Oct. 19, 2017
Live Results vs. Notre Dame (Fri.) | Live Results at Northwestern (Sat.)
THE FLATS — After a week off from competition, the Georgia Tech swimming & diving team will return to the water this weekend, as the Yellow Jackets hit the road for back-to-back dual meets at Notre Dame and Northwestern on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20 and 21.
“We are excited to get back to competing this week after having last week off,” stated head coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “We had a great start to the season two weeks ago versus Pitt and we want to continue that this weekend in back-to-back tough competitions against Notre Dame and Northwestern. This weekend will help us prepare for multiple day battles at the ACC and NCAA Championships.”
The Yellow Jackets opened the season with a sweep of Atlantic Coast Conference foe Pittsburgh on Oct. 6 at the McAuley Aquatic Center. The women’s team defeated Pitt 183.5-116.5 and the men’s team swarmed past the Panthers 168.0-132.0 in the head-to-head conference meet.
Led by juniors Iris Wang and Laura Branton, as well as freshmen Camryn Hidalgo and Allie Paschal, the Jackets’ women’s team (1-0) totaled eight individual wins and took first-place honors overall in both the 200 medley and 400 free relay events against the Panthers two weeks ago.
Wang ranks fifth in the ACC in the 200 free (1:48.69), sixth in the 100 free (50.05) and ninth in the 50 free (23.15), while Hidalgo’s 1-meter diving score of 300.90 versus the Panthers leads the ACC overall. Hidalgo also ranks seventh overall in the conference in the 3-meter springboard dive (305.63) thus far this season.
In the men’s (1-0) win over Pitt, Tech posted wins in both the 200 medley and 400 free relay events and also recorded nine individual wins with multiple first-place finishes from Matt Casillas, Rodrigo Correia, Christian Ferraro and Caio Pumputis.
Pumputis, who was tabbed the men’s ACC Swimmer of the Week by CollegeSwimming.com on Oct. 10, has the top time in the ACC in both the 200 breast (1:58.34) and the 200 IM (1:49.11). The freshman also ranks second in the league in the 200 free with a time of 1:37.50.
Fellow newcomer Ferraro has the fastest time in the ACC in the 200 fly (1:47.14) on the season to date, as well as the fifth-fastest mark in the 100 fly (48.47). Correia has turned in the second-fastest time on the year in the ACC in the 100 back (48.20) and ranks fourth in the conference overall in the 100 free (44.49).
Sophomore Clay Hering has the fifth-best time in the ACC in the 200 fly (1:48.79), while Casillas sits in third overall in the ACC in the 1-meter dive (343.50).
Notre Dame enters competition this weekend with both teams nationally ranked. The women’s team is 17th overall, while the men’s squad is ranked 25th in the latest CSCAA Top-25 rankings.
The Fighting Irish’s women’s team (2-1) led off the season with back-to-back wins over Louisville and Michigan State before falling to Texas A&M last time out on Oct. 14. Abbie Dolan, who was named the ACC women’s swimmer of the week on Oct. 10, leads a Fighting Irish squad that has 18 different student-athletes ranked in the top-10 of the ACC in multiple events.
On the men’s side (2-1), the Irish are also coming off a loss to the Aggies after posting wins over Louisville and Michigan State in dual meet action to open the month of October.
Headlined by Justin Plaschka, the Irish’s men’s squad has over 15 student-athletes ranked in the top-10 of the conference across 15 individual events thus far this season, including the top marks in the 50 free, 500 free, 1000 free, 200 back and 400 IM events.
Last year, the Irish swept the Jackets in dual meet competition with the women winning 247-79 and the men edging Tech 181-172.
Northwestern, who is hosting Georgia on Friday, Oct. 20, will host the Yellow Jackets on Saturday with an 11 a.m. ET start time.
The Northwestern women’s team has yet to compete this season, but is coming off a 2016-17 campaign in which the Wildcats finished seventh overall with 534 points at the Big Ten Championships and sent three individuals to the 2017 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships where diver Olivia Rosendahl won the women’s platform dive event.
The Wildcats’ men’s squad (0-1) claimed eight first-place finishes in a dual meet loss against Eastern Michigan in their season opener on Oct. 11. Will Hofstadter led the way by placing first in a pair of individual events in both the 100 and 200 breast events, while freshman Liam Gately earned a pair of victories in his collegiate debut by winning the 200 and the 500 free.
