NCAA Div. I: Georgia Sweeps Alabama in SEC Action

ATHENS, GA., January 10. THE 'Dawgs are hungry!

Following an impressive win over fifth-ranked Texas Wednesday, Georgia's No. 2 women's swimming and diving team scored a Southeastern Conference victory Friday evening by chewing up Alabama at Gabrielsen Natatorium.

The Lady Bulldogs won nine of the 13 events en route to a 139-95 victory. Their male counterparts were on the winning side of a 133-108 decision to the Crimson Tide men.

"We had great effort tonight," said Georgia coach Jack Bauerle. "It was not a pretty win, but it was certainly a good win. Randy Lam and Robert Margalis were the stars of the show. I thought the women did a great job considering we raced real hard on Wednesday night and they started classes yesterday. What I am proud of most is that our women will give great effort whether we are winning by a lot or not. That is a sign of quality kids."

The Georgia women were off to the races from the beginning as the Lady 'Dawgs won the first nine events of the night, racing to a 69-23 lead. Laura Conway and Debbie James each posted season-bests with first and third places, respectively, in the 1000 yard freestyle.

Rebecca Rose tied her season-best with a 1:49.60 to earn first in the 200 free.. Maritza Correia finished third, followed by Katie Yevak and Beth Grams in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Freshman Jordan Wallace led a 1-2-3 finish in the women's 50-yard freestyle with her winning 24.03, She was followed by Neka Mabry (24.10) and Samantha Arsenault (24.41) in third.

Another rookie, Mary DeScenza, who scored a hat-trick agaisnt Texas with wins in both flys and the 200 free, recorded an NCAA provisional qualifying cut as she won the 200 individual medley in 2:03.38. Teammate Stephanie Buck was second.

Paige Kearns and Tricia Harm finished first and second, respectively, in the 100 freestyle, and Lauren Gettel led a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 backstroke.

Conway continued to be impressive as she stopped the clock in 4:57.89 en riyte to gold in the 500 freestyle with Ali Williams third. 'Dawg Sarah Poewe rounded out Georgia's scoring with a dramatic win by a mere ,19 in the 200 breast ahead of Alabama's Anne Poleska,

Look for this pair to be Germany's duo in the breaststrokes at this summer's World Championships in Barcelona,

* * * * *

After finishing second in the opening relay, the Bulldog men began building their lead with a 1-2-3 sweep in the 1000 freestyle. Cole Taylor took top honors with a 9:15.73, while fellow freshman Matthew Owen finished second in 9:21.61 and Andrew Mahaney took third with a season-best 9:21.93.

Sophomore Robert Margalis began anoopened his '03 season with a victory in the 200 freestyle, hitting an NCAA provisional 1:38.74. Teannate Brent McAuliffe then won the 200 IM,

In what could be considered the crucial point in the meet, Lam out-touched defending NCAA 200 fly champion Stephan Gherghel in 1:47.15, Tge Tude ace was .10 in arrears,

Georgia broke open a close meet in the 20th event of the night. The Bulldogs were leading, 92,76, heading into the 500 freestyle, But a 1-2-3 sweep boosted Georgia's lead to 108-79, swealing the win.

Margalis won in 4:29.81 while Taylor and Owen finished second and third, respectively.

"The score was not an indicator (of how close this meet really was)," added Bauerle. "We had a big-swing event. Randy Lam upset the defending NCAA champion in the 200 fly, and that really turned the meet around. Had that not happened, this meet may have come down to the final relay."

The Georgia and Alabama divers completed their portion of the dual meet in conjunction with the Georgia Diving Invitational last weekend. Alabama's Lane Bassham won both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events, while her sister, Georgia's Brooke Bassham, took third in both events. Georgia's Todd Avery finished first on the men's 3-meter event and took third on the 1-meter. Senior Kris Daugherty finished second and third on the 1-meter and 3-meter, respectively.

With less than 24 hours rest, the men will return to Gabrielsen Natatorium this afternoon to square off against three-time defending national champion Texas,

"We raced real hard tonight, and we are trying to get a big one tomorrow," added Bauerle. "I think tomorrow will be very interesting. I think there are places were we can line up and race with them, and there are places that we can line up and beat them. We are looking forward to another one."

WOMEN'S AND MEN'S NCAA DIVISION 1 DUAL MEET
ALABAMA VS. GEORGIA
GABRIELSON NATATORIUM, ATHENS, GA.
JAN. 19, 2003

25 YD. POOL

Women's 400y medley relay
1. Georgia (Gettel, Poewe, DeScenza, Arsenault), 3:46.15. 2. Alabama (Hallquist, Poleska, Weiman, Grant), 3:48.30. 3. Georgia (Hupman, Harm, Williams, Rose), 4:02.61. 4. Alabama (Casaru, Trott, Lynch, Adams), 4:08.85

Men's 400y medley relay
1. Alabama (Gherghel, Polyakov, Tsagarakis, Bitsakis), 3:17.51. 2. Georgia (Osborn, Gardner, Lam, Brado), 3:22.28. 3. Georgia (Underhill, Salyards, Verhoef, Davis), 3:25.46. 4. Alabama (Ashby, Reeves, Winchester, Willard), 3:26.11. 5. Georgia (Lenyk, Martinez, Schmidt, Parsley), 3:32.08. 6. Alabama (Smith, Hall, Schmidt, Arckey), 3:39.10.

Women's 1000y freestyle
1. Laura Conway (UGA), 10:06.82. 2. Victoria Genova (UA), 10:17.33. 3. Debbie James (UGA), 10:24.16. 4. Liz McGiffin (UA), 10:37.99.

Men's 1000y freestyle
1. Taylor Cole (UGA), 9:15.73. 2. Matt Owen (UGA), 9:21.61. 3. Andrew Mahaney (UGA), 9:21.93. 4. John Talbot Jones (UA), 9:29.56. 5. Miguel Mendoza (UGA), 9:36.05. 6. Franck Southon (UA), 9:42.56. 7. Bernardo Romero (UA), 10:00.34.

Women's 200y freestyle
1. Rebecca Rose (UGA), 1:49.60. 2. Eleonora Markou (UA), 1:50.39. 3. Maritza Correia (UGA), 1:51.82 4. Katie Yevak (UGA), 1:54.69. 5. Beth Grams (UGA), 1:55.53. 6. Megan Lynch (UA), 2:05.90

Men's 200y freestyle
1. Robert Margalis (UGA), 1:38.74. 2. James Wilcox (UA), 1:39.81. 3. Spiros Bitsakis (UA), 1:40.14. 4. Damian Alleyne (UGA), 1:41.15. 5. John Talbot Jones (UA), 1:44.00. 6. Brandon Cover (UGA), 144.72. 7. Scot Davis (UGA), 1:45.23. 8. Brent Arkey (UA), 1:45.71.

Women's 50y freestyle
1. Jordan Wallace (UGA), 24:03. 2. Neka Mabry (UGA), 24.10. 3. Sam Arsenault (UGA), 24.41. 4. Alison Lafevers (UA), 24.52. 5. Lauren Gettel (UGA), 24.54. 6. Kathryn Hallquist (UA), 25.11. 7. Ann Ross (UA), 25.36. 8. Sonya Adams (UA), 25.56.

Men's 50y freestyle
1. Apostolis Tsagarakis (UA), 20:58. 2. Scott Gardner (UGA), 21.14. 3. Josh Laban (UGA), 21.29. 4. Darren Erasmus (UA), 21.42. 5. Brendan Ashby (UA), 21.56. 6. Brad Willard (UA), 21.81. 7. Peter Verhoef (UGA), 21.96. 8. Jeff Parsley (UGA), 22.06.

Women's 200y individual medley
1. Mary DeScenza (UGA), 2:03.38. 2. Steph Buck (UGA), 2:06.85. 3. Anne Poleska (UA), 2:07.55. 4. Catalina Cassaru (UA), 2:08.57. 5. Paige Kearns (UGA), 2:10.47. 6. Linn Thorburn (UGA), 2:12.76.

Men's 200y individual medley
1. Brent McAuliffe (UGA), 1:50.75. 2. Ben Worby (UA), 1:52.31. 3. Randy Lam (UGA), 1:53.20. 4. Kyle Salyards (UGA), 1:54.34. 5. Franck Southon (UA), 1:55.71. 6. Vladislav Polyakov (UA), 1:56.76. 7. Bernado Romero (UA), 2:01.84.

Women's 1-meter diving
1. Lane Bassham (UA), 273.20. 2. Katherine Bortenlanger (UA), 249.30. 3. Brooke Bassham (UGA), 232.25. 4. Crystal Rassmussen (UA), 204.10. 5. Lainee Patterson (UA), 150.15. 6. Laura Trkovsky (UGA), 137.30.

Men's 1-meter diving 1. Stewart Smith (UA), 333.15. 2. Kris Daugherty (UGA), 314.10. 3. Todd Avery (UGA), 242.80. 4. JR Hills (UA), 209.35.

Women's 200y butterfly
1. Victoria Genova (UA), 2:01.22. 2. Candace Weiman (UA), 2:02.17. 3. Maritza Correia (UGA), 2:04.43. 4. Ali Williams (UGA), 2:06.76.

Men's 200y butterfly
1. Randy Lam (UGA), 1:47.15. 2. Stephan Gherghel (UA), 1:47.25. 3. Andrew Mahaney (UGA), 1:51.64. 4. Brandon Cover (UGA), 1:54.08. 5. Jonathan Schmidt (UGA), 1:55.31. 6. Matthew Schmidt (UA), 1:55.43. 7. Guido Arroyo (UA) 1:59.28.

Women's 100y freestyle
1. Paige Kearns (UGA), 51.44. 2. Tricia Harm (UGA), 52.12. 3. Anna Grant (UA), 52.25. 4. Alison Lafevers (UA), 53.17. 5. Lindsey Ertter (UGA), 53.56. 6. Christie Hupman (UGA), 55.24. 7. Sonya Adams (UA), 56.32. 8. Anne Ross (UA), 56.61.

Men's 100y freestyle
1. Spiros Bitsakis (UA), 45.67. 2. Matt Brando (UGA), 45.88. 3. Darren Erasmus (UA), 46.17. 4. Brendan Ashby (UA), 47.18. 5. Josh Laban (UGA), 47.41. 6. Peter Verhoef (UGA), 47.87. 7. Nathan Stibrich (UGA), 49.15. 8. Brent Arckey (UA), 50.76.

Women's 200y backstroke
1. Lauren Gettel (UGA), 1:59.78. 2. Neka Rose (UGA), 2:04.12. 3. Rebecca Rose (UGA), 2:05.17. 4. Catalina Casaru (UA), 2:05.41. 5. Kathryn Hallquist (UA), 209.14. 6. Virginia Pate (UGA), 2:10.09. 7. Liz McGiffin (UA), 2:10.89. 8. Kelly Kerr (UA), 2:12.46.

Men's 200y backstroke
1. Colin Underhill (UGA), 1:51.03. 2. Ben Worby (UA), 1:51.48. 3. Franck Southon (UA), 1:52.54. 4. Peter Osborn (UGA), 1:52.86. 5. Scot Davis (UGA), 1:53.81. 6. Scott Lenyk (UGA), 1:54.22. 7. Jeff Smith (UA), 2:09.99.

Women's 500y freestyle
1. Laura Conway (UGA), 4:57.89. 2. Eleonora Markou (UA), 4:59.19. 3. Ali Williams (UGA), 4:59.81. 4. Debbie James (UGA), 5:05.12. 5. Victoria Genova (UA), 5:05.89.

Men's 500y freestyle
1. Robert Margalis (UGA), 4:29.81. 2. Cole Taylor (UGA), 4:31.01. 3. Matt Owen (UGA), 4:31.81. 4. John Talbot Jones (UA), 4:34.96. 5. James Wilcox (UA), 4:36.10. 6. Damian Alleyne (UGA), 4:37.44.

Women's 3-meter diving
1. Lane Bassham (UA), 274.05. 2. K Bortenlanger (UA), 273.90. 3. Brooke Bassham (UGA), 265.90. 4. Crystal Rassmussen (UA), 241.85. 5. Lainee Patterson (UA), 147.95.

Men's 3-meter diving
1. Todd Avery (UGA), 320.55. 2. Stewart Smith (UA), 310.45. 3. Kris Daugherty (UGA), 289.30. 4. JR Hills (UA), 230.10.

Women's 200y breaststroke
1.Sarah Poewe (UGA), 2:15.23. 2. Anne Poleska (UA), 2:15.42. 3 Virginia Pate (UGA), 2:17.32. 4. Steph Buck (UGA), 2:25.57. 5. Laura Conway (UGA), 2:29.29. 6. Ginny Trott (UA), 2:31.50. 7. Holly McCrelless (UA), 2:35.48.

Men's 200y breaststroke
1. Vladislav Polyakov (UA), 1:59.83. 2. Robert Margalis (UGA), 2:00.57. 3. Kyle Salyards (UGA), 2:05.17. 4. Frank Martinez (UGA), 2:06.38. 5. Charles Reeves (UA), 2:06.77. 6. Jeff Parsley (UGA), 2:07.57. 7. Ben Worby (UA), 2:14.39. 8. Bernado Romero (UA), 2:19.74.

Women's 400y freestyle relay
1. Alabama (Markou, Grant, Weiman, Lafevers), 3:29.11. Georgia (Wallace Arsenault, DeScenza, Grams), x 3:28.78. Georgia (Kearns, Correia, James, Yevak), x3:28.98.

Men's 400y freestyle relay
1. Alabama (Gherghel, Erasmus, Tsagarakis, Willcox), 3:02.88. 2. Georgia (Alleyne, Brado, Gardner, McAuliffe), 3:06.31. 3. Alabama (Willard, Smith, Schmidt, Hall), 3:16.34.

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