Feb. 26, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Georgia Tech men’s swimming team is in third place after setting two conference records and three school records on the second night of the ACC Championships held on the campus of the University of Maryland. Gal Nevo set an ACC record in the 200-IM (1:43.34), while the Yellow Jacket 200 free relay team (1:17.84) broke a 10-year ACC record. Freshman Nigel Plummer set a school record as well in the 50-free (19.54) giving Tech wins in three of the four events on night two.
“This was an awesome day for us, but like last night we can’t enjoy it for too long,” head coach Stu Wilson said. “This is a long meet and we need to be ready to go in the morning. I was so happy for Nigel [Plummer] to win an event as a freshman and Garret’s [Robberson] great swim in the relay really pulled out the win for us. There are so many great swimmers in this meet so we need to really be on our A game tomorrow.”
The first event of the day was the 500-free and Ralph Long (4:31.80) and Travis Wagner (4:31.85) each set new career-highs in prelims.
In the 200-IM, Gal Nevo set an ACC record with a time of 1:43.34. The school record time also automatically qualified him for next month’s NCAA Championships as an A-cut. He broke his own record of 1:44.06 set in prelims which was three seconds better than the previous school record and seven seconds better than his season high. Virginia’s John Azar was a distant second more than two seconds behind Nevo.
Andy Miller finished 17th in the 200-IM with a career-best time of 1:47.79. That mark was actually better than seven of the eight swimmers in the bonus consolation. Way Joe Lee (1:50.02), Sam Bendziewicz (1:50.94) and Johnnie Hermes (1:50.79) all set career highs as well for the Yellow Jackets.
Freshman Nigel Plummer was victorious in the 50-free as he touched the wall in a school-record time of 19.54. He broke the record held by teammate Mauricio Sousa, who swam a 19.61 this morning in prelims. Sousa finished in a fifth-place tie with a NCAA B-cut time of 19.75. Garrett Robberson came in third for Tech as he touched the wall in a NCAA B-cut time of 19.63 giving the Yellow Jackets three of the top five winners in the 50-free.
Noah Copeland finished ninth in the 50-free with a career-best mark of 19.82. That was also good for a NCAA B-cut. Sullivan Lynch placed 17th with a B-cut time of 19.96. That was also a new career-high and actually better than five of the swimmers in the consolation final.
Johnny Hagaman (20.43), Jeremy Jackson (20.76), Ilia Ayzenshtok (21.03), Matt Vaughan (21.66), Jeffrey Phillips (20.92), Kelsey Duffy (21.27), Greg Tunning (22.18) and Kevin Skenes (22.27) all recorded career-highs in the 50-free during prelims.
The final event of the night was the 200-free relay and the Yellow Jackets won that one as well, this time of come-back finish. Sitting in third place after the first three legs, Robberson jumped in and took home the win for the Yellow Jackets as they recorded another school and conference record and NCAA B-cut time of 1:17.84. Sousa, Plummer and Copeland swam the first three legs for Tech. The previous ACC record was set back in 1998 and the Jackets beat the Tech best by more than a second.
The 2009 ACC Men’s Championships run through Saturday on the campus of the University of Maryland. Prelims begin each morning at 11 a.m. while the finals get going at 7 p.m. each evening. ACC Select will provide free streaming video of the finals each night, while live stats are available throughout the meet. Links can be found at www.ramblinwreck.com.
