THE FLATS – Max Fowler rounded out his championships with a third consecutive finals appearance to become the 2026 ACC Men’s Diver of the Meet. He became the first diver to receive the award since 2016 and fourth most valuable swimmer or diver in program history
Tuesday began with women’s platform diving prelims as Ava Gilroy recorded the highest Tech score of the round with a 211.60 to place 10th. Elisabeth Rockefeller trailed behind in 21st with Katie McKyton placing 27th. Kat Brooker rounded out the Yellow Jackets in 30th.
Fowler and Elijah Klier would make their final prelims appearance of the championships in the men’s platform round. Klier’s inward 3 1/2 somersault tuck scored an outstanding 81.60, finishing as the third-highest scored dive of the session. He would finish 15th overall.
Fowler chipped away with consistent 60-point dives; his fourth dive at 68.20 was his best scoring mark of the session and proved to be enough to secure seventh place and a place in the finals. The junior has qualified for all three finals events, the only male diver to appear in all three diving finals this championship.
The evening session began with the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relay races. Both Tech squads set top-five program records as the women hit the wall at 1:37.97, the second-fastest time for the Jackets while the men were timed at 1:24.29, the fifth-fastest mark for Tech. They placed 11th and 10th, respectively.
The 800 freestyle relay saw the men’s squad record a 6:20.95 time, seven seconds clear of their season best and good for the seventh-best time in school history. They finished 12th overall while the women’s squad placed 13th with a time of 7:13.39.
Fowler followed the same formula that earned him the finals berth, peaking at 72.00 on his second attempt and followed up with three consecutive dives in the 60-point range. He finished eighth and completed an incredible run at his home championships.
He earned the title of the 2026 ACC Men’s Diver of the Meet. His three-day run was headlined by defending his three-meter championship following his silver medal performance in the one-meter finals. Fowler then became the only diver of the competition to reach all three finals and has appeared in eight of the nine ACC Championship finals in his career.
Georgia Tech will cross the halfway point with Day 4 of the 2026 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships. The swimming prelims will begin at 9:30 a.m. before the finals session at 5:30 p.m. All teams will vie for 500 freestyle, 200 IM, and the 50 freestyle times in both sessions and compete in the 200-freestyle relay at the start of finals. Day passes are available here.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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