Feb. 24, 2011
ATLANTA – After two days of competition at the ACC Championships, the Georgia Tech men’s swimming and diving team sits in seventh place with 113 points. The meet, held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, is currently led by Virginia who has 280 total points.
“This morning, we saw a lot of season and personal bests,” said Head Coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “Those fast races set us up to earn some points tonight. The way we are racing, I am looking forward to see what tomorrow brings.”
Senior Sully Lynch set a career best, and netted an NCAA `B’ qualifying time of 19.76 in the prelims of the 50-Free, earning a sixth place finish in the finals of the event with a time of 19.86, in a championship heat decided by just four-tenths of a second.
“I am proud of Sully’s under-20 time in the 50-Free,” continued Hart. “Our guys put it all on the line this morning and had the best times of their careers.”
The Jackets had four finalists in the 50-Free. Garrett Robberson earned a spot in the consolation final with his prelim time of 20.24, netting a season best time of 20.11 seconds for a 10th place finish in the finals. Eric Chiu and Nigel Plummer, who earned a spot in the C-Final went 1-2 in the heat with times of 20.22 and 20.31 seconds respectively.
In the 200-IM, freshman Anton Lagerqvist earned a spot in the consolation final with his 10th place, 1:48.24 prelim time, the fourth fastest in school history. Lagerqvist notched a time of 1:49.21 in the finals to finish 14th overall. Max Randolph, the other Jacket to earn a spot in the finals, finished 24th overall with a time of 1:53.48 after setting a season best, and career best time of 1:50.15 in the prelims.
In the 500-Free, the Jackets had three swimmers earn a spot in the finals. Zach Tillman was among the scorers, netting a 16th place finish in a season best time of 4:28.55. Andreas Nilsson, moved his way up to 22nd place, finishing in 4:31.21 while Kevin Morgan took 24th in 4:32.30 to round out the finalists.
Tech finished the night with a seventh place showing in the 200-Free Relay in a time of 1:19.82. The foursome of Plummer, Lynch, Chiu and Robberson combined for the second best time in school history.
The Jackets will return to action on Friday morning with the prelims for the 400-IM, 100-Fly, 200-Free, 100-Breast and 100-Back.
