Feb. 28, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Ilia Ayzenshtok (200-back), Noah Copeland (100-free) and Gal Nevo (200-breast) each set school records as the Georgia Tech men’s swimming team finished fourth in the ACC Championships that wrapped up Saturday night on the campus of the University of Maryland.
The Yellow Jackets finished fourth for the second straight year with 474.5 points, nearly 100 points more than last season. Virginia won the meet with 832 points, followed by Florida State (640) and North Carolina (504.5). Virginia Tech was a distant fifth behind Georgia Tech, nearly 100 points behind.
“Overall, I am very happy with our performance this year,” head coach Stu Wilson said. “The guys worked extremely hard and it has shown in the results. We didn’t just break records, we shattered some of them and nearly every swimmer set career-highs. This has been a very rewarding week and the guys left everything they had out there.”
The 400-free relay team also set a school record by more than five seconds as they finished third in a NCAA B-cut time of 2:54.72. The team, consisting of Copeland, Nevo, Travis Wagner and Garrett Robberson gave the Jackets 32 points.
In the 200-back, Ilia Ayzenshtok took home fourth place for the Yellow Jackets with a 1:43.57. In prelims, he set a school record with a NCAA B-cut time of 1:43.23. It broke the previous Tech record by two and a half seconds.
Johnny Hagaman was eighth for Tech as he touched the wall in 1:46.41. In prelims, he was two seconds better than that for a career-high and NCAA B-cut 1:44.28. Matt Tang placed 19th (1:48.31), but his time of 1:47.59 in prelims was a career-best. Way Joe Lee was a couple places behind in 21st (1:48.69). He set a career-best of 1:47.82 in prelims.
The 100-free saw Noah Copeland break his own school record with a 43.33, good for third place and a NCAA B-cut. Garrett Robberson finished seventh for the Yellow Jackets with a 43.98. In prelims, he was .07 seconds faster than that for a career-high. Mauricio Sousa 44.73), Travis Wagner (44.72), Mickey Malul (44.96), Jeffrey Phillips (45.16) and Kelsey Duffy (46.70) all set career-highs.
Gal Nevo just missed his third win of this championship as he placed second in the 200-breast with a 1:55.27, .13 seconds behind Virginia’s Ryan Hurley. For Nevo, it was a NCAA B-cut time and Tech record as well. Andy Miller finished ninth for the Yellow Jackets in a career-high time of 1:58.74.
Also setting career-highs for the Jackets in the 200-breast were Sam Bendziewicz (2:02.61), Matt Vaughan (2:02.99), Jeremy Jackson (2:03.66), Johnnie Hermes (2:02.54) and Kevin Skenes (2:06.06).
The final individual event of the 2009 ACC Championships was the 200-fly and Sullivan Lynch led the Yellow Jackets with a seventh-place finish in a time of 1:46.80. In prelims, he swam a career-high 1:46.74. Ralph Long finished 16th in a time of 1:49.11. He was .02 seconds better than that for a career-high 1:49.09.
The men’s swimming team will now look towards the NCAA Championships which will be held March 26-28 in College Station, Texas on the campus of Texas A&M.
