2015 Georgia Tech Invite
- Thursday, November 19 – Saturday, November 21, 2015
- McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- Live Video (individual session links here)
- Live results available on Meet Mobile
- Psych sheets
Thursday Finals Schedule
- 200 yard free relay
- 500 yard free
- 200 yard IM
- 50 yard free
- Women’s 1m Diving
- Men’s 3m Diving
- 400 yard medley relay
The Thursday Finals of the Georgia Tech Invite was a battle between SEC teams Alabama, Arkansas, and South Carolina, pitted against host Georgia Tech and for the women, Florida Gulf Coast. The Arkansas Razorbacks emerged on top for the women and the Bama men lead at the conclusion of day one.
Women’s Meet
Katie Latham from Florida Gulf Coast rocked the 200 yard free relay with a blistering lead off of 22.29. Teammates Kristin Julien, Barbara Caraballo, and Katie Armitage finished out with time of 1:30.61, which was more than enough to put away 2nd and 3rd place SEC squads, Arkansas (1:30.93) and Alabama (1:31.04). The NJCAA standouts from Indian River (1:32.78) slid in 5th behind Nevada-Las Vegas (1:31.53), while the South Carolina Gamecocks (1:33.92) clipped host Georgia Tech by .05. The lone NCAA Division II representative Carson-Newman clocked a NCAA B cut of 1:34.75 to lock down the eight fastest free relays.
Arkansas senior Anna Mayfield held on to her first place seed in the 500 yard free, acing Bama sophomore Mia Nonnenberg’s near 5 second drop from prelims as the pair log 4:42.56 and 4:43.98. Lady Razorback Aiden Lister (4:46.57) prevailed against two FGCU swimmers to earn 3rd, leaving swimmers from Arkansas, Bama, and FGCU to conclude the A-final. The top-four in this event qualified for NCAA DI provisional cuts.
South Carolina freshman Emma Barksdale jumped out of lane 7 to steal the women’s 200 yard IM title from Arkansas’ Chelsea Tatlow (1:59.07) and Bama’s Emma Saunders (1:59.59) in 1:59.04. The next fastest time went above the 2 minute mark at 2:00.43 from Chloe Hannam, another Razorback who bested a swimmer from Tuscaloosa, AL. Nevada-Las Vegas, Arkansas, and FGCU filled in the last three spots of the A-final.
Hungry for more victories, Latham returned to the 50 yard free final, registering a 22.32 over the 22.74 from Nevada-Las Vegas’ Julia Fehervari. Maddie Monroe (22.83), Nina Drolc (22.95), and Natalie Burnett (23.02) dropped in for a sweep for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The women’s 1-meter diving gave the swimmers a break before the last event. Minnesota’s Yu Zhou gets off the springboard with a score of 330.40 and she’s followed by Gamecock Julia Vincent at 321.15 and Lauren Hall of Hawaii at 297.05 for a top-three diving final.
The Crimson Tide walked away from night one at Georgia Tech’s legendary venue with the victory in the 400 yard medley relay. Their 3:35.80 winning relay consisted of Saunders, Bridget Blood, Hannah Musser, and Temarie Tomley, and together they left FGCU (3:37.39) and Arkansas (3:38.33) in their wake.
Men’s Meet
The Ramblin’ Wreck 200 yard free relay (1:20.25) of Noah Harasz, Youssef Hammoud, Edwin Zhao, and Robert Borowicz used their home pool advantage and bested Alabama by .20 and South Carolina by .56. Much like the women, the Rebels from Nevada stomped River’s relay with a monster 19.50 anchor by Forrest Beesley. Carson-Newman (1:22.41) and Florida Atlantic (1:23.05) concluded the men’s top finishes with the rest of the relays being exhibition.
Bama’s Icelandic superstar, Anton Mckee, enjoyed a victory in the 500 yard free (4:17.46) over South Carolina’s Akaram Mahmoud, snuffing out the Egyptian by .07. Ramblin’ Wreck’s Yuval Safra (4:22.71) defended his training ground from two more Gamecocks, another Crimson Tide, teammate Moises Loschi, and Jason Van Der Touw from River (4:27.49).
Christopher Reid earned the Crimson Tide another win with his 1:46.04 in the 200 yard IM and he also thwarted a 1-2-3 sweep from South Carolina. Georgia Tech’s Alex Kimpel (1:49.30) and Brian Woodbury (1:49.47) finished into the wall in time to limit two more South Carolina finalists to 7th and 8th place.
Dillon Virva, a senior from Nevada-Las Vegas, put up a W for his program by robbing the 50 yard free final from Bama’s Luke Kaliszak in 19.78 to 19.87. Hammoud (20.11) and Harasz (20.14) from Georgia Tech fail to break 20 seconds but together they put down a River swimmer, a tie for 6th at 20.40, and Bama youngster Robert Howard who caps the A-final at 20.56.
Switching the focus to the 3-meter board, Matt Bernanrd from the University of Minnesota claimed 1st with a score of 407.15. Amund Gismervik of Hawaii dives for 385.35 and Connor Kuremsky of Stanford posts a 379.65 for third.
Not to be out done by their female counterparts, the Crimson Tide relay of Kaliszak, McKee, Connor Oslin, and Howard sealed the night with a 3:10.59 winning relay over Georgia Tech (3:12.41) and South Carolina (3:12.58). Nevada-Las Vegas and Indian River jumped up to 3:19’s while Carson-Newman (3:24.87) and FAU (3:25.64) scored finishes with several other relays in exhibition.
Women – Team Rankings – Through Event 11
1. Arkansas, University of, Fayet 338 2. Florida Gulf Coast University 263
3. University of Alabama 258 4. South Carolina, University of, 253
5. University of Nevada Las Vegas 151 6. Georgia Institute of Technolog 92
7. Indian River State College 80 8. University of Minnesota 70
9. Carson-Newman University 66 10. Campbell University 63
11. Florida Atlantic University 62 12. Georgia Southern University 57
13. Univ North Carolina Asheville 42 14. Hawaii 37
15. Stanford University 29 16. Auburn University 9
Men – Team Rankings – Through Event 12
1. University of Alabama 328 2. South Carolina, University of, 318
3. Georgia Institute of Technolog 287.5 4. University of Nevada Las Vegas 147.5
5. Indian River State College 146 6. Florida Atlantic University 104
7. Carson-Newman University 83 8. University of Minnesota 81
9. Auburn University 42 10. Stanford University 33
11. Hawaii 27
