Nov. 12, 2003
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech swimming and diving team will host Purdue and Florida Atlantic in a tri meet this weekend at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. The meet will get underway at 5 p.m. on Friday and begin at 11 a.m. Saturday morning. The Yellow Jacket men head into this weekend with an overall record of 2-1, while the women stand at 1-2 on the season.
“It appears that this weekend’s meet will be a very close and exciting competition,” said head coach Seth Baron. “All three teams bring some very good athletes to the meet and we should see some very competitive races, as well as scores.
“We compliment each other well in some events and are stronger in others. It should be two days of great competition and hopefully we produce some good individual and team results.”
Freshmen Vesna Stojanovska and Ryan Bishop are off to fast starts for the Yellow Jackets. Stojanovska notched a NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time in the 200 butterfly versus No. 21 Maryland last weekend with a time of 2:02.98. The Skopje, Macedonia, native broke her old school record, set on Oct. 25, in the 200 free with a time of 1:50.39 versus the 17th-ranked Cavaliers last Friday. Against the Terps, Stojanovska set Tech records in the 500 free (4:54.88) and 1000 free (10:15.24).
Bishop has been impressive for the Yellow Jackets in the breaststroke and individual medley events. The Tech rookie notched three wins against No. 9 Virginia and Maryland last weekend. Bishop captured the 200 breast in both meets with times of 2:05.17 (UMD) and 2:07.15 (UVa). The Signal Mountain, Tenn., native picked up a win in the 200 IM against the Terps with a time of 1:53.87 and finished second in the 200 IM (1:54.01), and third in the 200 backstroke (1:55.93), against Virginia.
Sophomore diver Laurissa Prystaj has been dominating the diving events for the Tech women. The Fairport, N.Y., native owns the seventh best performance on the three-meter board in the Atlantic Coast Conference (277.05) and the ninth best tally (254.03) on the one-meter board. Prystaj has won the three-meter competition in every dual meet this season and finished second one time in the one-meter event against Virginia.
Sophomore freestyler Sam Morgan has also contributed to the Jackets’ early success. Morgan ranks in the top 10 in the ACC with times of 4:32.66 (500 free), 9:21.66 (1000 free) and 15:44.89 (1650 free). The Gainesville, Ga., native won the 500 free events against the ninth-ranked Cavaliers and Maryland last weekend.
The Georgia Tech relays have also been good for the Yellow Jackets. On the men’s side, Tech’s 800 free relay time of 6:57.07 ranks third in the ACC and 11th nationally. The women’s 800 free relay time of 7:42.39 puts them third in the league and 12th in the country.
The Rambling Wreck will host the nationally-ranked Georgia Bulldogs Friday, Nov. 21, in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. The dual meet is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
