Sept. 20, 2016
THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech swimming & diving program is excited to announce its team captains for the upcoming 2016-17 season in Andrea Demick, Morgan Lyons, Chiara Ruiu, Rodrigo Quadros Correia and Ben Southern.
Voted on by their fellow teammates, the five captains look to lead a program that continues to excel both in and out of the pool under eight year head coach Courtney Shealy Hart.
“It is a great honor and a privilege to be a captain, especially to be voted on by your peers and teammates,” stated Coach Hart. “This group of individuals are seen as leaders by their teammates. They are expected to lead by example both in and out of the pool. With this honor comes higher standards and expectations, which they have accepted. They serve as the liaisons between the team and the coaching staff throughout the season and are expected to continue to help contribute to the continuing growth of this program.”
Demick, a senior diver for the Jackets, competed at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in each of the last three years and is coming off a junior season in which she overcame an injury that hampered her for most of the season to place second among the team on the 1-meter springboard for the year with a career-best mark of 299.40. She recorded points for the Yellow Jackets at the 2016 ACC Championships and was tabbed a 2015-16 College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-American Honorable Mention last year.
Lyons, who is in her third year at Tech in 2016-17, is coming off perhaps her best season yet last year as a sophomore in which she set new career-best times in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly events. A member of the record breaking 200 free relay squad at the ACC Championships along with Alex Rieger, Maddie Paschal, and Ruiu with a time of 1:31.62. Lyons also is part of the 200 medley relay team that holds the second-best time in school history at 1:41.25. She ranks fourth in the 50 free (23.29) and in the 100 fly (54.79) all-time at Tech, and is also in the top-10 in both the 100 free (51.17) and the 400 medley relay (3:46.90).
Ruiu, a redshirt-senior in 2016-17 who swept the record books claiming two individual records and three relay records last season, also set seven career-best times in the 200 free, 500 free, 1000 free, 200 IM, 400 IM, 100 breast and 200 breast. She swam on the record-breaking 800 free relay team at the 2016 ACC Championships with Iris Wang, Kira de Bruyn and Efrat Rotsztjen and also posted a record-breaking career-best 200 IM at the ACC Championships with a time of 2:00.97. Ruiu anchored the record-breaking 200 free relay at the ACC Championships and also set a career-best in the 200 free at the ACC Championships with a time of 1:48.91, the fourth-fastest time in Tech history. The fastest Jacket on the season in the 500 free, 1000 free, 200 breast and the 200 IM last year, she finished with a career-best 10th-place finish in the 200 breast at the ACC Championships, posted a personal best time in the 500 free with a time of 4:54.54, the seventh-fastest time in Tech history, and became the fifth-fastest on Tech’s 100 breast top-10 all-time list with a time of 1:03.08 at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
The lone underclassman to be named a captain, Correia is entering just his second season with the Jackets this year. Last year as a freshman, Correia joined the team during winter training and made an immediate impact both in and out of the water. He took no time rewriting the books at Tech, cementing himself firmly into the all-time top-10 lists in nine events in his first two months at Tech. He won the B-final at the 2016 ACC Championships in the 100 back with a time of 47.13, a new school record, and the B-final of the 100 free at the ACC Championships in a time of 43.55. Correia was also a member of four relays at the ACC Championships, including the 800 free relay, 200 free relay, 400 medley relay and 400 free relay. He posted a career-best time of 43.35 in the 100 free at the GT Qualifier, which was good enough to secure a third-place spot on the all-time list for the Yellow Jackets, and he recorded the fastest 200 free time of the season at the GT Qualifier as well with a time of 1:34.85, placing him third in Tech history.
Southern, a 2015-16 CSCAA Scholar All-American Honorable Mention selection, will look to help lead the Yellow Jackets in his senior season on the Flats in 2016-17. Southern, who scored points in both individual and relay events at the ACC Championships last year for the Jackets, had a strong junior campaign in 2015-16. He placed 19th in the 100 fly with a time of 47.97 at the ACC Championships and recorded a career-best 10th-place finish at the ACC Championships in the 200 fly with a time of 1:45.04. He was also a member of the 200 medley relay unit at the ACC Championships along with Brian Woodbury, Ricky Lehner and Youssef Hammoud that turned in a time of 1:27.51, good for sixth-place on Tech’s all-time top-10 list. He has the third best time in Tech history in the 200 fly with a time of 1:44.26 and the sixth best time overall in the 100 fly at 47.42.
The Yellow Jackets will be in action this weekend, Sept. 23-24, as they host a White vs. Gold Intrasquad meet as a final tune-up before opening the 2016-17 season versus Georgia Southern on Friday, Sept. 30, at 4 p.m. in McAuley Aquatic Center.
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