ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech men’s swimming and diving team captured all but one swimming event on Friday night, en route to an impressive 172-117 dual-meet victory over James Madison at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in the season-opening meet for both teams.
The Yellow Jackets (1-0) got out of the blocks quickly, as they took the top two spots in the meet’s opening event, the 400-yard medley relay. Tech continued its dominance in the next three events by sweeping the top three places in the 1000-yard freestyle, the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke. That string of wins was highlighted by sophomore Shilo Ayalon, (Kfar Hanassi, Israel), who won the 1,000 free with a pool-record time of 9:20.23, shattering the old mark by over eight seconds.
Ayalon continued his strong performance later in the evening, as he won the 500-yard freestyle event in a time of 4:36.79 to lead a Tech sweep of the top four places and set another Georgia Tech Aquatic Center pool record, eclipsing the previous mark by just over a second. Joining Ayalon in the top four for the Jackets in the 500 free were junior Leo Salinas (Monterrey, Mexico), who was second with a time of 4:44.34, freshman Itai Eden (Qiryat-Ono, Israel) in third at 4:46.06 and fellow rookie Ricky Rauch (Houston, Texas) in fourth with a time of 4:50.53.
Another Tech performer to turn in a strong outing in the season’s opening meet was sophomore Josh Hersko (Marietta, Ga.), who won both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events. Hersko opened the night in the 200 free, leading four Yellow Jackets in the top five with his time of 1:43.82. He followed that performance with a victory in the 100 free, as he recorded a time of 47.51. Both swims were among Hersko’s top regular-season performances in his Tech career.
Sophomore Tomonori Tsuji (Osaka, Japan) was the third Yellow Jacket to win a pair of events in the meet, as he captured both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke. Tsuji first won the 100 breast in a time of 58.09, just missing the pool record of 57.84. He beat out Tech teammate Robbie Foster (Frankfort, Ky.), who finished second with a time of 59.67. Later in the meet, Tsuji touched the wall first in the 200 breast with a time of 2:07.68, to lead a group of four Yellow Jackets at the front of the pack. Tech rookie Chris Biedrzycki (Charlotte, N.C.) finished second in the 200 breast with a time of 2:10.69.
The lone event win for James Madison came in the 50-yard freestyle event, as the Duke’s Mike Nicholas won with a time of 21.64. The Yellow Jackets will next be in action on October 20, when they host Louisiana-Monroe in a dual meet at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center beginning at 5 p.m.
