THE FLATS – Freshman breaststroker Kerem İlyem and senior diver Max Fowler were named this week’s ACC swimming and diving performers of the week on Tuesday afternoon. Tech swept the men’s weekly honors for the first time since October 2024.
İlyem has bursted onto the scene as one of the fastest breaststroke swimmers in the conference just months into his freshman season. He hit the wall first in both the 200 breast and 1000 free races against Boston College on Saturday, setting 1:55.01 and 9:14.50 times, respectively.
His 200 breast time was the fastest conference mark of the week and eighth-fastest time in program history while his 1000 free time was the second fastest in the ACC over the week. The freshman currently holds the third-fastest ACC and seventh-fastest Division I time for 200 breast this season after his 1:53.11 performance against No. 17 Auburn.
Fowler has continued his senior season in fine form, completing another sterling performance on the diving boards against Boston College. He scored 360.60 in the 1-meter session with all six dives scoring at least 50 points to win the event before completing the sweep with a 378.00 in the 3-meter session, highlighted by his 73.50 point dive on his second attempt.
The Burke, Virginia, native continues his winning ways in 2026, claiming seven of eight event victories since the season started and 22 of 23 events in dual-meet events dating back to the start of last season. He holds both 1-meter and 3-meter program session records and extended his 1-meter session school record at 419.18 in the opening meet of the season.
Fowler earned his second weekly honor of the season to push his career mark up to 11 total. İlyem became the second freshman to become an ACC performer of the week this season following NC State’s Theo Proca in last week’s edition.
The Jackets’ next challenge will be at the Georgia Fall Invitational from November 19-22 to close out the calendar year.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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