Jakub Ksiazek Breaks Florida St. School Record in 200 Free at GT Invite

2019 GEORGIA TECH INVITE

• November 22nd-24th, 2019
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia (Georgia Tech)
• 25 yards, SCY, Prelims/Finals format
• Live Results

Florida State sophomore Jakub Ksiazek highlighted a big 2nd day of competition at the 2019 Georgia Tech Invite for the Seminoles. He won the 200 free in 1:33.89 that was one of six event wins for FSU on Saturday, and led a 1-2-3-4-5 finish in that particular event.

Ksiazek’s time of 1:33.89 beat out his own previous personal best of 1:34.04, done last year as a freshman at the NCAA Championships, and set a new Florida State school record in the event. He was followed by freshman teammate Peter Varjasi (1:34.78), freshman teammate Mohamed Ghaffari (1:34.79), senior teammate Vladimir Stefanik (1:35.22), and senior teammate Rudo Loock (1:35.58) as the Seminoles picked up a whopping 112 points in that event alone. That extended their lead over Utah to 115.5 points, a lead which shrank a little as the night went on, but remained at more than 100 at the end of the evening.

Unsurprisingly, Florida State won the 800 free relay in 6:25.20, more than 4 seconds ahead of runners-up North Carolin, though Ksiazek only split a 1:36 on a rolling start on that relay as the team missed an NCAA qualification time.

Among the highlights of the women’s side is the continued junior-year breakout of North Carolina’s Emma Cole. After crushing her personal best in the 50 free on Friday night (her first best time in that event since high school), she won the 200 free by almost 2 seconds on Saturday. Her winning time there of 1:45.31 is also a lifetime best – exactly a second-and-a-half faster than she’s been in college, and again in a race that she hadn’t dropped any time in since college.

She led off UNC’s 800 free relay that ultimately won in 7:08.37, just holding off Alabama (7:08.69).

Other Day 2 Winners and Highlights:

• The Florida State women’s 200 medley relay won in 1:36.52. THe team trailed Alabama early, but the back-half of Aryanna Fernandes (22.73 fly split) and Emma Terebo (21.99 free split) ran down Alabama to take the win by .08 seconds. Florida was 3rd in 1:36.71, which is the 4th-best time in school history.
• Alabama got a 20.91 leadoff from 50 backstroke World Champion Zane Waddell en route to a 1:24.43 win in the men’s 200 medley relay. Waddell had the fastest leadoff leg at last year’s NCAA Championship meet in this relay as the Crimson Tide won the NCAA title, that time 20.41, but the 3 swimmers who followed him there all graduated.
• Florida senior Kelly Fertel got her 2nd individual win of the meet with a 4:07.58 in the women’s 400 IM, leading a 1-2-3 finish for the Gators. She also won the 200 IM on Friday. Savanna Faulconer was 2nd in 4:09.99, while freshman Kathleen Golding was 3rd in 4:10.24. Faulconer’s best time coming into the meet was a 4:19.
• Florida freshman Kevin Vargas dominated the men’s 400 IM in 3:46.14, winning by more than 4 seconds. That’s his best time, undercutting a 3:47.52 set last season at Speedo Winter Juniors. With most of the Florida men’s stars absent from this meet, his win is a highlight for the team this weekend.
• Alabama sophomore Rhyan White won a pair of individual events on Saturday, first taking the 100 fly in 51.71 and following that with a 51.12 in the 100 back. Those are both new lifetime bests for her. Florida sophomore Sherridon Dressel swam a lifetime best in the 100 fly as well for 3rd place in 52.52. That’s actually the 5th time this season where she’s been better than her previous personal best in the event.
• Florida State got another win in the men’s 100 fly when Max McCusker touched 1st in 46.26. That’s a lifetime best for him and moves him into 6th place in school history.
• Florida State sophomore Nina Kucheran won the women’s 100 breaststroke in 1:00.12.
• Georgia Tech’s Caio Pumputis won the men’s 100 breaststroke in 53.01. That’s about half-a-second slower than he was at this meet last season, where he went on to finish 6th in the 100 breast at the NCAA Championships.
• Griffin Alaniz won the men’s 100 back in 45.44, just beating out Waddell, who was 2nd in 45.65. Alaniz in total dropped 1.05 seconds off his previous lifetime best in the event between prelims and finals. Alaniz split 18.8 on a rolling start on a 200 free relay on Friday, though his individual swims on day 1 of the meet weren’t as good.
• Virginia’s Sydney Dusel won her 2nd individual diving event of the meet, topping the women’s 3-meter event with a score of 371.90.
• Georgia Tech freshman Ruben Lechuga won the men’s 1-meter diving event.

Team Scores After Day 2:

Women:

1. Florida – 872
2. North Carolina – 714.5
3. Alabama – 597
4. South Carolina – 370
5. Florida State – 361.5
6. Georiga Tech – 304
7. East Carolina – 231
8. Utah – 224
9. Georgia Southern – 102
10. Virginia (diving only) – 92

Men:

1. Florida State – 675.5
2. Utah – 561.5
3. North Carolina – 552
4. Alabama – 471
5. Georgia Tech – 469
6. Florida – 421.5
7. South Carolina – 294
8. East Carolina – 292.5
9. Virginia (diving only) – 63