Jan. 19, 2018
THE FLATS – After dominating the SCAD Bees two weeks ago in dual meet action, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets hit the road to return to competition on Saturday at 12 p.m. versus the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia, S.C.
“The ACC Championships are getting closer and this weekend will be another challenge for us against a very good South Carolina team,” said head coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “Saturday will be a great chance for us to test ourselves and see what we need to work on as we continue to work toward the ACC and NCAA Championships. We have had a great start thus far to our championship season and want to build on that momentum this weekend in Columbia.”
Tech’s women’s team (4-2) had a swimmer touch the wall first in all 14 events two weeks ago against SCAD, leading the meet from start to finish in the blowout win.
In the dual meet win on Jan. 6, the Jackets were led by Iris Wang (50 and 100 free), Florina Ilie (100 and 200 breaststroke), Emily Ilgenfritz (200 fly and 500 free) and Kira de Bruyn (200 backstroke and 400 IM) who all had two individual wins apiece on the day.
In addition to the Yellow Jacket swimmers, the divers will return to competition for the first time since November 2017. Having not competed in the dual at SCAD in early January, the Tech divers will take to the boards for the first time in 2018 this Saturday at South Carolina.
Freshman Camryn Hidalgo will look to continue her strong start to her freshman campaign, having posted the top scores in the 1-meter (331.35), 3-meter (353.63) and platform (270.05) dives this past fall, two of which were new school records in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events.
Along with Hidalgo, sophomore Carly Doi closed out her fall slate on a high note, while fellow underclassmen Abbey Yates, Jordyn Sak and Paige Gohr will look to continue to make improvements on the boards with the championship season looming just a month away.
On the men’s side (4-2), Tech had six different swimmers post wins versus SCAD last time out in Joonas Koski (1000 free), Albert Zhi (200 free), Caio Pumputis (100 back, 500 free and 400 IM), Moises Loschi (100 and 200 breast), Christian Ferraro (100 and 200 fly) and Noah Harasz (50 and 100 free) and will look to continue its winning ways this weekend on the road at South Carolina.
Juniors Matt Casillas, who has the top marks in all three diving events for the men’s team this season, and Nolan Mallet, will look to lead the diving core and first-year Jackets’ Henry Carman, Jacob Kreider and Davis Waln as the intensity picks up with the ACC Championships coming up in February.
South Carolina is coming off a sweep of the East Carolina Pirates one week ago, as the women’s team won 181.5-110.5, while the men’s squad earned a 176.5-113.5 dual meet victory.
The women’s team (4-3) has posted wins against Arkansas, Missouri, Cincinnati and ECU this season in dual meet action, and also finished fifth overall at the Georgia Tech Invitational in November, one spot behind the Yellow Jackets.
South Carolina’s trio of Christina Lappin (50 free, 100 free and 100 fly), Emma Barksdale (200 free, 500 free, 1000 free and 200 IM), and Emily Cornell (100 and 200 back) have paced the Gamecocks women’s team this season with nine top times on the year, while Julia Vincent has posted the top marks for USC in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events this year.
The men’s team (3-3) was ranked No. 25 in the CSCAA Top 25 poll this week and has registered wins over Cincinnati, North Carolina and East Carolina this season. The Gamecocks also finished fourth overall at the Georgia Tech Invitational, also one spot behind the GT men’s team back in November.
The Gamecocks have been led this season by Tomas Peribonio (100 free, 200 back and 200 IM), Fynn Minuth (200 free, 500 free and 200 fly) and Nils Wich-Glasen (100 and 200 breast), as the trio have combined to post eight top times out of 14 total events thus far this season for South Carolina.
On the boards, Grant Summers and Lyle Markman are 1-2 in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events this season for the Gamecocks.
Live results of the meet can be found HERE.
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