Swimmers took down more NCAA A and B cuts in the last prelims session of the UGA Fall Invite, with the Bulldogs taking a majority of the top spots going into finals. Virginia and Cal also positioned themselves for some serious points in tonight’s session.
Kicking off the day’s events was Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew‘s NCAA A-worthy swim in the 200 Back (1:51.03), just ahead of Cal’s Missy Franklin (1:51.79). Following up for third was Georgia’s Kylie Stewart in a B cut of 1:53.01. The next twelve swimmers who finished after Stewart also swam under the NCAA B standard, including a fourth place Golden Bear Elizabeth Pelton (1:53.36) and her fifth place teammate Melanie Klaren (1:53.99).
Cal’s Ryan Murphy took top seed in the men’s 200 Back, swimming under the NCAA B cut with a 1:41.57. Auburn Tiger Joe Patching claimed second (1:41.94) and Virginia’s Austin Quinn touched in third in 1:42.88. The top 14 swimmers going into finals for the event all took home NCAA B cuts.
Bulldog Madeline Locus edged close to the NCAA A cut with a first-place finish of 48.16 ahead of Cal’s Farida Osman (48.56). Third was Auburn’s Allyx Purcell  in 48.69. All sixteen girls swam an NCAA B cut to make it into tonight’s finals.
Georgia’ s Michael Trice kept the ball rolling for the Bulldogs, touching first in the men’s 100 Free with a 43.01. He finished ahead of a 2-3 effort by Cal teammates Tyler Messerschmidt (43.33) and Seth Stubblefield (43.43), separated by just one tenth of a second. Auburn teammates Jacob Molacek (43.76) and Kyle Darmody (43.79) finished just three one-hundredths of a second apart for fourth and fifth place.
Virginia’s Laura Simon took the top spot in the Women’s 200 Breast (2:08.39) ahead of Georgia’s Annie Zhu (2:10.17). Cal’s Urzainqu Garcia followed up for third with a 2:11.09. All eight top finishers going into the finals session took home NCAA B cuts, as well as the top three finishers in the consolation heat.
Georgia’s Nicolas Fink (1:54.62) edged out Virginia’s Yannick Kaeser (1:54.88) for first in the Men’s 200 Breast. Auburn’s Michael Duderstadt was third in 1:56.19. All three swimmers achieved the B cut standard, as well as the four next-fastest finishers.
Bulldog Hali Flickinger swam within four tenths of the NCAA A cut in the 200 Fly for first place ahead of teammate Lauren Harrington (1:55.90). Two one-hundredth of a second behind for third was Cal’s Noemie Thomas in 1:55.92.
Georgia completed a 1-3-4 placing in the men’s event, with Chase Kalisz winning prelims in 1:43.28. Florida State’s Connor Knight touched second in 1:43.43 ahead of a 3-4 finish by Georgia teammates Pace Clark (1:44.62) and Mick Litherland (1:44.88).
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Live results here
http://www.georgiadogs.com/livestats/c-swim/14gainv/
Cal women looking solid. Pelton and Franklin 1-2 in 200 back, 1:49 low. Osman with a 47.9 100. Garcia with a PB in the 200 breast in low 2:09 — finally starting to adjust, hopefully?
If with a world finalist in 1.01 and 2.09 you look satisfied then you are not very picky (new English word learned).
Happy to see Missy back in 1.49 low. But sad to see her beaten.
the Georgia men might just beat the Cal men.
I don’t think the cal men’s team rested as much probably.
Cause Cal somehow is never rested when they swim below expectations, are they…
Both Cal and Georgia consider this to be nothing more than a chance to get NCAA cuts. Neither program does moral victories and both programs are focused on the real accomplishments in the season: winning conference and winning NCAAs.
haha yeah I don’t think winning was the goal of the meet.
Last year, Cal lost to Michigan at the mid-season invite.
Considering that Chase has been well off his personal bests, I’d wager to say that Georgia didn’t exactly go heavy on resting either. Only NCAA’s will truly tell.
Chase wasn’t as good as he was last year at this time, but one person isn’t a good indicator….Overall, both UGA and Cal swam well