ATLANTA (Feb. 1) – Georgia Tech’s men’s swimming and diving team is making its final preparations for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship meet, traveling to Kentucky for its final two regular season meets this weekend (Feb 5-6). The Yellow Jackets (4-5, 0-3 ACC) visit Western Kentucky Friday at 4 p.m., and then take on Louisville Saturday at 2 p.m.
“This is our final weekend of the regular season and the time when we need to start concentrating on swimming fast and preparing for the ACC championships,” said third-year head coach Seth Baron. “We should be able to do that with two very good opponents to end the regular season. Western Kentucky is a veteran group with an excellent sprint program. Louisville is also a very tough team and we will have to be ready to concentrate and focus on each of these opponents.”
Tech has been led by freshman Shilo Ayalon (Kfar Hanassi, Israel), who has captured 13 first places so far this season and set new school records in the 500 (4:31.78), 1,000 (9:23.78) and 1,650 yard (15:57.40) freestyles. Freshmen have posted 10 of the top season times in 14 events Tech has swum this year. Freshman David Hersko (Marietta, Ga.) has registered a 46.99 in the 100 freestyle and 1:40.63 in the 200 freestyle, while freshman Jorge Oliver (Jacksonville, Fla.) has posted a 52.53 in the 100 backstroke and 1:51.55 in the 200 backstroke. Freshman Ross Dye (Marietta, Ga.) holds the top marks in the 50 freestyle at 21.53 seconds and 100 breaststroke at 57.14 seconds. Freshman Tomonori Tsuji (Osaka, Japan) is the team leader in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:03.93. Sophomore David Laitala (Richardson, Texas) has posted four top times this year, including: 100 butterfly (49.97), 200 butterfly (1:51.92), 200 individual medley (1:52.95) and 400 individually medley (4:04.71). Freshman diver Ben Dannemann (Tucker, Ga.) has qualified for the NCAA zone diving championships with a 292.28 in the 1-meter events, and has a top score of 227.55 in the 3-meter event.
The ACC Championships will be held February 24-26 at Koury Natatorium in Chapel Hill, N.C.
