Nov. 21, 2014
THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams combined for nine top-five finishes on a fast night of swimming Friday as the 2014 GT Invitational continued. Andrew Kosic and Brad Homza led the way for the 24th-ranked Tech men, who remain in second place.
The Tech women were boosted by strong performances from junior diver Shannon Lumbra and rookie swimmer Kira de Bruyn and remain in eighth place in the team standings.
The final day of the GT Invitational is Saturday with prelims beginning at 10 a.m., followed by finals at 5 p.m. Admission is free.
Florida remains in control of both the men’s and women’s meets, with the Gators’ seventh-ranked men scoring 1,225 points. Tech is second with 666 points, followed by No. 20 Florida State (586), Indian River (408), Florida Atlantic (258), South Carolina (84), Auburn (76), Utah (49) and College of Charleston (4).
The 11th-ranked Gator women have amassed 878 points and lead Arkansas (576.5), Florida State (491.5), Florida Gulf Coast (399), Vanderbilt (299), Miami (260), FAU (252) and Georgia Tech (245.5) in the top half of the women’s standings.
Men’s Highlights
• Each of Tech’s relays on Friday night finished second to the Gators, as the 800 free relay of Kosic, Noah Harasz, Mats Westergren and Dan Cohen Solal was clocked in 6:38.87. Kosic also swam the second-place 200 medley relay with Brad Oberg, Ricky Lehner and Ben Southern (1:27.70).
• Homza and Omar Eteiba each finished in the top 10 on the 3m springboard with Homza scoring 373.75 points in the finals to finish third, followed in 10th by Eteiba (331.05).
• The 100 fly proved a valuable event for the Jackets with seven swimmers finishing in the points, including three in the A-final. Kosic took second (46.87), Southern was fifth (47.42) and Youssef Hammoud was ninth (48.44). The times for Kosic and Southern were each NCAA B-cuts.
• Hammoud was strong Friday night as he also posted a fourth-place finish in the 100 back (49.32), followed by Oberg in sixth (49.57) and Mark Keaveney in seventh (49.94).
• Lehner and Alex Kimpel each put down NCAA B-cuts in the 100 breast, with Lehner in fifth (54.97) and Kimpel in seventh (55.22).
• Michael Kenny was sixth in the 400 IM (3:55.63) and Barragan won 400 IM B-final (3:57.82), shaving five seconds faster than prelim time.
• The 200 free A-final featured Harasz in seventh (1:39.32) and Westergren in eighth (1:39.48).
Women’s Highlights
• de Bruyn enjoyed a big night for the Yellow Jackets as the rookie collected a fifth-place finish in the 400 IM, was 15th in the 100 fly and helped the 200 medley relay to a sixth-place showing.
• In the 400 IM, de Bruyn missed a 12-year-old school record by just .02 seconds in finishing fifth overall with her time of 4:16.02, which was an NCAA B-cut. The top-seven swimmers in the women’s 400 IM final each achieved NCAA B-cuts.
• Lumbra scored 292.25 points in the finals of the 1m springboard to claim a fifth-place finish.
• The sixth-place 200 medley relay was clocked in 1:43.57 and featured Carly Sweeney, Darelle Cowley, de Bruyn and Chiara Ruiu.
• Ruiu was 14th in 200 free (1:49.87), while Cowley was 13th in the 100 breast (1:02.79). Efrat Rotsztejn also finished in the points in the 100 breast 18th, 1:03.89).
• Four Jackets scored points in the 100 back, led by Maddie Paschal in 14th (55.82). Carly Sweeney was 18th (56.68), Katherine Kerman was 19th (56.97) and Megan Young was 20th (57.10).
• The women’s 800 free relay closed the session with Cowley, Ruiu, Sarah Williford and Erika Staskevicius putting down a time of 7:28.56 to finish sixth.
