ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech men’s swimming and diving team won 10 events en route to a dominating 136-91 road win over Emory on Jan. 27.
The Yellow Jackets (10-3) recorded five NCAA provisional times in the meet sweeping the top spots from the Eagles in a number of events. Tech opened the meet by taking the top two places in the 200 medley relay as the team of David Laitala, Tomonori Tsuji, Josh Hersko and Brendan Forbes won with an NCAA B qualifying time of 1:35.52. The Jackets’ B relay team of James Nozar, Robbie Foster, Richard Lau and Mark Campbell finished second in a time of 1:37.75.
Sophomore Shilo Ayalon, who recorded a pair of event wins, including the 200 and 500-yard freestyle, led Tech’s individuals in the meet. In the 200 free, Ayalon won by just under two seconds with a time of 1:44.87, he outdistanced teammates Mark Campbell and Forbes, who were second and third respectively with their times of 1:46.24 and 1:46.79. In the 500, Ayalon was again dominant winning by nearly eight seconds with his time of 4:39.29.
Junior David Laitala joined Ayalon with a pair of event wins, as he captured both the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke. In the 100 fly, Laitala led a Tech sweep of the top three places with his time of 50.85, which was an NCAA provisional time. He was followed in the race by freshman Itai Eden (52.23) in second and Brendan Forbes (52.72) in third. Laitala’s time of 52.80 in the 100 back, along with Jorge Oliver’s 52.85 gave Tech a pair of NCAA B qualifying times and the top two places in the event.
Eden was victorious in the 200-yard individual medley with his winning time of 1:57.98. Other event winners for Tech included sophomore Leo Salinas, who won the 1,000-yard freestyle with his time of 9:43.61, Mark Campbell won the 100-yard freestyle with his time of 47.68, and sophomore Jorge Oliver, who was the winner of the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.03.
In the diving competition, Tech rookie Paul McCarty won the three-meter competition with a score of 293.80 and recorded a season-best score of 289.50 in the one-meter competition, but his score was in an exhibition effort and did not count towards the Jackets’ team score.
Tech will return to action next weekend and close out its dual-meet season on the road at Western Kentucky on February 3, beginning at 2 p.m.
