AUBURN, Ala. – In day one of the Auburn Invite/First Chance meet, the Yellow Jackets claimed three events wins and set two NCAA B cut times.
In the morning session of the meet, Tech had entries in five events – women’s 500 free, men’s and women’s 200 IM and the men’s and women’s 50 free.
In the 500 free, freshman Ela Ozdemir took first place, swimming a personal best time of 4:52.93. She was joined by Allison Brown, who came in fifth with a time of 5:15.73.
In the women’s 200 IM, Mary Grace Guzzino took third place (2:03.11), while Lily Alderman swam a personal best 2:04.11 (5th) and Sophia Dumont finished seventh (2:08.75). Jack Mezzogori was the lone Yellow Jacket in the men’s 200 IM, coming in third (1:48.17).
Three Yellow Jackets swam in the women’s 50 free: Caroline Porterfield (11th – 23.35), Isabella Klinefelter (13th – 23.43) and Lily Burke (16th – 28.53). Cade Martin (7th – 20.98) and Jack Dunbar (9th – 21.29) closed out the morning session for Tech in the men’s 50 free.
The evening session started with the 400 IM, where Guzzino swam a 4:19.18, good for first place. Anne Deedy came in fourth (4:23.93), while Burke was in fifth (4:24.24) and Alderman was in sixth (4:26.37). In the men’s 400 IM, Henry Gibbs took first place with a time of 3:50.96. Mezzogori also swam in the event, coming in fourth (3:54.50), and joining Sean Santos (4:01.10, 6th).
Sabina Mryzglod (10th, 54.91) and Porterfield (12th, 56.38) both swam in the 100 fly, while Brodie Johnson (3rd, 47.19) and Blake Burnley (7th, 47.63) swam on the men’s side.
Ozdemir (4th, 1:49.75), Ariana Dirkswager (6th, 1:49.87), Isabelle Klinefelter (8th, 1:50.49) and Brown (12th, 2:01.04) represented Tech in the women’s 200 free.
Dumont swam a 1:05.15 in the women’s 100 breast (7th), while Julian Killius clocked a 53:08 in the men’s 100 breast, setting a NCAA B cut time. Additionally, Breno Santana came in 5th (54.08), with Branden Beladi in 10th (54.56).
Sarah Livingston came in fifth in the 100 back (54.98), while the men’s side had four entries: Alex McCormick (3rd, 47.91), Martin (4th, 48.07), Dunbar (7th, 49.19) and Christian Smith (8th, 49.49).
Friday’s time trials saw one NCAA B cut time, as Killius set a personal best in the 200 breast (1:56.81).
Action continues Saturday at 10 a.m. CT.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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