:16.85 first-place mark in the 400 IM.
Campbell’s 400 IM time was an NCAA ‘B’ cut, making it Georgia Tech’s only NCAA cut at the dual meet.
MacGregor, Mauldin, Graham and Paschal claimed first in the 200 free relay at 1:33.12 to end the meet, capping off the Yellow Jackets total sweep over the Commodores across all 14 events.
Georgia Tech swimming & diving will return to McAuley next weekend on Sat. Jan 30, as the men & women will face Florida State, Miami and Gardner-Webb beginning at 11 a.m. (EST).
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