Luca Urlando Breaks Ryan Murphy’s 200 Back UGA Pool Record (1:38.18) As Georgia Sweeps Emory

Emory (DIII) vs. Georgia

• February 1, 2025
• Gabrielsen Natatorium — Athens, GA
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Scores:
  • Women: Georgia, 191 def. Emory, 102
  • Men: Georgia, 198 def. Emory 80
• Full Results

Men’s Recap

Fresh off setting an NCAA and American record in the 200 butterfly last week, Luca Urlando kept rolling as Georgia defeated the DIII powerhouse Emory on Senior Day, 198-80. Urlando switched up his event lineup but still broke a record, taking down Ryan Murphy’s pool record from 2015 with a lifetime best of 1:38.18.

Urlando is the NCAA record holder in the 100 backstroke, but the 200 back isn’t an event he’s raced often during his collegiate career before this season. This is Urlando’s third 200 backstroke lifetime best of the season; he’d previously swum 1:39-lows twice during the first semester (1:39.39, 1:39.12) in his first 200 backstroke swims since 2019. This time, an NCAA ‘A’ cut moves him to third all-time in Georgia history and to fourth in the league this season.

Speaking of events that Urlando doesn’t race very often; he won the 50 freestyle in a lifetime best 19.34. This swim marked the first time Urlando raced the individual 50 freestyle during his collegiate career. He took on one of his bread-and-butter events, the 200 IM, to round out his individual event slate, which he won in 1:42.20.

Urlando also led off Georgia’s ‘A’ 200 medley relay in 20.55. He, Kristian Pitshugin (23.42), Wesley Ng (20.29), and Reese Branzell (19.29) swam a season-best 1:23.55 to win the 200 medley relay, earning the Dawgs’ ‘A’ cut in the event.

Georgia won every event in its Senior Day sweep of the Eagles. Jake Magahey was right on his season best to win the 200 freestyle, posting 1:33.05. Tomas Koski cruised to the 500 freestyle win in 4:15.30, and freshman Tane Bidois picked up his first collegiate win with a 44.07 in the 100 freestyle.

Emory’s top finisher of the day was senior Liyang Sun, who was the lone male Eagle to touch 2nd on the day in an individual event. Sun, who ranks third in the Division III 200 breaststroke season ranks (1:57.75), put in a late charge to close the gap to Arie Voloschin in the 200 breaststroke. Sun ran out of room to track Voloschin down but took second in 1:58.71, .23 seconds behind the Dawg.

Freshman Zachary Spicer rattled Emory’s 200 backstroke program record. He swam a lifetime best 1:45.90, missing Sven Becker’s mark from 2022 by .56 seconds. The swim chopped 1.15 seconds from Spicer’s lifetime best as he took 3rd in the event. Spicer is now 3rd in the season’s DIII rankings behind Eric Lundgren and Teddy McQuaid. Senior Jeff Echols grabbed 3rd in the 100/200 fly, clocking 48.25/1:48.86. Henri Bonnault and Dylan Yin added 3rd-place finishes of their own, with Bonnault clocking 54.00 in the 100 breast and Yin 20.39 in the 50 freestyle. Notably, the Eagles were without reigning NCAA DIII 400 IM champion Crow Thorsen, who hasn’t raced since the Eagles’ midseason invite.

Women’s Recap

Georgia was similarly dominant on the women’s side of the meet, winning 191-102. Despite running away with the win, the Georgia women did not blank the Eagles in event wins as the men’s team did. Emory’s Megan Jungers got her hand on the wall first in the 100 backstroke, swimming a season-best 54.83. However, the highlight of Emory’s meet came in the 200 IM. Freshman Allison Greeneway broke the school record in the event for the third time this season, clocking a 2:00.28 to place 2nd, four-hundredths behind Georgia’s Marie Landreneau.

Greeneway’s 2:00.28 betters her previous school record, a 2:00.79 swum at the Denison Invitational, by .51 seconds. She first took over the record with a 2:01.23 at the Emory Fall Invitational. As she continues to inch closer to the 2:00 barrier, she’s now the fastest woman in Division III this season by over two seconds. Kenyon’s Jennah Fadely, the newly minted DIII record holder in the 100 breast, sits second in 2:02.36.

Helena Jones, Olivia Dellatorre, and Ieva Maluka led the day’s efforts for the Dawgs, each claiming two individual event wins. Jones won the 100/200 freestyle. First, she claimed victory in the 200 freestyle with a 1:45.80. Then, she edged out 50 freestyle winner Katie Belle Sikes in the 100 freestyle, 48.89 to 49.17. Dellatorre swept the butterfly events, clocking 53.53/2:00.48.

Maluka, a transfer from Arizona State, continues to improve in a Georgia cap. She swam a lifetime best to win the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.34, then completed the breaststroke sweep in 2:11.67. This was Maluka’s second official time swimming the 100 breaststroke; she clocked 1:04.51 at the 2022 ASU Intrasquad meet.

Dune Coetzee won the 500 freestyle for Georgia, clocking a season-best 4:39.89. Coetze is part of a strong mid/distance freestyle crew for Georgia. This is her first time breaking 4:40 in the 500 freestyle this season. She’s the 28th woman to crack that barrier this season, highlighting the distance renaissance women’s collegiate swimming is undergoing.

Up Next

Georgia and Emory have wrapped up the regular season. Georgia will send a handful of swimmers to the Auburn First Chance Meet next weekend, before hosting the SEC Championships from Feb. 18-22. Meanwhile, Emory now turns its attention to the UAA Championships from Feb. 12-15.