Jan. 28, 2012
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech swimming and diving team brought its 2012 regular season to a close Saturday at the GT Aquatic Center with a pair of wins over Emory University. The men picked up a 177-118 win, while the women picked up a 156-143 victory.
“We swam well today, and I’m happy about that. But Emory came to play and we knew they would,” said head coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “They are not Division III national champions for nothing. It was a great meet and an exciting finish on the women’s side. Now we can devote 100 percent of our focus to the championship portion of our schedule, starting with the ACC’s next month.”
It was Senior Day at Georgia Tech and the Yellow Jackets honored their 11 seniors in a pre-meet ceremony who swam for the final time at the Aquatic Center — Helen Alvey (Marietta, Ga.), Sarah Broadley (Windermere, Fla.), Kristen Dornstauder (Newark, Del.), Jordan Evans (Hoschton, Ga,), Heidi Hatteberg (Louisville, Ky.), John Hermes (Colonial Heights, Va.), Jessie Mason (Suwanee, Ga.), Nigel Plummer (Stone Mountain, Ga.), Max Randolph (Atlanta, Ga.), Brian Robbins (Sandy Springs, Ga.) and Keren Siebner (Herzlia, Israel).
“Senior Day is always an emotional time for our coaching staff,” said Hart. “These 11 have made a tremendous commitment to our program over the last number of years and have really helped set the foundation for something great here at Georgia Tech. I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done both in the pool and out of the pool. They will be missed greatly.”
Evans played a key role for the Jackets, winning a pair of events on the afternoon. She got the meet started by teaming with Hatteberg, Ariana Berg and Kate Riley to take the 200 medley relay (1:45.55). Then late in the meet — after Emory had claimed a one-point lead at 113-112 — Jordan led a 1-2-3 finish for GT in the 100 fly and the women would not trail again. She put down a winning time of 56.17, followed by Siebner (56.59) and Kate Brandus (58.12).
Hatteberg picked up the win in the 200 free (1:51.88), Catherine Richards sets her fastest time of the season in winning the 100 breast (1:06.06) and Brandus claimed gold in the 200 fly (2:07.48).
Alexis Weber had a strong afternoon for the Jackets, winning three events to aid the cause. She put down a winning time of 23.96 in the 50 free, 51.97 in the 100 free and swam on the winning 200 free relay (1:34.76) with Broadley, Siebner and Riley that clinched the women’s team victory.
Ashley Hardy won the women’s 1-meter diving with 314.03 points, followed by Alvey (291.53), while Alvey claimed victory on the 3-meter board (302.10), followed by Hardy (272.33).
The men controlled their meet from the start, led by three victories from Nico van Duijn and pair of individual wins from Elliott Brockelbank.
Van Duijn helped get the Jackets rolling as he, Nick Colletti, Max Randolph and Nigel Plummer teamed for a win in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:31.63. He also put down a winning time of 1:51.28 to take the 200 fly, and he and Andrew Kosic went 1-2 in the 100 fly (49.44 and 49.80).
Brockelbank turned in one of the most exciting races of the day, surging to wall in the 200 free (1:41.77) and edging Emory’s Jake Stephens by a tenth of a second. He also claimed victory in the 500 free with his winning time of 4:41.86.
Diver Brandon Makinson won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events for Georgia Tech, scoring 419.33 points in the 3-meter and 388.50 points in the 1-meter event.
Also for the men, Zach Tillman took the 1,000 free in 9:43.98, the Jackets went 1-2 in the 100 breast with Randolph (57.31) and Eric Chiu (57.33), Ben Sheppard pulled out a dramatic win in the 50 free with his time of 21.16, winning it by 1/100th of a second over Emory’s Ryan Bass.
Kosic (44.96) and Andrew Chetcuti (46.79) went 1-2 in the 100 free and Anton Lagerqvist won the 200 breast in a time of 2:04.94. Chiu, Kosic, Chetcuti and Shepperd finished things off with a victory in the 200 free relay, clocking a winning time of 1:23.06.
Georgia Tech now sets its sights on the ACC Championships at Virginia Tech in February. The women’s championship is set for Feb. 15-18, with the men to follow the next weekend.
