Jan. 6, 2018
SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Yellow Jackets touched the wall in first-place in 27 of the 28 overall events, exhibitioning seven of the last eight events on the day, in a dominating sweep of the SCAD Bees in dual meet action on Saturday in Savannah, Ga. The women’s team won 157-91, while the men’s team defeated SCAD 160-94.
The dual meet did not include diving, as the nationally ranked NAIA SCAD Bees do not have a diving team.
“I was very pleased with the way we competed today,” head coach Courtney Shealy Hart said. “We have not competed since mid-November, so it was good to get up and race another team. I think this sets us up well for the next two meets as we head into championship season.”
The Yellow Jackets’ next two dual meets are at nationally ranked South Carolina on Jan. 20 (12 p.m.) and at home versus Emory on Senior Day on Jan. 27 (11 a.m.).
Women’s Highlights
Tech’s women’s team (4-2) had a swimmer touch the wall first in all 14 events on Saturday, leading the meet from start to finish in the win.
The Jackets started the meet off by finishing 1-4 in the women’s 200 yard medley relay with the ‘A’ team of Megan Young, Florina Ilie, Laura Branton and Iris Wang picking up a first-place finish with their time of 1:44.35.
GT then finished first and second overall in the women’s 1000 free, as sophomore Tamir Gonen (10:40.96) won the event just in front of fellow classmate Lindsay Wallace (10:42.57).
Wallace would record another top three finish in the women’s 200 free, taking third overall with a time of 1:58.70, finishing behind first-place finisher Kaitlin Kitchens (1:51.77) and runner-up Kristen Hepler (1:57.55).
Tech would go 1-4 in the women’s 100 back event, as Young (56.65) touched the wall first to lead the swarm followed by Sara Gilbert (57.43), Caroline Lee (57.89) and Kira de Bruyn (58.61).
In the women’s 100 breaststroke, Ilie picked up the victory with her time of 1:04.98, placing just in front of fellow Jackets Catriona MacGregor (1:05.03) and Julia Shuford (1:07.37).
The Jackets continued its winning ways with first, second and third-place finishes in the women’s 200 fly, as Emily Ilgenfritz (2:05.06), Chloe Miller (2:06.58) and Branton (2:07.69) went 1-2-3 for the race.
Wang earned a win in the women’s 50 free with her time of 23.80, pacing a slew of Jackets in Megan Hansen (24.52), Morgan Lyons (24.63) and Celine Nugent (25.12) who finished in second, third and fourth, respectively.
Wang doubled her win total with another first-place finish in the 100 free, turning in a time of 51.22 to keep the Jackets’ win streak on the day alive. Kitchens (52.81) and Hansen (53.41) would follow with second and third-place finishes in the free event.
De Bruyn made it nine wins in a row for the women’s team with a victory in the 200 backstroke, touching the wall with a first-place time of 2:05.06, finishing ahead of fellow teammates Grace Mauldin (2:06.71), MacGregor (2:07.45) and Lee (2:07.90) who rounded out the top four finishers.
Tech’s Ilie registered her second win of the day in the women’s 200 breast event, taking first-place overall with her time of 2:21.16 and finishing ahead of Tech teammates Hepler (2:22.79) and Shuford (2:23.24).
With an overwhelming lead in the head-to-head dual meet, the Jackets exhibitioned the last four events in the 500 free, 100 fly, 400 IM and the 200 free relay.
While not officially scoring in those events, Ilgenfritz (5:05.13) and Nugent (5:13.50) went 1-2 in the 500 free, while sophomore Emily Dykstra touched the wall in fourth-place with her time of 5:24.53.
Branton (55.64), Kitchens (56.31), Miller (57.55) and Lyons (58.69) turned in the top four times in the women’s 100 fly event, while Tech’s de Bruyn (4:27.01), MacGregor (4:29.66), Shuford (4:34.37) and Hepler (4:37.53) finished 1-4 in the women’s 400 IM.
The Jackets closed out the meet with the four top finishes in the women’s 200 free relay led by the team of Wang, Lyons, Hansen and Kitchens and their top time of 1:36.03.
Men’s Highlights
Not to be outdone, the men’s team (4-2) touched the wall first in 13 of the 14 events in the road win.
To start the day, the Jackets took first, third and fourth in the men’s 200 medley relay with the relay unit of Austin Daniel, Moises Loschi, Franco Reyes and Noah Harasz earning first-place honors with their time of 1:31.26.
Joonas Koski (9:31.85) and Rodrigo Correia (9:44.31) finished 1-2 in the men’s 1000 free, while in the men’s 200 free the Jackets picked up a win from freshman Albert Zhi with his time of 1:41.63. Aidan Pastel (1:43.64), Jeffrey Murray (1:45.41) and Jonathan Vater (1:45.52) finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, behind Zhi in the 200 free event.
Freshman Caio Pumputis picked up one of his three wins on the day in the men’s 100 back event, as he touched the wall first in a time of 51.07 to lead a swarm of Jackets in Daniel (51.38),Colt Williamson (53.22) and Leon Warnakulasuriya (54.00) who rounded out the top four.
A trio of upperclassmen in Loschi, Joseph Portillo and Alex Kimpel posted top four finishes in the men’s 100 breastroke event. Loschi recorded the win with a time of 55.41, while Portillo (57.87) and Kimpel (59.28) placed third and fourth, respectively.
Freshman Christian Ferraro continued Tech’s winning ways with a first-place finish in the men’s 200 fly event (1:48.09), while sophomores Clay Hering (1:50.26), Tim Slanschek (1:50.54) and Brennan Day (1:54.54) finished second, third and fifth, respectively.
Tech dominated in the sprint free events, as Harasz (20.96), Reyes (21.00), Correia (21.05) and Pastel (21.33) went 1-4 in the men’s 50 free event, while Harasz (45.88), Daniel (46.51) and Zhi (46.56) finished 1-3 in the men’s 100 free. Murray (48.32) placed fifth in the 100 free.
SCAD’s lone win of the entire meet came in the men’s 200 backstroke event, however, Tech claimed the next four spots, as Williamson (1:52.09), Correia (1:52.75), Koski (1:54.15) and Warnakulasuriya (1:54.20) placed second, third, fourth and fifth overall, respectively.
GT got back on the right track in the next event, as Loschi (2:01.81) picked up his second win of the meet with a first-place finish in the men’s 200 breast, finishing in front of fellow teammates Jonathan Yang (2:06.34), Portillo (2:06.61) and Kimpel (2:07.31) who finished in order 2-4.
Pumputis (4:37.87), Day (4:46.11), Vater (4:51.55) and Aidan Brook (4:52.63) finished 1-4 in the men’s 500 free, while Pumputis also touched the wall first in the 400 IM with his time of 4:00.75 yet did not score points because the Tech swimmers were exhibitioned due to the large team lead. Day (4:02.76), Koski (4:08.74) and Portillo (4:13.19) finished third, fourth and fifth in the IM event.
In the 100 fly event, in which the Yellow Jacket swimmers were also exhibitioned, Ferraro (47.90) and Reyes (48.31) touched the wall first and second, while Hering (50.65) and Slanschek (51.59) placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
With the win in hand, the Jackets wrapped up the dual on a high note by taking spots 1-4 in the men’s 200 free relay event highlighted by the ‘B’ team of Harasz, Reyes, Corben Miles and Pastel finishing first with a time of 1:22.59.
Tech Tidbits
* Christian Ferraro turned in an NCAA B qualifying time of 47.90 in the men’s 100 fly.
* Brennan Day set a new personal-best time of 1:54.54 in the men’s 200 fly.
* Catriona MacGregor set a new personal-best time of 4:29.66 in the women’s 400 IM.
* Rodrigo Correia swam the 1000 free for the first time in his GT career and turned in a time of 9:44.31.
* Caio Pumputis competed in the 100 back for the first time in his Tech career and turned in a time of 51.07.
* Caio Pumputis swam in the 500 free for the first time in his GT career and recorded a time of 4:37.87.
* Jonathan Vater competed in the 500 free for the first time in his Tech career and posted a time of 4:51.55.
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