Athens Bulldogs Grand Slam
- May 16-18, 2025
- Gabrielsen Aquatic Center, Athens, Georgia
- Long Course Meters (50 meters), Prelims/Finals
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Results Available on Meet Mobile “2025 Bulldog Grand Slam”
The fastest man in the world this year across both the 200-yard and 200-meter (long course) butterfly, Luca Urlando, opted not to contest the event this morning in his home pool. The Georgia Bulldog reset the NCAA record back in March and, a week later, lowered his own Pro Swim Series record, becoming the 4th fastest performer of all time. Urlando was the top seed on the Psych sheets but appears as DFS on the results page.
Instead, SEC rival Mason Laur of Florida will be the top seed in tonight’s final. Laur, who placed 30th at NCAA in this event, was the only swimmer this morning to dip under the 2:00 minute barrier as he recorded a mark of 1:58.58. Joining him in the final are Drew Hitchcock (2:02.08), Tommy Hagar (2:02.88), and Baylor Stanton (2:03.66). The top three all added over two seconds to their seed time, so one could see more dip under two minutes. Stanton, a Cal commit and SwimSwam’s #1 commit in the class of 2026 is more of a backstroker, being the 15-16 NAG record holder in the 200 back, was just .16 off his PB this morning.
Urlando wasn’t the only UGA star on the psych sheets, and Tomas Koski made his presence known early in the session. Koski, who just tied his Finnish national record in the 200 free at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim Series, going 1:46.43, will be on the hunt for another record tonight, this time in the 100 free.
Koski entered as the #3 seed with an entry time of 49.98, behind teammate Ruard Van Renen‘s 49.34 and Tim Korstanje‘s (BAMA) 49.67, but the Finn will take lane 4 tonight as he touched the wall first. The only swimmer under 50.00, Koski stopped the clock in 49.61, not only a .37 drop from seed but also .02 off his personal best of 49.59, which was set this time last year. Koski will have more on his mind than just a PB tonight, as the national record of 49.44 set by Ari-Pekka Liukkonen back in 2016 is less than .2 away.
Koski took on double duty this morning, as he also swam the 400 free at the end of the session. Whereas Koski displaced Van Renen and Korstanje as the top seed in the 100, Korstanje’s teammate got some revenge as Charlie Hawke beat out Koski for the middle lane tonight. The pair, Koski and Hawke, have some history as not only are the pair SEC-rivals, but they finished 5th and 6th, respectively, at NCAAs in the 500 free, with less than half a second separating the pair. Koski has the better PB of the two, having recently set a new best of 3:50.22, but Hawke was the only swimmer this morning to break 4:00, clocking in at 3:59.29 to Koski’s 4:00.71.
Florida’s Mabel Zavaros, a Canadian National teammer, is the top seed in the 200 fly. Zavaros like Laur was well off her seed of 2:09.79 swimming 2:14.88 this morning, finishing aged of SEC rivals Ieva Maluka (2:16.81) and Victoria Raymond (2:18.27). Zavaros finished 2nd last year at the Canadian Olympic Trials in this event, but was outside of the qualification standards, so will be looking to improve at the upcoming Canadian World Trials.
Top Seeds for Tonight
- W 100 Free: Cadence Vincent (BAMA) – 55.24
- M 100 Free: Tomas Koski (ABSC) – 49.61
- W 200 Fly: Mabel Zavaros (FLOR) – 2:14.88
- M 200 Fly: Mason Laur (FLOR) – 1:58.58
- W 100 Breast: Charlotte Headland (ABSC) – 1:11.39
- M 100 Breast: Noah Saylor (SA) – 1:04.14
- W 400 Free: Marie Landreneau (COLA) – 4:16.73
- M 400 Free: Charlie Hawke (BAMA) – 3:59.29
Oh 😐