Feb. 19, 2016
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Georgia Tech women’s swimmers set school records for the third straight day at the ACC Championships, recording program bests in the 100 back, 100 breast and 400 medley relay. Diver Shannon Lumbra also reached the finals of the 3-meter dive.
After Day 3 of the ACC Championships, the Georgia Tech women are in 11th place with 242.5 points, while men’s divers have recorded 96 points.
“It was another great night for us,” head coach Courtney Shealy Hart said. “We had a 100 breast school record and a 400 medley relay record, as well as a 100 back record this morning. Shannon Lumbra did an awesome job on the boards today, which we’ve come to expect from her. We’ll come out tomorrow morning in an aggressive fashion, get into scoring position and finish this meet strong. I’m proud of the job we’ve done thus far.”
The first record of the day came from Florina Ilie in the 100 breast prelims, and she would break it again in the B final of the event. Ilie swam a time of 1:01.83 in the prelims and later finished second in the B final with a time of 1:01.78.
The second record came from Maddie Paschal in the 100 back prelims, swimming a time of 54.10. Carly Sweeney’s prelim time was also under the previous record, finishing at 54.65. Paschal would go on to compete in the C final and finish fifth.
Paschal and Ilie, along with Laura Branton and Iris Wang, would set the third record of the day in the 400 medley relay with a time of 1:39.92, shattering the previous record of 1:42.02.
Kira de Bruyn had a solid showing in the 400 IM, recording a time of 4:18.37 in the C final, which fell under the NCAA B cut. Iris Wang, Laura Branton, Morgan Lyons and Darelle Cowley also competed in finals races, with Wang and Branton recording B cuts in the 200 free and 100 fly, respectively. Cowley recorded a personal best in the 100 breast C final, which was good enough to win the race. Her time of 1:02.23 also fell under the B cut. Lyons competed in the C final of the 100 fly, recording a time of 55.04 and finishing seventh.
Shannon Lumbra performed very well in the 3-meter dive, reaching the finals and finishing sixth with a score of 320.55. Lumbra recorded a score of 337.40 in the prelims.
“Shannon came back from a tough 1-meter with what was probably her best 3-meter performance ever in the prelim to make it into the top 8 tonight,” diving coach John Ames said. “She continued with really great dives in the final. She just missed her fourth-round dive, but then nailing her sixth-round dive for 8’s to finish sixth. Shannon has always been able to follow a rough first event with an outstanding performance the next day. It is part of what makes her the great leader she is.”
Live results for Saturday’s events can be followed at http://theacc.co/SDlivestats. Saturday’s finals can be viewed on ESPN3 (http://es.pn/1TnReJk).
Saturday Schedule of Events:
10:00 a.m.: 200 Backstroke (prelim), 100 Freestyle (prelim), 200 Breaststroke (prelim), 200 Butterfly (prelim)
11:30 a.m.: Men’s Platform (prelim)
2:00 p.m.: Women’s Platform
4:00 p.m.: 1650 Freestyle Prelim Heats (all heats except last)
6:00 p.m.: 1650 Freestyle Final Heat, 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly, Men’s & Women’s Platform, 400 Freestyle Relay
For the second time in program history, Georgia Tech and the McAuley Aquatic Center will serve as the host site for the 2016 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships. The Women’s Championships will be held March 16-19, followed by the Men’s Championships March 23-26. Georgia Tech previously hosted the 2006 NCAA Championships and the CRC was also the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics swimming and diving competitions.
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