THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech swimming and diving team closed out the 2026 ACC Championships with 15 top-10 program records and five finals appearances on Saturday.
Tech had 22 swimmers on the final day of competition looking to secure one last finals spot in the evening session. In the six prelim sessions, the team was able to lock down five athletes in four event finals.
Phoebe Wright opened the day in her most dominant event, the 200 backstroke. She hit the wall at 1:55.03, locking down her first ACC finals of the championships and notching back-to-back finals appearances in the event after her bonus final last season. Her time was the ninth-fastest for the program.
The women kept the momentum rolling as Jillian Ferrari swam far past any standard she set prior, smashing her 100 free record by 0.76 seconds to finish at 48.71. She secured her second finals appearance of the week and the fastest time for any Yellow Jacket this season.
Ricky Balduccini followed suit with a 42.52 in the men’s 100 free to secure his C-finals spot and go into a tie for the fifth-quickest Tech time. Freshman Tobin Uhl stepped up in the morning session, swimming just under the 1:56 mark for his personal best time to record his first-ever ACC finals spot. Joao Caballero notched the 24th and final spot at 1:56.17 for his eighth career finals berth.
The afternoon held the 1650 free session with eight heats of swimming. Lukas Vetkoetter finished his mile swim at 15:01.31, his best time of the season and his second quickest time. He claimed 10th overall and now holds three top-10 program records in the longest event on the docket.
Wright broke past the 1:55-minute mark in the 200 back finals and finished 24th overall at 1:54.73. She all but owns the top-10 record book for the event, holding all of the top-nine records. Ferrari roared to another incredible finish at 48.72, 0.01 off her new personal best set in the morning to now hold the third and fourth program times.
The men’s 100 free saw Balduccini improve on his time at 42.43 for the third quickest program mark. Uhl and Caballero held the outside lanes of the 200 breast C-finals and finished 19th and 21st overall, respectively. Uhl recorded his first career top-five program time at 1:54.83 with Caballero improving to 1:55.37.
The championships concluded with the 400 free relay as the women’s crew matched the existing program best time at 3:15.36. Nina Stanisavljević and Ferrari were both on last year’s record time and now hold two program record times for the same event.
Stanisavljević’s leadoff 100 free leg was equal to Ferrari’s 100 free finals time earlier in the session, both now holding the fourth-fastest mark. The men’s relay team finished with the third-fastest program time at 2:50.63.
Georgia Tech will await the rosters for the 2026 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships being held at its home pool the McAuley Aquatic Center. The women’s championship will be held from March 18-21 with the men’s championships following the next week from March 25-28. Tickets for both championships are available here.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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