Feb. 21, 2006
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech men’s swimming team will compete at the 2006 Men’s Atlantic Coast Conference Swimming Championships, Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 22-25, in Maryland’s Campus Recreation Center. The Yellow Jackets earned 58 points at the ACC Diving Championships and stand third heading into the swimming competition.
“The men are pumped up and ready to prove to the rest of the conference that they are better than what they have showed to this point,” said head coach Stuart Wilson. “The divers scored more points than ever last weekend and the swimmers are looking to build on that momentum that was built by them.”
The meet is being hosted by the University of Maryland and can be followed via live results at Maryland’s Website.
Senior Sam Morgan is the defending ACC champion in the 1650-yard freestyle and holds Tech’s top time in the event this year. Morgan, a native of Gainesville, Ga., clocked a NCAA `B’ standard of 15:28.09 at the Georgia Tech Invitational earlier this year.
He set the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center pool record last year at the ACC meet with a time of 14:47.31. Morgan also garnered All-ACC honors last season in the 500 free, finishing third. He holds Tech’s top time in that event with a mark of 4:29.61.
Senior Teemu Kettunen was a two-time finalist for the Yellow Jackets a season ago. Kettunen, a native of Jarvenpaa, Finland, clocked a school-record 50 free time of 20.49 in the prelims and finished eighth in the finals. He posted a time of 48.98 in the 100 butterfly to finish in eighth place. Kettunen holds Tech’s top marks in both those events this year with times of 20.99 and 49.58, respectively.
Senior Jason Howard made the finals of the 100 and 200 freestyle events for Tech last season. Howard, a native of Snellville, Ga., holds the Jackets’ top time in the 100 free (46.00) and ranks sixth in the 200 free (1:43.25).
Juniors Ryan Bishop and Alex Williams advanced to finals a season ago for the Jackets. Bishop, a native of Signal Mountain, Tenn., made the finals of the 200 individual medley and 400 IM and holds the top time for Tech in the 200 IM with a mark of 1:52.86.
Williams qualified for the finals of the 100 breaststroke, finishing eighth last year with a time of 56.21. The Indianapolis, Ind., native holds Tech’s top time in the event with a mark of 57.82.
Last weekend in the men’s diving competition, sophomore Evan Stowers became just the second Tech diver to win an ACC title, finishing first on the three-meter springboard. The next night, Stowers finished third on the one-meter board to earn his second all-conference honor in as many nights.
Junior Tony Burkhardt finished sixth on the men’s one-meter board and 12th on the three-meter board. Sophomore Peter Doblar was the final scorer for the Jackets, finishing 13th on the one-meter board.
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