Feb. 21, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Georgia Tech women’s swimming and diving teams finished in a ninth-place tie at the 2009 ACC Championships which concluded Saturday night on the campus of the University of Maryland. Overall, the Yellow Jackets set 10 school records on the weekend. In addition, over 40 swims were good for spots among the all-time Georgia Tech top 10.
“This was a very, very fast meet and I am proud of how the team stepped up,” swimming head coach Stu Wilson said. “The ladies broke records that they had already broken this season which shows a lot for how they continue to get better and better each week. They didn’t just break some of these records either; a few were demolished by three or four seconds. They did a great job and took their performance to another level.
The final diving event of the championships was the platform event. For the men, David Springfels secured a 13th-place finish as he tallied 231.65 points. On the women’s side, Hannah Krimm finished 21st with 174.80 points. Michele Bertolino also accumulated 150.75 points. Krimm finished the weekend with a pair of fifth-place finishes as well in the three- and one-meter events and all Tech divers contributed significantly to the team’s total score.
“I was really proud of the women divers this weekend,” diving coach John Ames said. “Hannah [Krimm] came away from the meet as our only athlete to qualify for two finals and was the highest individual point scorer. Michele Bertolino scored in two events as well and was one of four top individuals as well.
“On the men’s side, David Springfels scored in the platform event today. This was the second event he scored in this meet. David has really improved a lot as a walk-on freshman. I couldn’t be happier with the way he handled himself against the best competition he’s ever faced.”
In the 200-back, Ryann Kopacka paced the Yellow Jackets with a 16th-place finish in prelims as she touched the wall in 1:59.97. Both Katie Bond (2:00.20) and Heidi Hatteberg (2:00.86) posted career-best times to earn a spot in the bonus consolation. In the finals, Kopacka broke her own school record set earlier this year as she finished in 1:58.48. That was good for 12th place overall. Hatteberg improved her career-high time by a second as she finished 18th in a time of 1:59.38.Bond also improved her career-high time to 2:00.06 and a 21st-place finish.
The 100-free saw Agatha Kwasnik lead the Yellow Jackets as she placed 17th in a time of 50.23. Joining Kwasnik in the consolation final will be Keren Siebner. Siebner finished 22nd with a mark of 50.71, a new career-high. Also setting career-highs in the 100-free during prelims for Georgia Tech were Sarah Broadley (50.99), Jessie Mason (51.29) and Katharine Locker (52.09). Siebner recorded a 17th-place finish with a time of 50.27. Kwasnik came in 20th place with a mark of 50.58.
In the 200-breast, Brittany Gobat qualified for the finals as she surpassed the previous school record by four seconds. Gobat finished in a NCAA B-cut time of 2:14.50, good for eighth place. It topped the previous school record which had stood since 2003. Lisa Pucci placed 21st with a career-high time of 2:18.87, while Hen Pauker placed 26th in 2:23.36. Gobat ended up with an eight-place finish with a time of 2:15.23 in the finals race. Pucci, meanwhile, was 22nd with a time of 2:19.65.
The 200-fly saw Taylor Flynn register a 10th-place finish in a time of 2:00.63. That was a new career-high for her, but she shattered that and the school record by finishing ninth in finals with a time of 1:59.16. Christine Chuang was 19th with a time of 2:02.42, while Erin O’Donnell set a new career-high with a time of 2:05.38. Jing Li also registered a solid swim with a mark of 2:05.75. Chuang recorded a 17th-place finish with a time of 2:01.24. That time for Chuang was a new career-high.
In the 1,650-free, Jing Li finished 21srt with a time of 17:18.29.
The meet closed out with a success as the 400-free relay team set a school record by three seconds, the team of Kwasnik, Siebner, Mason and Broadley finished sixth with a NCAA B-cut time of 3:20.64.
The ACC men’s championships will be next weekend, also in College Park, Md. They start Wednesday, Feb. 25 and ACC Select will once again provide coverage of the evening’s finals races. Live stats will also be available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
