THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech swimming and diving team secured three finals spots and 11 top-10 program records on Day 6 of the 2026 ACC Championships.
Tech had 17 swimmers coming into the prelims session looking to book spots in the evening finals. Tuncer Berk Ertürk was fresh off his top-10 performance in the 400 IM and continued in strong fashion, recording a 1:43.01 in the 200 fly.
His time was his personal best in the event and secured a B-finals spot, becoming not only the first Tech swimmer into the B-finals or higher but the first to record a second appearance. Joao Caballero answered the call in the final event of the morning, swimming a 52.48 in the 100 breast to go into a tie for 16th place. His seventh ACC finals appearance was assured but a swim-off for the B-finals would ensue.
Caballero dominated North Carolina’s Xavier Ruiz in the dual race, breaking into the 51.00s for the first time in his career at 51.91 and setting the fourth-fastest program mark in the 100 breast. He became the only senior to make an ACC individual finals appearance in all four years of his Tech career.
Zara Masud was the first Yellow Jacket on the day to qualify for the finals after she hit the wall at 2:00.99 in the women’s 200 fly, below her personal and season bests but more than enough to record her first career berth in the finals.
The finals session began with Masud breaking under the two-minute mark in the 200 fly finals and placed 23rd overall. Ertürk followed next for the men and went even quicker than his morning time at 1:42.78. He earned top-15 finishes in consecutive days and had the fastest 200 fly program time since 2022, third overall on the Tech leaderboard.
Caballero was in the final consolation heat of the night and laid down another quality time at 52.42. He set three top-10 program records in one day and now owns six of the top-10 men’s 100 breast for the Jackets.
The night concluded with 400 medley relays as the women’s crew of Vivien Rothwell, Anne Deedy, Masud, and Jillian Ferrari timed out at 3:35.34, the third-fastest program time and placed 11th overall. Rothwell’s opening leg of the relay became the second-fastest 100 back time, 0.18 off her school record.
The men’s crew clocked in at 3:06.41, the sixth-best program time and placing 12th. Ricky Balduccini’s leadoff time secured the sixth-fastest mark for the program.
Other program marks set throughout the day included the 100 back times from the women’s and men’s leaderboard. Rothwell’s 100 back time of 52.85 placed fourth along with Ricky Balduccini’s prelim time of 47.02 notched ninth-overall. Rothwell now owns the top-six school times with Balduccini holding six men’s 100 back program times of his own to close out the sixth day.
Georgia Tech will conclude the 2026 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships with Day 7. The prelims will begin at 9:30 a.m. before an early heat finals taking place at 2:30 p.m. The final session of the championships will begin at 5:30 p.m. All teams will vie for top 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, and 200 breast times in the prelims before the 1650 freestyle heats in the afternoon. The final session will begin with all eight event finals before closing the championships with the 400 free relay. Day passes are available here.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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