Nov. 21, 2003
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams fell to nationally-ranked Georgia, 124-100 men and 121-110 women, in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center tonight. Sophomore Laurissa Prystaj (Fairport, N.Y.) tallied a season-best score of 279.67 on the three-meter board and freshman Vesna Stojanovska (Skopje, Macedonia) bettered her school record in the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.14) to lead the Yellow Jackets against the third-ranked Bulldogs. The Jacket men and women fall to 3-3 on the season, while Georgia improves to 6-1 men and 6-0 women.
“It’s always great to swim your in-state rival,” said head coach Seth Baron. “It’s the third ranked opponent for us this season and we have taken on the philosophy that we are not going to shy away from the top competition. I thought our athletes did a good job against the highest ranked team we’ve faced all season as Georgia’s women are No. 3 and the men are No. 7.”
“Georgia has done a nice job building its program and hopefully, down the road, we can come out on the winning end of this rivalry meet.”
Prystaj’s score on the three-meter board automatically qualifies her for the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships on March 12, in Athens, Ga. Stojanovska’s time in the 200 free was a NCAA ‘B’ qualifying mark.
The Georgia Tech 200 freestyle relays closed out the meet with victories for the Yellow Jackets. The women’s team of Natanya Harper (Atlanta, Ga.), Jaclyn Keys (Duluth, Ga.), Dana West (Brookeville, Md.) and Wallis swam a time of 1:37.78. The men’s team of Marc Maier (Portland, Ore.), Ryan Riebesell (Hoover, Ala.), Jeremy Raines (Americus, Ga.) and Brian Huff (Marietta, Ga.) posted a time of 1:26.59 to win the relay.
Picking up second-place finishes for Tech was junior Matt Figh (Montgomery, Ala.) and sophomores Meghan DeVinney (Avondale, Ariz.), Jason Howard (Snellville, Ga.) and Moeko Wallis (Columbus, Ga.). Figh finished second in the 100 free (1:43.59) and Wallis finished second in the 50 free (24.24). DeVinney posted a season-best time of 57.11 in the 100 butterfly for a runner-up finish, while Howard ended the 100 free with a time of 47.22.
Sophomore Jacob Wilson (Kingwood, Texas) swam a season-best time of 4:07.39 in the 400 IM to finish fourth and freshman Alex Williams (Indianapolis, Ind.) had a season-best time of 59.17 in the 100 breaststroke to finish third.
Breaking pool records for the Bulldogs were Laura Conway, Chris Colwill, Mary DeScenza, Lindsey Errter, Scott Gardner, Melissa Klein, Matthew Owen and Peter Verhoef. Conway broke the pool record in the 1000 free (9:58.84), Colwill set a new pool mark on the three-meter board (356.70) and Klein just notched a pool record in the 400 individual medley (4:19.33). Verhoef set a new pool mark in the 100 fly with a time of 50.18, while DeScenza and Owen broke the record in the 500 free with times of 4:48.06 and 4:32.63. Errter and Gardner broke the final pool records of the evening in the 100 breast with times of 1:03.31 and 56.09.
Next up for Georgia Tech will be the Bulldog Invitational, Dec. 5-7, in Athens, Ga.
