The Georgia men and Cal women stand atop the standings, although neither has a comfortable footing, following a flurry of NCAA A cuts, at the Georgia Fall Invitational.
Team scores through day two:
Women:
- Cal: 620
- Georgia: 587
- Virginia: 483
- Auburn: 286
- Penn State: 243
- Florida State: 158
- Virginia Tech: 92
- UCLA: 69
- Harvard: 48
Men:
- Georgia: 611
- Cal: 594
- Auburn: 416
- Virginia: 323
- Penn State: 222.5
- Florida State: 213.5
- Virginia Tech: 112
- Harvard: 18
The meet opened with four women’s teams achieving A cuts in the 200 medley relay. Courtney Bartholomew, Laura Simon, Ellen Williamson and Ellen Thomas combined for a 1:36.07 for the University of Virginia and the second fastest time in the nation. Laura Simon split a 27.31 for the Cavaliers in the breaststroke. The Cavalier relay also broke a school record.
Cal’s team of Rachel Bootsma, Marina Garcia Urzainqui, Noemie Thomas, and Farida Osman followed the Cavaliers in with a 1:36.82. Bootsma was 23.72 for the fastest backstroke split of the evening. Florida State was next with a 1:37.57 from Bianca Spinazzola, Natalie Pierce, Chelsea Britt, and Kaitlyn Dressel.
The last A cut in the relay came from Auburn’s A relay. Jillian Vitarius, Natasha Lloyd, Megan Fonteno, and Allyx Purcell combined for a 1:37.81.
On the men’s side, Cal swam to an A cut with the team of Ryan Murphy, Chuck Katis, Justin Lynch, and Tyler Messerschmidt, combined for a nation leading time the second fastest time in the nation with a 1:24.15. Murphy was 21.26 on the backstroke leg. Messerschmidt anchored with an 18.92.
Auburn was second with a 1:24.45, narrowly edging Georgia’s 1:25.47. Joe Patching, Michael Dunerstadt, Arthur Mendes, and Kyle Darmody made up the Auburn relay. Taylor Dale, Nicolas Fink, Pace Clark, and Michael Trice were the Georgia swimmers. Trice anchored with an 18.92.
Celina Li swam a 4:05.13 in the 400 IM for an NCAA A cut. Hali Flickinger and Amber McDermott were second and third for Georgia and also swam to NCAA A cuts. Flickinger swam a 4:05.16, and she was faster than Li in the last 50 but was unable to run her all the way down. McDermott Swam a 4:05.25.
The Bulldogs also place Annie Zhu (4:08.43), and Emily Cameron (4:08.61) in the top five.
On the men’s side, defending NCAA 400 IM champion Chase Kalisz swam a 3:39.28, the fastest time in the nation this year. Gunnar Bentz and Jay Litherland took second and third with the next two fastest times in the nation at 3:40.57 and 3:41.52.
Cal’s Josh Prenot also scored an A cut with a 3:42.24. Tynan Stewart of Georgia was 3:44.75 for fifth and a B cut time.
No swimmer had an A cut in the women’s 100 yard butterfly, although Chelsea Britt of Florida State and Osman were the closest. Britt missed the cut by .1 seconds with her 51.80. Osman was just off as well with a 51.92.
Lauren Harrington finished third for the Bulldogs in 52.05. Noemie Thomas was fourth for Cal in 52.21, and Ellen Thomas was fifth for Virginia in 52.49.
No swimmer had an A cut in the Men’s 100 fly either. Lynch paced the field for Cal with a 46.22. Cadell Lyons of Florida State touched next with a 46.54. Mendes finished third for Auburn with a 46.88.
Connor Knight was fourth for the Seminoles with a 46.91, followed by Alexander Hancock for Auburn in 47.16.
Missy Franklin, Elizabeth Pelton, and Cierra Runge scored a one two finish in the 200 freestyle for Cal. Franklin beat the field by almost two seconds with a 1:41.23. Pelton was 1:43.13 for the next Cal A cut. Runge was third with a 1:44.12 for a B cut.
Leah Smith was 1:44.53 for the Cavaliers, followed by Camille Cheng in a 1:44.58 for Cal.
Matias Koski was the closest men’s swimmer to an A cut, but was still over a second away with his 1:34.67 for Georgia.
Koski beat the field by almost a second. Long Guiterrez of Cal finished second with a 1:35.50, followed by his teammate, Trent Williams, in 1:36.13.
Alec Cohen and Kevin Litherland rounded out the top five for Georgia with a 1:36.13 and 1:36.82, respectively.
Virginia’s Laura Simon narrowly missed the 100 breaststroke A cut in prelims, going 59.15, and added slightly in finals, touching in 59.41 for the Cavaliers. Natasha Lloyd and Annie Lazor both added time from prelims as well. Lloyd finished in 1:00.66, and Lazor touched in 1:00.83.
Sami Pochowski of Florida State and Garcia Urzainqui of Cal rounded out the top five in 1:01.02 and 1:01.26, respectively.
Chuck Katis of Cal hit an NCAA A cut in the men’s 100 breaststroke with a 52.09, good for the only A cut of the event.
Virginia’s Yannick Kaeser took second with a 52.47, a new school record. Kaeser’s time took down Olympian Ed Moses’ record of 52.60, the oldest record on the Virginia board.
Duderstadt was third with a 52.54 for Auburn. Fink touched fourth for Georgia with a 52.61, and Jason Coombs Florida State rounded out the top five with a 53.50.
After blasting a 50.01 yesterday on the leadoff leg of the 400 medley relay yesterday, Bartholomew swam a 50.39 for the Cavaliers in the individual 100 backstroke. Bootsma of Cal also had an A cut with a 51.20.
Pelton and Franklin tied for third with a 51.85, followed by their teammate, Melanie Klaren, in 51.86, giving the Golden Bears four of the top five spots and shutting Georgia out of the top five.
Ryan Murphy posted the nation’s fastest 100 backstroke time for Cal in the men’s half of the action. Murphy’s 45.55 in the final propels him ahead of Grant Betulius of Iowa, who was 45.56 yesterday on the 400 medley relay.
Nate Savoy of Penn State took second in 46.56, followed by Dale of Georgia in 46.85. Jacob Pebley of Cal and Joe Patching of Auburn were 47.05 and 47.10 to round out the top five.
The Cal women blew out the field in the A final of the 800 freestyle relay. The team of Cierra Runge, Camille Cheng, Franklin, and Pelton took the lead with Runge’s 1:44.23 lead off leg and didn’t look back. Franklin split a 1:42.81 for the fastest split for the Golden Bears. Pelton was 1:43.66. Cheng was 1:45.25.
Hali Flickinger, Jordan Mattern, Madeline Locus, and Brittany MacLean swam the Georgia relay to an A cut as well, although they could not match up with Cal. Led by Mattern’s 1:44.47, Georgia hit a 7:02.69.
Virginia’s A relay also had an A cut time with a 7:08.85. Leah Smith, Hanne Borgersen, Ellen Williamson, and Kaitlyn Jones made up the relay.
On the men’s side, it was the Bulldog relay that took the victory and the only A cut time of the night. Bentz (1:34.73), Kalisz (1:35.28), Cohen (1:35.62), and Koski (1:35.28), combined to swim a 6:20.91.
Cal’s team of Will Hamilton, Trent Williams, Long Gutierrez, and Murphy swam to a 6:24.03. Murphy split a 1:34.98, but the other three were between 1:36.2 and 1:36.5, which Cal will need to improve on.
Georgia’s B relay, made up of the Litherland triplets and Nicolas Fink was third with a 6:26.75.
Full results are available here.
As expected a huge men’s 400 IM. Veteran Kalisz won in a great 3.39.28 but had to push hard against his younger training partners Bentz and Litherland (Jay). The IM training sessions must be very fun at Georgia! Both freshmen crushed their best times in 3.40.57 and 3.41.52. Bentz is much better in long course so it’s cool to see him improve like that in yards. A sign he’s already more powerful. Remember what I said 2 or 3 years ago. He’s a diamond to polish with a long body built for swimming. Clearly a future star in the making. With more power and a few years more of training he will be hard to beat. Of course he still… Read more »
According to the results Ryan Murphy swam a 45.30 in the 400 Medley Relay last night.
Pretty happy with the results on both sides. GO BEARS!