Nov. 12, 2005
ATLANTA – Senior All-American Sam Morgan captured the 500- and 1000-yard freestyle events to lead the Georgia Tech men’s swimming and diving team against No. 9 Minnesota on Saturday afternoon in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. The Golden Gophers (5-0) defeated the Yellow Jackets (2-5), 171-120.
“This is the third nationally-ranked team we’ve swum this year,” said head coach Stuart Wilson. “It’s good for us to compete against this caliber of teams.”
Morgan, a native of Gainesville, Ga., clocked season-best times in the 500 free (4:31.68) and 1000 free (9:14.83) to pace the Jackets.
“It was good to see Sam [Morgan] get his confidence back today,” said Wilson. “He’s back to his old self and hopefully he can continue to help us in dual meets the rest of the year.”
The Jackets swept the diving events as junior Tony Burkhardt won the one-meter board and sophomore Evan Stowers finished first on the three-meter board. Burkhardt, a native Phoenix, Ariz., tallied a season-best score and NCAA Zone qualifying mark of 327.75 on the one-meter board. Stowers, a native of Independence, Ky., posted a Tech season-best score of 344.10 on the three-meter board, also an NCAA Zone mark.
“Tony and Evan did a nice job for us on the springboards,” said Wilson. “Tony had a high score on the one-meter board and Evan came close to our school record on the three-meter board.”
Freshman Noah Copeland recorded a pair of second-place finishes for the Yellow Jackets. Copeland, a native of Peachtree City, Ga., clocked times of 48.07 in the 100 free and 1:41.60 in the 200 free.
The Yellow Jackets will return to the pool on Nov. 18-20, for the second annual Georgia Tech Invitational. The invitational will host prelims and finals, beginning at 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. All home meets can be followed on www.ramblinwreck.com.
-30-
