2018 Georgia Fall Invitational: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2018 GEORGIA FALL INVITATIONAL

• November 29 – December 1, 2018
• Athens, Georgia
• Ramsey Center, University of Georgia
• SCY (25y)
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Live Stream (Thursday & Friday Finals)

The first finals session from Athens will feature the men’s and women’s 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free, along with the 200 free relays to start things off and the 400 medleys to close things out.

In this morning’s preliminaries, Cal’s Abbey Weitzeil swam (what was) the fastest time in the country and hit an NCAA ‘A’ qualifying time of 21.62 in the women’s 50 freestyle, and her male teammate Andrew Seliskar also posted the top time in the nation in the 500 free. Seliskar clocked in at 4:13.02 to surpass Felix Auboeck (4:13.06) for the #1 time in the NCAA, but he swam the race as exhibition so won’t go head-to-head with Auboeck tonight.

Weitzeil’s swim was overtaken by Erika Brown at the Tennessee Invite, as she checked in with a nation-leading 21.52.

Michigan’s Gus Borges also went a time that was the fastest in the nation in the men’s 50 free, going a PB of 19.11, but that time was overtaken later in the morning by Tate Jackson (19.03) at the Texas Invite.

For a full recap of this morning’s prelims click here.

Women’s 200 Free Relay Timed Final

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:28.61

1. California, 1:26.94
2. Michigan, 1:27.61
3. Virginia, 1:29.03

A sizzling 21.05 anchor from Abbey Weitzeil gave the Cal women the win in the 200 free relay over Michigan, as she dove into the water trailing by three-tenths but blew by Wolverine anchor Miranda Tucker to seal the victory.

The team of Maddie Murphy (22.55), Katie McLaughlin (21.62), Amy Bilquist (21.72) and Weitzeil combined for a final time of 1:26.94, putting them well under the NCAA ‘A’ time of 1:28.61 and also bettering NC State’s nation-leading 1:27.64 from the IU Invite.

The Wolverines also finished inside the ‘A’ time by a full second in 1:27.61, with a strong showing from Siobhan Haughey (22.07), Catie DeLoof (21.74), Maggie MacNeil (21.79) and Tucker (22.01). They move into 2nd in the country behind only Cal.

Virginia (1:29.03) edged out Georgia (1:29.41) for 3rd, with their fastest split coming on the lead-off from Morgan Hill (22.05). The Bulldogs had one sub-22 leg from Veronica Burchill (21.88) swimming 2nd.

Both lead-off swims for Haughey and Hill were also notably lifetime bests.

Men’s 200 Free Relay Timed Final

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:17.41

1. California, 1:15.86
2. Michigan, 1:18.07
3. California ‘B’, 1:19.09

Just like the women, the Cal men overtook NC State for top spot in the country with a blistering 1:15.86 showing in the 200 free relay, over a second and a half under the ‘A’ cut of 1:17.41.

Paweł Sendyk led them off in 19.54, slightly trailing Michigan’s Gus Borges (19.45), and then Ryan Hoffer (18.76), Michael Jensen (18.71) and Andrew Seliskar (18.85) all dropped sub-19 legs to easily bring them to victory by over two seconds.

Borges was joined by teammates James Jones (19.28), Miles Smachlo (19.39) and Alex King (19.95), as they placed 2nd in 1:18.07, and the Cal ‘B’ team (1:19.09) edged out Virginia (1:19.11) and Georgia (1:19.24) for 3rd.

Javier Acevedo, who is swimming his first meet since breaking his foot early in the year, led off the Bulldogs in 19.74, which is less than a tenth off his lifetime best of 19.65.

Women’s 500 Free Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 4:36.30

1. Courtney Harnish, UGA, 4:36.06
2. Rose Bi, MICH, 4:37.24
3. Sierra Schmidt, MICH, 4:38.91

UGA sophomore Courtney Harnish caught early leader Rose Bi of Michigan with 100 yards to go and then pulled away with a blazing final two 50s of 27.00 and 26.87 to win in a final time of 4:36.06. That puts her inside the NCAA ‘A’ cut of 4:36.30, the first swimmer to do so in the event so far this season, and puts her less than four-tenths off her lifetime best of 4:35.69, done at this meet last year.

Bi was just over a second back for 2nd place in 4:37.24, which ranks her 3rd in the country behind Harnish and Minnesota’s Mackenzie Padington (4:37.01). However, she’s typically been faster at this time of year, with the two fastest swims of her career (4:34.6, 4:35.0) coming at this meet in 2016 and 2017.

Michigan’s Sierra Schmidt (4:38.91) was less than a second off her PB for 3rd, and Virginia’s Paige Madden improved her lifetime best of 4:39.77 down to 4:39.19 for 4th.

Cal freshman Cassidy Bayer swam a lifetime best out of the ‘C’ final in 4:48.82, just behind UVA’s Erin Earley (4:47.49), who had her fastest swim since March of 2015.

Men’s 500 Free Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 4:12.22

1. Ricardo Vargas, MICH, 4:11.45
2. Patrick Callan, MICH, 4:12.56
3. Felix Auboeck, MICH, 4:14.45

Michigan’s Ricardo Vargas and Patrick Callan went by teammate Felix Auboeck on the back-half of the men’s 500 free final to post the top-2 times in the nation in 4:11.45 and 4:12.56 respectively, with Vargas’ swim getting him under the ‘A’ cut of 4:12.22 and under Andrew Seliskar‘s 4:13.02 from this morning. That’s his 2nd fastest swim ever, trailing his 4:11.11 from the 2018 Big Tens, while Callan’s swim was well under his previous best of 4:13.78.

Auboeck, who came into the weekend as the fastest swimmer in the nation with his 4:13.06 from the ACC/B1G Challenge, couldn’t hold the pace down the last few lengths and ended up 3rd in 4:14.45. Trenton Julian (4:15.77) and Sean Grieshop (4:16.38) of Cal both had small adds from the morning to take 4th and 5th.

Women’s 200 IM Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:54.31

1. Siobhan Haughey, MICH, 1:55.04
2. Alicia Wilson, CAL, 1:55.77
3. Keaton Blovad, CAL, 1:56.41

Siobhan Haughey of Michigan overtook early leader Keaton Blovad of Cal on the third leg with a 33.69 breast split and then out-split everyone coming home (27.23) to win the women’s 200 IM in a time of 1:55.04, ranking her 5th in the nation (coming into tonight). Her best time of 1:53.48 was done at this meet last year, and she also hit 1:53.5 at both the Big Ten and NCAA Championships last season.

Freshman Alicia Wilson, a Great Britain native, also ran down her Golden Bear teammate Blovad on the breaststroke and then held her at bay on the freestyle to edge her out for 2nd in 1:55.77, improving on her best time from prelims (1:56.84). Blovad was 3rd in 1:56.41 after recording the fastest fly (24.86) and back (28.01) splits in the field, her 2nd fastest swim ever outside of her 1:55.72 from the 2018 Big Pac-12s.

Sarah Darcel made it a 2-3-4 finish for Cal in 1:56.51, putting her just under two-tenths better than she was here last year (1:56.69).

Men’s 200 IM Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:41.34

1. Andrew Seliskar, CAL, 1:40.55
2. Zheng Quah, CAL, 1:44.02
3. Charlie Swanson, MICH, 1:44.13

Cal’s Andrew Seliskar out-split the entire field on back (24.88), breast (29.32) and free (24.51) – and was only .02 slower than teammate Zheng Quah on fly (21.84) – as he blasted the #1 time in the nation in the men’s 200 IM in 1:40.55. That falls just .15 shy of his best time from last season’s NCAAs, and puts him well inside the ‘A’ cut of 1:41.34. Last season at this meet he was nearly two full seconds slower – 1:42.46.

Quah was a distant 2nd in 1:44.02, two-tenths slower than he was in the morning, and Michigan’s Charlie Swanson moved up from 8th at the halfway mark to snag 3rd in 1:44.13.

Javier Acevedo swam another best time in his first meet coming back from injury, taking 5th in 1:44.35.

Women’s 50 Free Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 21.74

1. Abbey Weitzeil, CAL, 21.46
2. Maggie MacNeil, MICH, 21.93
3. Catie DeLoof, MICH, 22.09

Abbey Weitzeil reclaimed her spot atop the NCAA rankings, at least for now, as she overtakes Erika Brown‘s 21.52 from this morning in 21.46 to win the women’s 50 free by half a second. That falls just .02 shy of what she went here last year.

Wolverine freshman Maggie MacNeil broke 22 seconds for the first time to place 2nd in 21.93, and her teammate Catie Deloof also went a personal best time of 22.09 to take 3rd. Deloof had previously been 22.16 at the 2018 B1Gs.

In 4th, Georgia’s Veronica Burchill went .05 better than her best time in 22.16, and Virginia’s Morgan Hill was .03 off of hers for 5th in 22.18.

Men’s 50 Free Finals

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 19.00

1. Pawel Sendyk, CAL, 19.15
2. Gus Borges, MICH, 19.21
3. Michael Jensen, CAL, 19.42

Cal’s Paweł Sendyk took out Michigan’s Gus Borges for the win in the men’s 50 free, taking a tenth off for prelims for a final time of 19.15. Sendyk’s fastest swim ever at this point in the season was a 19.10 from 2016.

Borges, who set a best time in the heats in 19.11, still had his 2nd fastest performance ever for 2nd in 19.21. Michael Jensen (19.42) went slightly better than prelims and Ryan Hoffer (19.50) was slightly slower as they gave the Cal men three of the top-4 spots.

Women’s 400 Medley Relay Timed Final

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:32.20

1. Michigan, 3:28.87
2. California, 3:29.87
3. Michigan ‘B’, 3:34.88

The Michigan women used superior breast and butterfly splits to beat out Cal by a full second in the 400 medley relay, clocking 3:28.87 to crush Louisville’s nation-leading 3:30.55 and get well under the ‘A’ cut of 3:32.20.

Keaton Blovad (52.08) gave Cal a lead off the backstroke over Michigan’s Taylor Garcia (53.47), but then a 58.24 breast leg from Miranda Tucker put the Wolverines into the lead, and Maggie MacNeil (50.13) only extended the advantage on the fly. Siobhan Haughey closed the door with a very solid 47.03 on the anchor.

Cal’s swim still put them 2nd in the nation and under the ‘A’ standard, as Blovad, Ema Rajic (1:00.42), Katie McLaughlin (50.87) and Abbey Weitzeil (46.50) combined for a final time of 3:29.87.

The Michigan ‘B’ squad managed to snag 3rd in 3:34.88, edging out Virginia (3:35.23) and Georgia (3:35.50). All three of those teams had 47-second anchors from Catie Deloof (47.58), Morgan Hill (47.42) and Veronica Burchill (47.67).

Men’s 400 Medley Relay Timed Final

• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 3:06.78

1. California, 3:04.89
2. California ‘B’, 3:05.10
3. Georgia, 3:07.21

The Cal men had their ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams go at it in the 400 medley relay, and there ended up not being much between the two as the ‘A’ squad got it done by just over two-tenths in 3:04.89, just .01 off of NC State’s nation-leading time from the IU Invite. The ‘B’ team went 3:05.10 as both were well under the ‘A’ cut of 3:06.78.

Bryce Mefford (45.78) gave the ‘B’ team the advantage on the lead-off leg over Daniel Carr (46.34), and then Reece Whitley (51.38) and Andrew Seliskar (51.32) had near identical splits on breast. Zheng Quah (44.98) erased most of the ‘A’ squad’s disadvantage on fly, easily out-splitting Paweł Sendyk (45.75), and then Ryan Hoffer (42.19) managed to hold Michael Jensen (42.25) at bay as the ‘A’ team won.

The UGA men placed 3rd in 3:07.21, narrowly missing the ‘A’ cut. Javier Acevedo had a solid lead-off for them in 46.14, and Camden Murphy also hit a notable 44.97 on butterfly. The Michigan ‘A’ team ended up getting DQed for an early take-off from their breaststroker.