Oct. 18, 2014
THE FLATS – THE FLATS – Led by three wins from senior Andrew Kosic and another strong showing from rookie Brian Woodbury, the Georgia Tech men’s swimming and diving team defeated Pitt Saturday at the GT Aquatic Center. The women split dual meets with Georgia Southern and Pitt.
Meet Scoring
The Georgia Tech men improved to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC by rolling past Pitt, 170-125. The women’s record moved to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the ACC as the Jackets defeated Georgia Southern, 229-71, but were clipped by the Panthers, 169-131.
Men’s Highlights
• Senior All-American Andrew Kosic won three more individual events and helped the 400 free relay finish the meet with a victory. Kosic took the 50 free (20.38), the 100 free (44.92) and the 200 free (1:39.41).
• Tech raked in the points in the 50 free with Kosic pacing four Jackets in the top five spots — Andrew Chetcuti was second (21.04), Taylor Wilson was third (21.06) and Noah Harasz was fifth (21.27).
• Kosic, Yousef Hammoud (45.91) and Chetcuti (46.73) went 1-2-4 in the 100 free.
• Rookie Brian Woodbury continued his strong weekend by helping the 200 medley relay to victory in the meet’s first event and finishing first in the 100 back (50.57) and second in the 200 back (1:51.90).
• Woodbury teamed with Mark Sarman, Ben Southern and Nico van Duijn to win the medley relay in 1:30.51.
• Southern and van Duijn swept the top two spots in the 200 fly with the sophomore winning in 1:48.30 and followed by the senior in 1:49.67.
• Sarman won the 100 breast (57.30) and the 200 IM (1:53.20).
• Yuval Safra and Elliott Brockelbank went 1-2 in both the 500 and 1,000 free. Safra was clocked in winning times of 9:24.59 and 4:32.74, while Brockelbank touched in 9:31.39 and 4:36.86. Safra was coming off a career-best 9:19.44 in winning the 1,000 on Friday night versus South Carolina.
• Brad Homza and Omar Eteiba finished second and third, respectively, on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events.
• Robert Borowicz won the 200 back (1:05.73).
• Kosic, Hammoud, Chetcuti and van Duijn won the meet’s final event – the 400 free relay – in a time of 3:03.83.
Women’s Highlights
• Junior diver Shannon Lumbra remained undefeated on the weekend by winning both the 1-meter (298.70) and the 3-meter (308.50) in Saturday’s meet.
• The Jackets claimed three of the top four spots in the 200 fly, led by Kate Brandus’ winning time of 2:07.91. She was followed by Frederique Lefebvre in second (2:08.04) and Samantha Kase in fourth (2:09.52).
• Brandus also gave her team a victory in the 100 fly, out-touching Georgia Southern’s Megan Heller at the wall with a winning time of 57.45.
• It was a top-three sweep for the hosts in the 200 IM with Chiara Ruiu leading the way in a time of 2:07.13. Kira de Bruyn was second (2:07.98) and Efrat Rotsztejn in third (2:09.11).
• The 100 back was a strong event with Tech occupying places two through five. Carly Sweeney was second (57.89), followed by Maddie Paschal (57.91), Xanna Tracy (58.34) and Katherine Kerman (58.66).
• Led by rookie Alex Rieger, the Jackets claimed three of the top four spots in the 200 back. Reiger won in a time of 2:02.84, Paschal in third (2:06.44) and Sweeney in fourth (2:07.13).
Quotes from head coach Courtney Shealy Hart
• “It was a good meet for the men and I’m really pleased with how we handled back-to-back meets. The women beat Georgia Southern and they were in a battle with Pitt.”
• “Yuval (Safra) and Kate (Brandus) were our performers of the meet and both were big for us today with Yuval winning the 500 and 1,000 and Kate winning twice.”
• “It’s good to race on back-to-back like we did yesterday and today, but we still need to clean up some things moving forward. The experience of these back-to-back meets will be important for us heading into our Invitational and into championship season.”
Up Next
• The Yellow Jackets are back in action at home next Saturday, hosting an ACC double-dual meet versus Florida State and NC State at the GT Aquatic Center. The meet begins at 11 a.m. and admission is free. The Jackets will wear pink caps to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer Awareness month, and pink rally towels and shakers will be distributed to fans.
