ATLANTA (January 6) – The Georgia Tech men’s swimming and diving team won every swimming event but one en route to a 187-93 victory over UNC Wilmington in a meet held at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla. All events in the meet were contested in long course meters.
With the win, the Yellow Jackets (8-2) guaranteed themselves the program’s first winning dual-meet season since a 7-6 mark during the 1992 campaign.
The Jackets set the tone for the meet in the first event, as they took the first three places in the 400-meter medley relay. The team of Scott Lenyk (Suwanee, Ga.), Tomonori Tsuji (Osaka, Japan), Brady Skaggs (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Josh Hersko (Marietta, Ga.) won in a time of 4:01.54.
Tech was led in the meet by sophomore Shilo Ayalon (Kfar Hanassi, Israel) who was once again the man to beat in the distance events, as he won both the 1,500 and 400-meter freestyle. Ayalon opened the day with a win the 1,500-meter event, as he swam a time of 16:30.20, winning by 26 seconds over Yellow Jacket teammate Eduardo Oliver (Jacksonville, Fla.), who had a time of 16:56.65. In the 400 meters, Ayalon led a Yellow Jacket sweep of the top four spots with his time of 4:10.12. He was followed in the race by junior Leo Salinas (Monterrey, Mexico), who was second in a time of 4:14.88, freshman Ricky Rauch (Houston, Texas) in third at 4:16.16 and Jordan Parker (Snellville, Ga.) in fourth at 4:17.44.
Fellow second-year performer Tsuji swept the breaststroke events, winning both the 100 and 200 meters. Tsuji first won the 100 breast with a time of 1:06.95, outdistancing Tech teammates Robert Foster (Frankfort, Ky.) in second at 1:08.36 and Richard Lau (Houston, Texas) in third place at 1:11.45. In the 200-meter breaststroke, Tsuji led four Jackets at the front of the field winning in a time of 2:24.61. Placing behind Tsuji were Andy VanPelt (Jacksonville, Fla.) in a time of 2:34.70, Parker, who was third at 2:35.71 and Foster in fourth at 2:41.42.
Tech’s third two-event winner was Jorge Oliver (Jacksonville, Fla.), who won both the 100 backstroke (1:00.37) and the 100 freestyle (54.70), as he led Yellow Jacket sweeps of the top three places in each event. The Jackets* other individual winners in the meet included Rauch, who won the 200 free in a time of 1:57.55, Lenyk, who won the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:12.01, and Skaggs, who won the 200 fly with a time of 2:10.94. Juniors David Laitala (Richardson, Texas) and Carl Nylander (Tucker, Ga.) rounded out Tech’s event winners, as they captured the 100 butterfly and 200 IM with times of 58.56 and 2:12.64 respectively.
In the 400 freestyle relay, Tech’s team of Forbes, Eduardo Oliver, Laitala and Herkso won with a time of 3:40.12. The Jackets* rookie diver Paul McCarty (Ypsilanti, Mich.) finished second in both the one-meter (219.90) and three-meter competition (225.35) too lead Tech in the diving events.
The Jackets will return to action next week when they returns to conference action with a dual meet at NC State on Friday, January 12 at 3 p.m.
