THE FLATS – In the first meet of 2019 after the winter hiatus, Georgia Tech swimming was unable to down Auburn on Saturday afternoon at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center.
The Yellow Jacket 20th-ranked men fell 164-94, while the women dropped a 165-91 decision to the No. 17 Tigers.
“Despite the team results, we had some good swims today,” head coach Courtney Shealy Hart said. “We had some off swims as well, but this meet really gave us a good opportunity to see where we were at after a really intense winter training session. Our focus continues to be on the championships season as we work on fine-tuning our performances and getting healthy. I’m proud of how hard our team is working and think it will pay off in the long run come February and March.”
Georgia Tech will now return home for its final two meets of the 2018-19 regular season. Tech will host SEC foe South Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 19 before welcoming Denver to the McAuley Aquatics Center for a two-day meet on Jan. 25-26.
Men’s Highlights
Sophomore Corben Miles scored the lone win of the day for the Yellow Jackets, swimming to a 20.31 in the 50 free to place first. Freshman Darren Lim also scored for Tech, finishing fifth with a 20.88.
Lim then continued his fine day by finishing second in the 100 free, swimming a 45.29 for the mark. Austin Daniel also scored with a fifth-place time of 46.41. Senior Rodrigo Correia then finished second in the 200 free with a 1:39.39. Albert Zhi also finished fifth in the race with a 1:42. 1:42.72.
Then in the 100 back, freshman Kyle Barone fell a little more than a second shy form his season-best effort, finishing second with a time of 49.60. Just two spots behind Barone was Daniel who swam a 52.21. Barone then earned his second second-place finish on the day by swimming a 1:51.49 in the 200 back. He finished just ahead of senior Colt Williamson, who turned in a time of 1:52.04.
Then in the 400 IM, Brennan Day (4:05.61), Tim Slanschek (4:06.25) and Williamson (4:09.07) took spots two through four. Then, after swimming in the US Winter Nationals, Slanschek turned in a second-place finish (1:49.58) in the 200 fly to edge teammate Christian Ferraro, who finished third with a time of 1:49.62.
Ferraro then finished second in the 100 fly with a time of 49.50 before Clay Hering (50.35) and Slanschek (50.70) scored from third and fourth place. Finishing third and fifth, respectively in the 100 breast was Jonathan Yang (56.55) and Joseph Portillo (58.71). Portillo then snagged a third-place finish in the 200 breast with a time of 2:07.35, before Yang finished fifth (2:08.71).
Freshman Cale Russell worked to a scoring time in the 1000 free, swimming a 9:35.88 to finish fourth overall. Brennan Day also scored from sixth-place with a time of 9:48.60. Also garnering a fourth-place finish was Joonas Koski in the 500 free after a 4:39.85 race. Koski finished just ahead of freshman Clark Wakeland, who turned in a 4:41.12 time.
In the relays, the Tech team of Correia, Yang, Ferraro and Miles finished second in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:30.10. In the 400 free relay, Tech’s team of Lim, Ferraro, Daniel and Correia recorded the second-fastest time of the day with a 3:00.14.
Women’s Highlights
Junior Emily Ilgenfritz continued her fine year as she finished second in the 1000 free by swimming a 10:11.31. Not far behind her was freshman Morgan Johnson, who finished fourth with a 10:31.13, and Camille Long, who placed fifth at 10:39.51.
Ilgenfritz then went on to kick hard in the 500 free, finishing second with a time of 5:00.79. She rounded her fine day with a fourth-place finish in the 200 fly, swimming a 2:04.90. Johnson also finished third in the 500 free (5:10.41), before Long (5:11.69) finished fourth to score for Tech.
Also finishing second on the day was senior Iris Wang, who turned in a time of 1:48.79 in the 200 free. Also able to score in the 200 free was Lindsay Wallace, who finished sixth with a time of 1:55.33. Wang then finished third in the 100 free, swimming a time of 50.90, before Sara Gilbert finished sixth with a time of 53.74.
Kristen Hepler then finished second in the 200 breast, swimming a time of 2:20.15 before Nicole Williams (2:23.68) and Julia Shuford (2:26.72) finished third and fourth, respectively. Then in the 100 fly, Chloe Miller turned in a time of 57.37 to finish second, while senior Lila Best (59.74) and Macleary Moran (1:02.10) finished third and fourth, respectively.
Freshman Nicole Williams held her own in the 100 breast, working hard to a third-place time of 1:04.79. Also scoring in the race was Hepler (fourth – 1:06.50) and Catriona MacGregor (fifth – 1:06.67). Hepler would then go on to finish second in the 400 IM with a time of 4:24.49.
The Jackets captured the third through fifth spots in the 200 back as Allie Paschal (third – 2:04.05), Caroline Lee (fourth – 2:04.35) and MacGregor (fifth – 2:06.85) were all able to score for Tech. Then in the 50 free, sophomores Celine Nugent and Paschal finished fifth (24.41) and sixth (24.49), respectively.
Finally in the 100 back, Paschal turned in a time of 56.04 to finish third overall, before Lee finished sixth at 57.53.
In the relays, the Tech 200 medley squad of Paschal, Williams, Miller and Wang finished third with a final time of 1:43.99. To finish the day in the 400 free relays, the Georgia Tech team of Wang, Nugent, Gilbert and Ilgenfritz took first in the race with a time of 3:31.02.
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