Nov. 22, 2013
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THE FLATS – Paced by junior Andrew Kosic, the Georgia Tech men jumped out to a lead after the first day of the 2013 GT Invitational in Atlanta. Kosic won the 50 free with an NCAA B-cut and helped the 200 free relay to victory.
With 508 points, the Yellow Jackets lead Tennessee (419 points) and Florida Atlantic (312) in the men’s team standings. The women’s meet is led by Tennessee with 328 points, followed by Florida Gulf Coast (326), Georgia Tech (265), James Madison (219), Vanderbilt (165), Miami (115), FAU (102), Clemson (39) and College of Charleston (2).
Kosic, who posted an NCAA B-cut time in the morning prelims in the 50 free, got the evening session started strong for the Jackets by leading off the 200 free relay. That relay of Kosic, Andrew Chetcuti, Jacob Johnson and Nico van Duijn out-touched the Vols at the wall and grabbed first place, and 52 points.
Kosic put down an opening split of 20.06 in that relay and Tech’s winning time of 1:19.95 was a season best. Tennessee was clocked in 1:20.80 for second place.
Tech had the top six qualifiers in the men’s 500 free following the morning prelims, and it was a lucrative Friday night as the Jackets swept the top five spots led by junior Elliott Brockelbank in a career-best time of 4:26.57. Mats Westergren (4:29.21) was second, Ben Southern (4:29.39) was third, Yuval Safra (4:29.47) was fourth and Michael Kenny (4:33.25) was fifth.
Junior Mark Sarman and senior Anton Lagerqvist went 1-2 in the 200 IM Friday night, with Sarman clocking a time 1:49.49 in the finals to grab the win, followed by Lagerqvist in 1:52.52.
The men kept their foot on the gas in the 50 free, as Kosic and van Duijn validated their 1-2 finish from the morning with a 1-2 finish in the finals. Kosic, who became the ACC’s first swimmer this season to go below 20 seconds in the event, was clocked in a 19.92 in the morning and came back with a 19.94 in the finals to edge van Duijn (20.14). Both were NCAA B-cuts.
For the women, Frederique Lefebvre was clocked in a time of 2:05.18 in the 200 IM, which was good for second place overall. Erika Staskevicius clinched a spot in the A-Final of the 50 free and the sophomore put down a time in Friday’s finals of 23.83, which was good for ninth.
On the springboards, Georgia Tech had three women in the top six of the the 1m competition, while Tech had two men in the top four on the 3m board. Ashley Hardy led the way in second place with her score of 300.40 points, followed by Shannon Lunbra in fourth (275.90) and Andrea Demick in sixth (266.90).
Brad Homza finished second for the men with a score of 346.75 in the finals, while Omar Eteiba made his collegiate debut and finished fourth with 306.40 points.
Action at the GT Invitational resumes Saturday morning with preliminary action at 10 a.m.
