GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior Caio Pumputis clocked in at 1:41.76 in the 200 IM finals on Thursday night to capture Georgia Tech swimming’s first gold medal on day two of the 2021 ACC Men’s Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Pumputis earned his third collegiate career gold at ACCs as he finished nearly two full seconds ahead of the next closest swimmer (Carles Coll Mati, Virginia Tech, 1:43.47). His mark was good for third all-time in program history. He posted a time of 21.96 during the 50 fly portion, 26.06 in the 50 back segment, 28.90 in the 50 breast section and finished it off with a 24.84 showing in the final 50 free leg of the event.
Overall four Jackets reached finals on the second day of competition.
Tech had two swimmers reach the 500 free finals as true freshman Batur Unlu and junior Clark Wakeland finished in eighth- and 14th-place, respectively. Unlu touched the wall at 4:18.62, while Wakeland came in at 4:20.08. During prelims Unlu set a new school record in the 500 free, qualifying with a time of 4:16.47 to beat out the previous mark of 4:17.82 set in 2019 by Colt Williamson.
Junior Daniel Jacobs earned an NCAA B Cut during the 500 free prelims with his 4;23.13 performance taking 25th-place.
The 50 free event saw junior Kyle Barone make it to finals finishing in 24th-place with a mark of 19.94. Barone would team up with seniors Christian Ferraro and Austin Daniel, as well as freshman Justin Alderson, to earn an NCAA B Cut in the 200 free relay to cap the night off. With a finals time of 1:17.70 the quartet took sixth and broke the previous school record of 1:17.84 that was set back in 2009. All of Techs’ men’s relay teams have now qualified for NCAA’s.
“I am so proud of our men tonight,” said Toni M. and Richard L. Bergmark Swimming and Diving Head Coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “Two school records today and an ACC champion in Caio. It has been a fun, close and tight competition. We are looking forward to coming out fired up and ready to go tomorrow morning.”
At the end of day two the Yellow Jackets sit at seventh-place on the team leaderboard with 278 points.
MEN’S TEAM RANKINGS (Through Event 8)
- Virginia Tech – 454
- Louisville – 428
- NC State – 428
- North Carolina – 350
- Virginia – 335
- Florida State – 320
- GEORGIA TECH – 278
- Pittsburgh – 186
- Notre Dame – 179
- Duke – 162
- Miami – 120
- Boston College 98
Day three will see the Jackets take on 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 400 medley relay. Prelims are slotted to begin at 10 a.m. (EST), while finals will start at 6 p.m. (EST).
The entirety of the 2021 ACC Championships will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
NOTE: ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) programming is available online via the ESPN app or WatchESPN.com. Viewers must subscribe to a cable/satellite/digital provider that carries the ACC Network to view ACCNX programming.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the A-T Fund’, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes, and the Support The Swarm Fund, created to give fans an opportunity to help Georgia Tech athletics maintain its recent momentum through the financial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic! To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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