Feb. 16, 2012
CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – Two more school records fell and the Yellow Jackets remain in the hunt after the second night of action at the 2012 ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship in Christiansburg, Va.
Jordan Evans broke the school record with her 12th-place finish in the 200 IM, while the Jackets’ 200 free relay added 28 points to the cause and established a new school record with the sixth-place finish. Both were NCAA “B” cut times,
With 105.5 points, Georgia Tech sits seventh in the team standings, but is just 25 points back of fourth place at the midway point of the Championship.
“I like our position and we had another very good night,” said head coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “I’m looking forward to us coming back tomorrow morning and setting the tone and putting us in more scoring positions.”
Evans was clocked in 2:01.09, shaving nearly a second off her preliminary time, and breaking the Tech record of 2:01.82 set by Brittany Gobat in 2009.
The 200 free relay of Alexis Weber, Keren Siebner, Kate Riley and Jessie Mason put down a time of 1:31.78, breaking the school record of 1:32.51 that this same relay set earlier this season at the GT Invitational.
The Championship’s diving competition for both the men and women began Thursday, and Helen Alvey and Ashley Hardy finished ninth and tenth on the 1-meter, while Brandon Makinson collected a 12th-place finish on the 3-meter. The trio all scored points for the Jackets.
“Helen and Ashley had a great day today,” said diving coach John Ames. “The competition is the strongest it had ever been for the women. I knew that they would to hit all of their dives to make it to the A-final, and they came very close to accomplishing that. A ninth and 10th place bring some much needed points for the team.”
“The boys had a rough start today,” said Ames. “Brandon was able to pull it together in the second half of his list and score some points. It was another great field of divers, and you really have to be sharp on every dive to advance to the A-final.”
Virginia continues to lead the women’s championship with 311 points, and is followed by North Carolina (197), Florida State (166), Miami (130) and Virginia Tech (130) to round out the top five.
Action resumes Friday at 11 a.m. with preliminary action, followed at 7 p.m. with the finals. Live video of Friday night’s action can be found on the ACC’s Championship Central.
