Feb. 28, 2015
THE FLATS – Behind another record-setting performance from senior Andrew Kosic, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets made a move up the leaderboard to finish sixth Saturday at the 2015 ACC Men’s Swimming Championship.
Georgia Tech finished with 663.5 points. NC State won the ACC team title with 1331 points, winning by a substantial 152.5-point margin. Louisville finished second with 1178.5, followed by Virginia Tech in third with 1123 points.
During the morning prelims, Kosic broke his own school mark in the 100 freestyle, touching the wall in 42.30. He followed with a second-place finish in the finals, timing out with an A-cut clip of 42.45.
Youssef Hammoud joined his teammate in the 100 freestyle A finals. After a 43.19 time in the prelims, Hammoud finished seventh in the finals with a time of 43.46.
Tech’s 400 freestyle relay team of Hammoud, Noah Harasz, Nico van Duijn and Kosic finished third with a school-record and A-cut time of 2:52.47. The previous mark was 2:54.72 set in 2009.
“I’m really proud of this team,” head coach Courtney Shealy Hart said. “They fought hard, we were in a battle for fifth place. They swam fast, broke another school record tonight. I’m excited for a month from now for NCAAs (in Iowa City, Iowa)
“(I hope) to get another individual qualifier; we have a couple of people that have a shot at it. And we need to get our 200 medley relay team qualified (at next week’s Last Chance Meet),” Shealy Hart said.
In all, six Georgia Tech school records fell at the 2015 ACC Men’s Swimming Championship – 50 freestyle (Kosic – 19.23), 100 freestyle (Kosic – 42.45), 200 freestyle (Kosic – 1:34.55) and 100 butterfly (Kosic – 46.36), 400 medley relay (Brian Woodbury, Ricky Lehner, van Duijn, Kosic – 3:10.06) and 400 freestyle relay (Hammoud, Harasz, van Duijn, Kosic – 2:52.47).
Other men’s notes from Saturday’s final day of competition:
- In the 1650 freestyle prelims, Yuval Safra clocked in at 15:09.72, finishing second in heat 4. Freshman Moises Lochi won heat 3 with a time of 15:15.12.
- In the 200 backstroke, Brad Oberg finished fourths in the C final with a time of 1:46.15, while Mark Keaveney finished eighth with a time of 1:48.01.
- Safra finished seventh in the 200 backstroke B final in a time of 1:44.92.
- Ben Southern won the 200 butterfly C final in a time of 1:46.42.
- Nico van Duijn (1:44.91) and Mark Sarman (1:46.16) finished second and third, respectively, in the 200 butterfly B final.
- In the 200 breaststroke C final, Ricky Lehner finished third with a time of 1:59.03, while Lochi finished eighth in a time of 2:02.27.
- Freshman Noah Harasz finished sixth in the 100 freestyle C final in a time of 44.49.
Georgia Tech will host its second and final long course time trial Sunday at 11 a.m. After this weekend, the Yellow Jackets will host one final competition – the two-day Yellow Jacket Last Chance Meet – March 7-8 at the GT Aquatic Center. The competition gives swimmers one more opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Championships.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on Twitter (@GTAthletics), Facebook (facebook.com/GTAthletics), and Instagram (@GTAthletics) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
