March 26, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Gal Nevo finished fourth in the 200-IM with a school record-time of 1:42.79 to lead Georgia Tech Thursday on the first day of the NCAA Men’s Championships held at the Student Rec Natatorium on the campus of Texas A&M University. The Yellow Jackets are 14th in the nation with 21 points after the first night of competition.
With his fourth-place finish, Nevo earned All-American accolades, the first Yellow Jacket male swimmer to receive this honor since Sam Morgan in 2005. He broke his own school record set last month at the ACC Championships. In prelims, Nevo secured the eighth and final spot in the evening final with a 1:43.56 but improved that by almost a second in the final race.
The Yellow Jackets also set a school record tonight in the 400-medley relay as the team of Ilia Ayzenshtok, Mickey Malul, Nevo and Noah Copeland finished 14th in a time of 3:11.01.
The 200-free relay team of Nigel Plummer, Noah Copeland, Mauricio Sousa and Garrett Robberson finished 18th in a time of 1:18.65. That was almost a second behind their ACC-winning mark of 1:17.84.
Georgia Tech had five swimmers turn in solid performances in the 50-free. Sousa led the way with a 19.81, which was good for 37th-place. Robberson finished in a 50th-place tie (20.06), while Plummer was 60th (20.15), Sullivan Lynch came in 61st (20.20) and Copeland was 63rd (20.40).
The 2009 NCAA Men’s Swimming Championships run through Saturday on the campus of Texas A&M. Live video, stats and full recaps will be available each night at www.ramblinwreck.com. Georgia Tech has a school-record nine swimmers competing in 11 different events.
