Georgia vs. Florida State
- Oct. 19, 2024
- Tallahassee, Florida
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Scores
- Women: #14 Georgia, 183.5 – NR Florida State, 116.5
- Men: #10 Georgia, 218 – #19 Florida State, 81
- Full Results
Through two dual meets, Olympian and redshirt senior Luca Urlando is making his presence felt in the NCAA. Last week, he shined at his first NCAA meet since October 2022, Urlando popped a 1:39.87 200 fly, nearing his lifetime best of 1:38.82.
At Georgia’s meet against Florida State, Urlando got even closer, swimming 1:39.03 and coming .21 seconds from his best. It’s the third-fastest time in school history and Urlando now owns the top six entries. He also takes over from reigning NCAA champion Ilya Kharun as the fastest man in the league this year.
Urlando doubled down on the 1:39s at the meet, blasting a 1:39.39 200 backstroke for his second individual event win of the meet as he led a 1-2-3 Georgia sweep. The swim—another top time in the NCAA this season—was a lifetime best for Urlando and his first time breaking 1:40. Even when he was swimming yards regularly, this event was not usually on his program; his lifetime best was a 1:42.11 from 2018 Speedo Juniors and per SwimCloud, he only swam the event officially one other time in these six years.
Urlando returned to familiar territory for his final event of the day, winning the 200 IM. He clocked 1:43.49 in his first time racing the event since 2022 NCAAs.
Urlando also helped the Dawgs to the win in the opening 200 medley relay. Urlando led off in 21.21 as he, Elliot Woodburn (23.74), Ruard Van Renen (20.85), and Reese Branzell (19.40) combined for a final time of 1:25.20, a tenth behind Georgia’s ‘A’ relay from their dual last weekend against South Carolina.
That win got a successful day underway for Georgia, as the men and women both won against the Seminoles to remain undefeated. The mid-distance and distance freestylers were key for both squads. After Florida State won the women’s 200 medley relay, 1650 free NCAA champion Abby McCulloh picked up the first event win for the women in the 1000 freestyle (9:37.23). She led a 1-2-3-4 sweep for the Dawgs as sophomore Shea Furse swam a lifetime-best 9:54.16 for second.
The Georgia women also swept the top four in the 200 and 500 freestyle. Junior transfer Ieva Maluka won the 200 free in 1:45.02, holding off senior Sloane Reinstein by .06 seconds. Rachel Stege did her thing in the 500 free, posting 4:39.46 to win ahead of McCulloh’s 4:42.24.
Both Maluka and senior Eboni McCarty went 3-for-3 in their individual events. After her 200 free win, Maluka won the 200 fly (1:56.32) and the 200 IM (1:56.64). McCarty won the 100 back (51.99), 50 free (22.42), and 100 free (48.94), leading the way in the sprints for Georgia.
Back on the men’s side, redshirt senior Tommy-Lee Camblong won the 1000 free (9:07.86) while Jake Magahey picked up the win in the 500 free with a 4:16.92, securing the distance sweep for the Dawgs.
In his other events, Magahey touched second in the 200 free (1:33.03) behind sophomore Tomas Koski, who won the 100/200 free double in 43.50/1:32.82. Magahey also finished second in the 200 fly, logging 1:41.56. Florida State sophomore Sam Bork prevented the Georgia men from sweeping the freestyle events, winning the 50 freestyle in 20.04.
The 200 breaststroke was a highlight for the hosts Florida State as they won the men’s and women’s editions. Sophomore Tommaso Baravelli outdueled Woodburn to win the men’s race, 1:57.48 to 1:57.64. On the women’s side, Florida State’s star breaststroker Maddy Huggins swam 2:07.98, matching the lifetime best and program record she swam last week against Georgia Tech.
Huggins also won the 100 breaststroke in 59.04 and opened her race with a lifetime best of 27.74 in the 50 breaststroke. Samantha Vear added two event wins for the Florida State women by sweeping the boards.
Up Next
Georgia heads back to Athens for their home opener against SEC rivals Florida on Nov. 1 at 11 am. Florida State faces LSU on Nov. 8 at noon.
Luka… swim… BACKSTROKE
1:33.0 doesn’t win the 200 Free in a dual meet.. wild
Was just thinking the same thing about Magahey’s 1:41 200 fly. Crazy fast start to the season.
luca was the marchand before marchand
Luca was the next Phelps
Phelps was setting world records at 15 years old, Luca was just breaking NAGs at 16. We don’t have to pretend anyone was the next Phelps.
6’4″ v. 5’9″ with bad shoulders; he’s doing pretty well.
Yes. Except not as good. lol.
Bro is out for this year in the NCAA. Hoping him or Kharun can dip into the 1:36 range at NCAAs
You think Marchand will come back into the NCAA? After he left ASU before the signature was dry on Bowman’s offer at Texas, is he even academically eligible to swim at NCAA’s? Seems like another Sates “student-athlete”.
Sates did 6 weeks of school and dipped. Don’t need to throw shade at Léon like that. Léon has said he will still finish his degree, but he is 100% a pro athlete at this point. He has tons of sponsorships with performance incentives and has definitely signed an agent. I know the lines between pros and “amateur” athletes in an NIL world is increasingly blurred, but those are things that still render you ineligible for NCAA competition.
Love to see all of this!
fly+back swimmers who aren’t as good at free always intrigue me the most
And yet he’s 41.7/1:33 in the 100/200
yes, 41.7 is clearly on the same level as 43.35/43.80 and 1:33.3 is clearly on the same level as 1:38.8/1:39.3
No offense, but its quite evident you don’t know much about SCY times lol
He split 1:30.5 on an 800 FR relay and he’s been 1:46.5 in LC. He’s a great freestyler.
sure, and an even better butterflyer/backstroker in short course. I get freestyle is the “premier” event but I don’t like the devaluation of the other strokes as is so commonly seen on here
What’s next, people claiming Regan Smith is also just as good of a freestyler as she is in backstroke/butterfly?
No one claimed his freestyle was better than his fly/back. You were the one devaluing his freestyle ability.
No one is claiming Regan was a better freestyler. You’re the one pulling that strawman out.
Why do you guys get so defensive over an objectively true observation? He’s not as good at free as he is at fly and back. It’s not a personal attack
Because he’s a better freestyler than backstroker in LC and it isn’t close, and there isn’t a lot of daylight between his freestyle and fly in LC. His first senior international team he made was for freestyle, not fly. In short course he is better at underwaters than he is at swimming on top of the water, that’s really all there is to it. This isn’t a Regan Smith situation where free is a clear 3rd stroke.
It’s pretty clear cut dude. Guys the fastest 100 backstroke ever, an Olympian in fly. Making a 800 free relay team isn’t on either of those levels
Outside of Marchand, name one swimmer that can say they have Freestyle times that fast (or faster) with back/fly times as fast a Urlando? Who’s to say he couldn’t be faster if he focused on the 100/200 Free. Some would say 41.7/1:33.3 for a guy that has those as maybe 5th-6th best events, is pretty fast.
Must not be talking about Luca
wrong guess there
I think Luca would disagree
I think a better way to phrase this would have been “When a swimmer is good at both fly and back, it’s surprising when their free isn’t at least as good as one of those”, which fair but also underwaters help out back and fly more than free
The 200 fly and 200 back are going to be the two most exciting races at NCAAs this year.
Luca Urlando, Dare Rose, Ilya Karun, Owen McDonald, Aiden Hayes, Hubert Kos, and Destin Lasco.
Also Miroslav Knedla for 200 back
If Destin is at all close to last year, it won’t be close on the last 25. But I do agree on the 200 fly
Kos might have something to say about that 2 back. His taper should be more on point this year & he will have an even better handle on short course, with no Olympics on the horizon. Good as Lasco is, Kos’ ceiling is higher.
This guy clearly knows what he’s talking about ^
Exactly… Kos is going 1:34.2