Georgia Invitational: Day Three

ATHENS, Georgia, December 7. THE Georgia swimming and diving teams concluded a very successful UGA Fall Invitational Sunday, with both teams taking home their respective team titles, and combining for 14 NCAA automatic qualifying times, seven school records and five Gabrielsen Natatorium records.

In the end, the No. 1 Lady Bulldogs amassed 1,459.50 points to earn the women's title, cruising past the rest of the field. In second was California with 766.50 points, ahead of Harvard (418), Clemson (389), Denver (372) and West Virginia (229). The No.10 men's squad dominated the field, totaling 1,407 points ahead of Harvard (688), Denver (643), Clemson (387) and West Virginia (383).

"In many events, we were swimming the times we were hoping for at the end of the year," head coach Jack Bauerle said. "Now we are hoping for a lot more. I don't know where to begin and end on the performances. That was the best invitational meet by far.

"I think our ladies are so much stronger than a year ago," he said. "We have raised the bar within our own team and what they expect of themselves is different. We are twice as deep as we were a year ago and we are a much better team. On the men's side, when we lost 3 Olympians, we thought we would be hard pressed to be as good. We have a chance to be a pretty darn good team. We are good across the board."

After Troyden Prinsloo obtained the Bulldogs first NCAA automatic cut of the season in the 1,650 freestyle (14:43.14), Mark Dylla added another in decisive fashion. With a time of 1:41.46 in the 200 butterfly, Dylla set the pool record and missed former teammate Gil Stovall's team and NCAA record of 1:41.33. One event earlier, Neil Versfeld earned an "A" cut in the 200 breaststroke, breaking his own pool record in the process, with a time of 1:53.20.

The men's 400 free relay team got in on the act as the team of Michael Arnold, Craig Jennings, Martin Kata and Dylla broke the school record with a time of 2:55.28, good enough for an NCAA provisional cut. Also during the event, Arnold's leadoff split of 43.66 broke a nearly 15-year old 100-freestyle school record of 43.73. Relay teammate Jennings, however, won the 100 freestyle earlier in the meet with a time of 43.98.

For the Lady Bulldogs, the automatic cuts rolled in beginning with Aleksandra Putra's effort in the 200 backstroke. Her time of 1:51.57 shattered both the school and pool records by more than a second-and-a-half. Two events later in the 200 yard breaststroke, teammates Mhyria Miller and Colleen Haase earned NCAA bids after the two finished 1-2 in the event with times of 2:08.61 and 2:08.63, respectively. And in the final event of the day, the 400 freestyle relay, the team of Morgan Scroggy, Courtney Monsees, Chelsea Nauta and Jessica Cole qualified for NCAAs with an automatic qualifying time of 3:14.28.

Other winners for the Lady Bulldogs during Sunday's final included Wendy Trott in the 1,650 with a time of 15:55.29 and Cole in the 100 free with a time of 48.48.

In the diving well for the Georgia, the men and women concluded a productive weekend with a pair of victories off the platform tower. Webb Worthington took first with a score of 270.80, while Hannah Moore's score of 217.20 was good enough for first place points.

In reflecting on the weekend, coach Dan Laak was pleased with all of his divers.

"I think Webb did a great job in winning the tower and earning second in the other two, included a personal best in the 3-meter," Laak said. "It was good to see Owen Blank qualify for the NCAA Zones in the 1-meter Friday night. Hannah had a great list on Friday night in 3-meter and had a personal best on tower today. She had a good weekend."

Sunday culminated a phenomenal weekend for Georgia swimming and diving, which had numerous pool and school record efforts and NCAA automatic qualifying times.

On Friday, the women's team earned two NCAA automatic bids in the 500 freestyle with Georgia's Trott and Nauta finishing under the automatic qualifying standard in the Lady Bulldogs' 1-2 sweep of the event. In Georgia's 400 medley relay in Friday night's final, Putra led off the relay with a school record effort of 52.24 in the 100 backstroke, breaking the nearly nine-year old mark. For the men, several swimmers earned NCAA provisional cuts, including Craig Jennings in the 50 freestyle by virtue of a lifetime-best time of 19.73 and Blank secured his spot at the 2009 NCAA Zone Diving Championships with a 307.55 in the 1-meter springboard.

Saturday featured many other impressive performances, highlighted by Miller's pool record performance of 59.18 in the 100 breaststroke, an NCAA automatic qualifying time, in the morning prelims. In the evening session, Miller was joined by teammate Michelle McKeehan as she earned an NCAA automatic bid as the two finished under the standard in the evening finals. Also, Putra and Kristen Shickora earned automatic bids when they finished the 100 backstroke in under the automatic qualifying standard. In the final event of the night, the Lady Bulldogs' 800 freestyle relay team of Nauta, Putra, Kelly McNichols and Scroggy achieved the "A" standard by finishing in 6:59.59, which was a school and pool record.

Special thanks to Georgia for contributing this report.

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