Sophomore shatters 15-year-old pool record and school record in 1,000-yard freestyle
ATLANTA – Led by sophomore Shilo Ayalon’s record-breaking swim in the 1,000-yard freestyle, the Georgia Tech men’s swimming team picked up its first win in the ACC since 1999 by a 140-101 score over NC State this afternoon at the Willis Casey Aquatic Center in Raleigh, N.C.
The Yellow Jackets (9-2, 1-2 ACC) won seven of the meet’s 11 swimming events to take the victory, only their third over the Wolfpack in the program’s history.
After the Jackets took second and third place in the 400-yard medley relay to open the meet, Ayalon (Kfar Hanassi, Israel) blitzed the pool in the 1,000 free for a time of 9:09.01. That time was good for a 18 second win in the event and shattered Ayalon’s own school record of 9:19.40 by over 10 seconds. The time also broke the pool record of 9:15.54 that was set in January of 1986 by Clemson’s Rick Aronberg.
Ayalon’s 1,000 time was the second-fastest in the ACC so far during the 2000-01 season. Later in the meet, he remained unbeaten in dual-meets in both the 1,000 and 500-yard freestyle as he also won the 500 with a time of 4:32.09, winning that race by just over eight seconds over Tech teammate Ricky Rauch (Houston, Texas), who placed second with a time of 4:40.50.
Tech competitors joining Ayalon with an event win included Jacket rookie Itai Eden (Qiryat-Ono, Israel), who won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:43.76. Rauch, who placed second with a time of 1:44.37, followed Eden in the event.
Reigning ACC Swimmer of the Week, David Laitala (Richardson, Texas), won the 200 IM with his time of 1:52.82. Fellow Yellow Jacket Carl Nylander (Tucker, Ga.) was second in the event with a time of 1:54.16.
Rookie Brendan Forbes (Lilburn, Ga.) turned in his top performance of the year in the 100 free as he won the event with a time of 47.05. He was joined in the top three by sophomore Josh Hersko (Marietta, Ga.), who was third with a time of 47.62.
Second-year performer James Salazar (Huntsville, Ala.) and Tomonori Tsuji (Osaka, Japan) won the 200 backstroke and the 200 breaststroke with their respective times of 1:50.75 and 2:00.89. Tsuji’s time was the fastest at Tech this year in the 200 breast and the third-fastest in the ACC.
In the diving well, freshman Paul McCarty (Ypsilanti, Mich.) continued to impress in his second meet with Tech as he placed second in both the one and three-meter competition. McCarty’s score of 311.70 on the three-meter board was an automatic qualifying score of the NCAA Championships.
Georgia Tech will step out of conference next Friday, when it travels to Athens to face in-state rival Georgia in a dual meet. The match-up will mark the first time since 1994 that the two teams have met in dual meet competition.
