Dec. 6, 2003
ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams stand fourth at the Georgia Invitational after two of three days of competition in the Gabrielsen Natatorium. The Tech men have scored 370 points, while the women tallied 272 points through two days of competition. No. 9 Minnesota continues to lead the men’s side with 813 points, while the second-ranked Georgia Bulldogs lead the women’s draw with 1010.50 points.
Freshman Vesna Stojanovska (Skopje, Macedonia) posted the highest finish of the day for the Yellow Jackets with a NCAA ‘B’ cut mark of 2:01.70 in the 200-meter freestyle. Junior Matt Figh (Montgomery, Ala.) and sophomore Jason Howard (Snellville, Ga.) swam season-best times of 1:40.47 and 1:41.19 in the preliminaries of the 200-yard free. Figh finished seventh (1:52.21) in the 200-meter free finals, while Howard (1:54.91) finished one spot behind him at eighth.
Leading the divers for the Jackets was senior Paul McCarty (Ypsilanti, Mich.). McCarty tallied 278.35 points on the one-meter springboard to finish sixth in the event. Freshman Tony Burkhardt (Phoenix, Ariz.) finished 11th in the prelims of the event with a score of 246.50.
Freshman Ryan Bishop (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) and sophomore Sam Morgan (Gainesville, Ga.) competed in the finals of the 400-meter individual medley for the Jackets. Bishop ended the race in sixth place with a time of 4:26.10, while Morgan finished 12th with a time of 4:31.51. Morgan also posted a season-best time of 4:06.52 in the prelims of the 400-yard IM.
Swimming in the finals of the 100-meter backstroke for the Yellow Jackets were juniors Anna Saum (Toledo, Ohio), Jeremy Raines (Americus, Ga.) and sophomore Ashley Kracke (Vestavia Hills, Ala.). Saum and Morgan both finished eighth with times of 1:05.72 and 57.98, respectively. Kracke finished in 14th place with a time of 1:05.70.
Representing Tech in the finals of the 100-meter breaststroke was a pair of freshmen in Alison Walker (Marietta, Ga.) and Alex Williams (Indianapolis, Ind.). Walker tallied a season-best time of 1:04.97 in the prelims of the 100-yard breast and finished eighth in the finals of the 100-meter breast. Williams also posted a season-best time of 58.49 in the prelims of the 100-yard breast and placed 12th in the finals of the 100-meter breast.
Rounding out the scorers for the Yellow Jackets were sophomores Teemu Kettunen (Jarvenpaa, Finland) and Elizabeth Foster (Frankfort, Ky.). Kettunen finished in 11th place in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 56.23, while Foster finished 13th with a time of 1:03.55.
The Tech 800-meter freestyle relay teams also scored for the Jackets. The men’s relay team of Morgan, Howard, Itai Eden (Qiryat-Ono, Israel) and Figh swam a time of 7:36.89 to end the race in fourth place. The women’s relay team of Stojanovska, Michelle Maguire (Conway, Ark.), Moeko Wallis (Columbus, Ga.) and Dana West (Brookeville, Md.) finished in fifth place with a time of 8:24.90.
The Georgia Invitational will conclude tomorrow at the Natatorium. The prelims will begin at 9 a.m. and will be on the short yards course and the finals will follow on the short meters course. The swim meet can be followed via live stats at Georgia Invitational
