Hawaii Men Go Big on Day 1 at Georgia Last Chance Meet

Bulldog Invitational NCAA Qualifying Meet (Last Chance Meet)

• March 2nd-3rd, 2019
• University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
• Meet Results on Meet Mobile: “Bulldog Invitational NCAA Qualifying Meet”
• Live Results

The University of Hawaii swim team is a long way from home in Athens, Georgia. That didn’t stop them from owning the first day of the University of Georgia Last Chance Meet on Saturday night, though.

Hawaii picked up at least 3 new NCAA qualifying times on the day, starting with Finnish-born junior Olli Kokko in the 100 breaststroke.

In prelims, he improved his season-best time from 52.61 to 52.48, which is probably on the right side of the bubble. Leaving nothing to chance, in finals he dropped that to a 51.86, which is a rock-solid NCAA invite time (and a Hawaii school record, breaking his own mark of 52.61 set last season).

Next up, Kane Fellows locked up his spot in the 200 back at NCAAs. He had a season-best time of 1:41.51, which probably wouldn’t earn an invite. In prelims, he swam 1:41.98, but in finals he knocked out a 1:40.65. His best time last season was just a 1:42.5. His time isn’t as solid as Kokko’s, but is still probably an NCAA invitee.

The icing on the cake came in the 200 medley relay, where the Hawaii men swam a 1:24.51 to slide under the NCAA “A” cut by .05 seconds. They had missed the time by just .01 seconds at their conference championship meet. They don’t have any “B” cuts, so for now, that’s the only relay that they’ll be eligible to swim at NCAAs.

Other Noteworthy Results:

• Kentucky’s Glen Brown swam a 1:44.15 in the 200 IM final. That cuts 2-tenths off his best time coming in, but still probably leaves him short of an invite.
• Georgia swimmer Courtney Harnish swam a 200 fly time trial in 1:54.73. She’s already easily qualified for NCAAs based on her 500 time, but she didn’t have a 200 fly this season to swim the race as one of her 3 events at NCAAs. After racing the mile at SECs instead, where she was just 10th, the Bulldogs may be considering a shift for nationals.
• In a men’s 400 IM time trial, Clayton Forde swam 3:41.14, Andrew Abruzzo swam a 3:42.94, and Aidan Burns swam a 3:43.15. Forde is a lock for NCAAs with that swim, Abruzzo is in pretty good shape as well. Burns is probably on the bubble, but right now looks like he’s on the right side of that bubble.
• South Carolina freshman Hallie Kinsey swam a 1:55.22 in the 200 fly, which is faster than the estimated “Lower Bound” invite and should get her to nationals. Her previous best time was a 1:57.08, done in high school; at SECs she was a 1:57.16.
• The Georgia men hit a “B” cut in the 400 free relay with a 2:52.60. While Georgia doesn’t have any “A” cuts, they’ll probably have 4 individual swimmers invited to the meet, which allows them to then swim any relay in which they have a “B” cut. They didn’t previously have one in this 400 free relay.