Robert Howard Goes Sub-42, Florida Sweeps Georgia Tech Invite

2018 GEORGIA TECH INVITE

• November 15-17, 2018
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Meet info
• Live results
• 2018 NCAA invited times

Women’s 1650 Timed Final

1. Kensey McMahon, Alabama, 15:59.46
2. Leah Braswell, Florida, 15:59.47
3. Emily Hetzer, Auburn, 16:05.48

Fans in attendance got to see a great race, as Florida freshman Leah Braswell split 26.62 over her final 50 to come within a hair of running down Alabama’s Kensey McMahon, but McMahon held on to win by just 0.01s.  Auburn’s Emily Hetzer took 3rd in 16:05.48, with all three women well under last year’s NCAA invite time in this event.

Men’s 1650 Final

1. Robert Finke, Florida, 14:55.39
2. Josh Dannhauser, Auburn, 15:00.59
3. Trey Freeman, Florida, 15:10.95

Robert Finke became one of only a handful of men to dip under 15 minutes this season, taking the event by over five seconds.  Finke’s 14:55.39 would have been fast enough to secure a NCAA invite every season up until 2017-2018, and he’ll probably need to shave off a few more seconds at SECs to lock down an invite if he doesn’t earn one in another event.

Women’s 200 Back Final

1. Mabel Zavaros, Florida, 1:53.10
2. Erin Falconer, Auburn, 1:53.56
3. Sonne Oeztuerk, Auburn, 1:54.18

Florida freshmen continued to dominate the session, as Mabel Zavaros split 28.15 on the final 50 to run down Auburn’s Erin Falconer. The times from Zavaros and Falconer are among the fastest in the nation currently, and should still be in the top five or ten times once results from all this weekend’s invites are in.  Both were under last season’s NCAA invite time of 1:53.64.

Men’s 200 Back Final

1. Rodrigo Correia, Georgia Tech, 1:40.94
2. Samuel Tornqvist, Virginia Tech, 1:41.93
3. Clark Beach, Florida, 1:41.97

Georgia Tech senior Rodrigo Correia became one of just a handful of men to break 1:41 this season, likely garnering him a NCAA invite. He led from beginning to end and won by almost a second over VT’s Samuel Tornqvist and Florida’s Clark Beach.

Women’s 100 Free Final

1. Claire Fisch, Auburn, 48.37
2. Brooke Bauer, UNC, 48.76
3. Iris Wang, Georgia Tech, 49.03

Claire Fisch has been coming up big for the Auburn women all season, and tonight she earned her second win of the meet after winning the 50 free on Thursday.  UNC had its highest finish of the evening, thanks to Brooke Bauer‘s 48.76, and Georgia Tech’s Iris Wang took 3rd in 49.03.

Men’s 100 Free Final

1. Robert Howard, Alabama, 41.94
2. Maxime Rooney, Florida, 42.50
3. Will Pisani, FSU / Kanao Kaleoaloha, FSU, 42.83

Robert Howard was 19.89 to the feet en route to becoming the first man to break 42 in the 100 free this season.  Howard projects to be one of 6-8 swimmers in contention for the win at NCAAs come March.  Florida junior Maxime Rooney took 2nd in 42.50, just 0.05s off his lifetime best.  A pair of FSU seniors, Will Pisani and Kanoa Kaleoalohoa, tied for 3rd as both touched in 42.83.

Women’s 200 Breast Final

1. Vanessa Pearl, Florida, 2:08.04
2. Albury Higgs, South Carolina, 2:10.44
3. Justine Macfarlane, Alabama, 2:10.97

The Florida women are going to be relying on their talented group of freshmen to help buoy the team at SECs and NCAAs, and the early returns are looking promising.  Yet another Florida freshman, Vanessa Pearl, earned a win tonight, as she took the 200 breast by well over two seconds.

Men’s 200 Breast Final

1. Caio Pumputis, Georgia Tech, 1:52.38
2. Jacek Arentewicz, ECU, 1:55.57
3. Izaak Bastian, Florida, 1:57.29

Georgia Tech has been on fire this weekend, and sophomore Caio Pumputis threw down a 1:52.38 for a resounding victory.  That’s a school record for Pumputis, and at the moment, it looks like it’ll stand against times from other meets this evening as the fastest time this season.  It would’ve made the A-final at last season’s NCAA championships, where Pumputis was DQ’d after coming in with a 1:53.45 seed time.

Women’s 200 Fly Final

1. Emma Barksdale, South Carolina, 1:55.63
2. Bailey Nero, Auburn, 1:56.57
3. Bryanna Cameron, UNC, 1:57.31

Emma Barksdale took control of this event with a 28.97 split on the 2nd 50, and never looked back, finish well ahead of the rest of the field, led by Auburn’s Bailey Nero.  Barksdale’s time was a few tenths under last year’s invite time.

Men’s 200 Fly Final

1. Christian Ferraro, Georgia Tech, 1:41.56
2. Erge Gezmis, Florida, 1:44.13
3. Fynn Minuth, South Carolina, 1:44.70

Christian Ferraro locked down his NCAA invite with a dominant 1:51.56 victory in the 200 fly, roughly 2.5 seconds over the next two closest men, Erge Gezmis of Florida and Fynn Minnuth of South Carolina.  Like Pumputis, Ferraro now has a time that would’ve scored at the 2018 NCAAs, so it’s looking increasingly likely like the Yellow Jacket men should pull in some points at NCAAs after being blanked last season.

Women’s 400 Free Relay

1. Auburn, 3:13.75
2. UNC, 3:17.26
3. Alabama, 3:18.10

The Tigers got a 48.58 leadoff from Alyssa Tetzloff and a 47.94 2nd leg by Fisch, as they beat 2nd-place UNC by over 3.5 seconds.  Their time of 3:13.75 was over two seconds faster than any time heading into this weekend, and appears to be the 3rd-fastest once other results from this evening are factored in, including Stanford’s 3:12 and Louisville’s 3:13.72.

Men’s 400 Free Relay

1. Alabama, 2:50.41
2. FSU, 2:50.43
3. Florida, 2:50.70

Will Pisani led off in 42.47, and his FSU teammates held the lead until almost the very end of the race.  It took a scorching 41.09 anchor by Howard to run down FSU’s Kaleoaloha (who split 41.97 himself) over the final strokes, giving Alabama the win by just 0.02s seconds.  All four Florida men were sub-43, as the Gators took 3rd in 2:50.70.  All three schools finished under the NCAA qualifying cut.  Georgia Tech finished 4th in 2:52.79, just 0.07s off the provisional cut they would need to swim this relay at NCAAs, as they already hit the qualifying times on their medley relays.

Final Scores – Women

1. Florida 1266
2. Auburn  886.5
3.  Alabama 626.5
4. South Carolina / FSU 593.5
6. UNC 565.5
7. Virginia Tech 535.5
8. Georgia Tech, 434
9. Florida Gulf Coast 327
10. East Carolina 188

Final Scores – Men

1. Florida 1224.5
2. FSU 876
3. Georgia Tech 764.5
4. Alabama 685
5. Virginia Tech 626
6. Auburn 540.5
7. South Carolina 438
8. UNC 369
9. East Carolina 327.5