GREENSBORO, N.C. – Georgia Tech men’s swimming closed out the final day of the 2021 ACC Championships on Saturday evening with two podium performers in seniors Caio Pumputis and Christian Ferraro, while also garnering a new school record in the 400 free relay. At the conclusion of the weekend’s competition Tech placed seventh on the team leaderboard with 639 points, a two spot improvement from last years’ finish.
Overall, Tech made podium six times this weekend and saw a pair of ACC champions crowned in the 200 IM (Pumputis) and 200 free (ÜNLÜ).
A trio of Yellow Jackets reached finals on day four as Pumputis, Ferraro & true freshman Batur ÜNLÜ all qualified for their respective events in prelims.
Pumputis had a silver medal effort in the 200 breast grabbing an NCAA A cut mark of 1:51.81. Pumputis & ÜNLÜ both made it to three finals events individually throughout the weekend, as ÜNLÜ had a 12th-place outing in the 100 free. Ferraro followed his classmate up with another NCAA A cut and program best time of 1:40.64 to earn bronze in the 200 fly.
Those three Jackets joined up with junior Kyle Barone at the end of the night in the last event, the 400 free relay. ÜNLÜ started things off as he posted splits of 20.60 & 22.33 before handing it off to Pumputis, who registered segments of 20.15 & 22.60. Once it was Barone’s turn he matched Pumputis’ first split before coming in at 23.17 prior to the final leg of the race. Ferraro had efforts of 20.19 and 22.60 in the last portion to help the group collectively clock in at 2:51.79 to rewrite another school record.
“I am very proud of the way we competed this week,” said Toni M. and Richard L. Bergmark Swimming and Diving Head Coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “Moving up two spots in a tough conference is something special. We are not done yet. We have NCAA’s, Olympic Trials and the Olympics coming up this spring and summer. We are hungry for more this year and beyond.”
ACC Network Men’s Swimming & Diving Recap Show
The ACC Network will broadcast the recap of the 2021 ACC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championship on March 8 from 7 to 9 p.m.
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