Dec. 17, 2015
NAPLES, Fla. – The Georgia Tech swimming & diving team will face off against Cincinnati and Florida Atlantic on Friday in its final competition of 2015. The tri-meet will take place at Norris Aquatic Center with a start time of 4 p.m. The meet is believed to be the first tri-meet consisting of three female head coaches – Georgia Tech head coach Courtney Hart, Cincinnati head coach Mandy Commons-DiSalle and FAU head coach Lara Preacco.
For more on the historic day, read Jon Cooper’s Thursday night column, Heads of the Class.
It’s history in that this is the first NCAA swim meet in which all three participating teams have female head coaches. The moment is overdue to many, eyebrow-raising to some and a source of pride for the coaches involved.
“I am looking forward to seeing our team race again,” head coach Courtney Shealy Hart said. “We have been working extremely hard and I am eager to see where we are in December. In addition, I am excited about the potentially historic meeting of three female head coaches.”
The Jackets’ last competition took place Nov. 19-21 when Tech hosted the Georgia Tech Invitational at McAuley Aquatic Center, as the men finished 3rd and the women finished 5th. The women’s 200 medley relay team consisting of Maddie Paschal, Florina Ilie, Morgan Lyons and Iris Wang finished with a time of 1:41.25, which set a new school record. The previous record of 1:41.57 was set in 2012 by Heidi Hatteberg, Ariana Berg, Jordan Evans and Keren Siebner.
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 2007 NCAA Championships and the CRC was also the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics swimming and diving competitions.
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