Feb. 14, 2017
THE FLATS – Sophomore Iris Wang reset the school record in the 50 free not once, but twice, while junior Kira de Bruyn turned in a pair of top-two program best times in the 200 IM to highlight the Georgia Tech women’s swimming and diving performances on day two of the 2017 ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship meet held at the McAuley Aquatic Center. The 200 free relay team also set a new school record in the evening session.
The Yellow Jackets ended day two in 11th with a total of 141 points.
“I thought we did a good job tonight,” said head coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “We raced hard, it was great to hear everybody cheering and yelling for our teammates. We need to do a better job in the morning to get ourselves in scoring position for the night. So we’ll be aggressive and do that tomorrow morning.”
Day three of the championships will start with the prelims at 10 a.m. and the finals at 6 p.m. The men’s 3-meter diving championships will also take place on Wednesday.
Women’s Highlights
The Yellow Jackets rewrote the record books in the 50 free prelims on Tuesday morning, as four swimmers all set new career best marks in the sprint free event, while Wang set the school record in the prelims and then again in a swim-off.
Wang set a new school record with an NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time of 22.84 to finish in a tie for 24th-place overall in the 50 prelims, while Kaitlin Kitchens also beat the old school record and finished just three one hundredths of a second behind Wang with her time of 22.87 which placed her 28th overall. Kitchens’ time ranks second all-time in school history in the 50 free.
Wang then crushed her new record set in the prelims with a time of 22.69 in a 50 free swim-off to swarm into the finals.
The sophomore went on to place 22nd overall in the finals with another NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time of 22.81.
Junior Morgan Lyons and sophomore Laura Branton also broke into Tech’s all-time top 10 for the 50 free in the morning prelims session with their respective times of 23.23 (6th) and 23.32 (10th). The two finished in 43rd and 44th overall, one spot ahead of fellow Jacket Alex Rieger and her time of 23.44.
Also competing in the 50 free prelims for Tech were Maddie Paschal (23.67), Sara Gilbert (23.84), Maddie Oliver (24.26) and Caroline Lee (24.51).
De Bruyn turned in a new career best time of 2:00.14 in the 200 IM prelims, which is also the second-best all-time score in the 200 IM in Tech history and advanced to the finals in the event.
In the finals, de Bruyn set a new career best mark with her first sub two minute time of 1:59.99 to place 21st overall in the 200 IM. Here time was also an NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time and is the second-best time in Tech history for the 200 IM.
Senior Chiara Ruiu also turned in an NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time in the 200 IM prelims, touching the wall in a time of 2:01.03.
In the 500 free prelims, the Yellow Jackets had a trio of freshmen compete in Emily Ilgenfritz, Sara al Khatib and Tamir Gonen Cohen. Ilgenfritz just missed out on making the finals with a 26th-place finish and a time of 4:52.63. Al Khatib turned in a career best time of 5:00.59 to finish 42nd and place one spot in front of Gonen Cohen and her time of 5:00.82.
In the 1-meter springboard dive, Carly Doi and Andrea Demick placed 34th and 35th overall with scores of 219.65 and 219.20, respectively, while Madison Young with 212.95 and Abbey Yates at 211.50 finished 37th and 39th overall.
The Jackets ended the night with another record, as the team of Wang, Lyons, Branton and Kitchens turned in a time of 1:30.73 for a new program record in the 200 free relay event. The team earned an eighth-place finish in the final event of the night.
Tech Tidbits
* The team of Wang, Lyons, Branton, Kitchens turned in a new school record in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:30.73.
* Sophomore Iris Wang broke her own school record in the 50 free prelims with an NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time of 22.84.
* Wang then crushed her new record from the 50 prelims with an NCAA ‘B’ mark of 22.69 in a 50 free swim-off to send her into the finals. The time is also a new career best mark.
* Junior Kaitlin Kitchens turned in a new career best time of 22.87 in the 50 free prelims. Her mark is an NCAA ‘B’ cut time and ranks second all-time in school history.
* Junior Morgan Lyons turned in a career best time and the sixth-best time in school history in the 50 free prelims with a time of 23.23.
* Sophomore Laura Branton jumped into the top 10 in Tech’s record books with a career best time of 23.32 in the 50 free prelims.
* Junior Kira de Bruyn set a new career best time of 2:00.14 in the 200 IM, which was also the second-best time in school history and an NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time.
* De Bruyn went on to best her prelims mark with a new career best time of 1:59.99 in the 200 IM finals, another NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time.
* Redshirt-senior Chiara Ruiu turned in an NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time of 2:01.03 in the 200 IM.
* Freshman Sara al Khatib turned in a career best mark of 5:00.59 in the 500 free prelims.
* Freshman Maddie Oliver set a new career best time of 24.26 in the 50 free prelims.
Iris Wang has had a hand in breaking all 6️⃣ records for the Jackets after day two of the #ACCWSD pic.twitter.com/UdGUFkAjwv
— Ga Tech Swim & Dive (@GTSwimDive) February 15, 2017
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