Georgia Wraps Up Dual Meet Schedule With Alabama Sweep

ATHENS, Georgia, February 1. THE University of Georgia swimming and diving teams wrapped up the regular season this afternoon by sweeping Alabama on Senior Day. It marked the 89th consecutive home dual meet victory for the Georgia women. Chase Kalisz and Melanie Margalis each won two events for Georgia, while Ann-Perry Blank broke the Georgia dual meet and pool record in women’s 1-meter diving with a score of 327.98. Kristian Gkolomeev swept the 50 and 100 free events for Alabama.

Georgia Press Release

In Georgia’s final dual meet of the season, the swimming and diving teams swept Alabama and honored the 11 seniors on Saturday.

The No. 12 Bulldogs defeated the Crimson Tide 164.5-116.5 and now boast a 9-2 record (5-1 SEC), while the Alabama men fall to 3-3 and 1-2. The No. 2 Lady Bulldogs topped the No. 23 Alabama women 181-102 and improved to 10-0-1 on the season (5-0-1 SEC). The Alabama women fall to 5-2, with a 2-2 mark in SEC competition.

With this win, the Lady Bulldogs accomplished their third 10-win season in the last four years. They also extended their Georgia all-sports home win streak to 89 consecutive dual meet victories in Gabrielsen Natatorium. The record dates back to 1996.

“It’s great to end our dual meet season with a win at home for the seniors,” Senior Associate Head Coach Harvey Humphries said. “Anytime you line up and beat an SEC school, it’s something not to be taken likely. I’m really proud of our seniors. They’ve done a great job leading all season. And they did a great job leading today.”

Seniors Ann-Perry Blank, Jessica Graber, Ansley Long, Melanie Margalis, Laura Ryan, Shannon Vreeland, Will Freeman, Andrew Gemmell, Jameson Hill, Doug Reynolds and Christian Riess were recognized at the start of the meet for their accomplishments in and out of the pool.

Chase Kalisz was a double winner for the Bulldogs. He won the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke with times of 1:46.00 and 1:57.23, respectively.

The Bulldogs claimed the winning points in the first six events of the day. Taylor Dale, Nicolas Fink, Pace Clark and Michael Trice took the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:28.21. In the longest event of the meet, Gemmell finished at 9:09.30 in the 1,000 freestyle. Conor Sweeney clocked in at 1:38.70 in the 200 freestyle. Dale claimed the 100 backstroke with his time of 47.68. Fink finished first with a 55.88 in the 100 breaststroke. Kalisz’s victory in the 200 butterfly was the final piece in the Bulldogs’ opening run.

Other winners for the Bulldogs were Jared Markham, Matias Koski, Yousef Alaskari and Ty Stewart. Markham took first in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:48.65. Koski swam to a winning time of 4:26.02 in the 500 freestyle. Alaskari’s 48.45 was enough to claim first in the 100 butterfly, and Stewart posted a first-place time of 1:46.86 in the 200 individual medley. The team of Koski, Alec Cohen, Fink and Trice closed the meet for Georgia, stopping the clock at 2:58.42 in the 400 freestyle relay.

For the Lady Bulldogs, Ann-Perry Blank broke the women’s 1-meter diving Georgia dual-meet and Gabrielsen Natatorium records with a score of 327.98.

Margalis was the only double winner for the Lady Bulldogs. She swam in the 100 and 200 breaststroke with times of 1:00.76 and 2:13.99, respectively.

A host of different swimmers placed first for the Lady Bulldogs. Brittany MacLean won the 1,000 freestyle in 9:53.81. Amber McDermott took the 200 freestyle with her time of 1:49.93. In the 100 backstroke, Kimberlee John-Williams touched the wall first at 55.14. Nicole Vernon swam to a winning time of 1:59.97 in the 200 butterfly. Lauren Harrington won the 50 freestyle at 23.29. Vreeland took the 100 freestyle with a time of 50.07. Anna Neumeister touched the wall first at 1:59.16 in the 200 backstroke. Hali Flickinger had a first-place time of 4:52.51. In the 200 yard individual medley, Emily Cameron stopped the clock first at 2:00.19. Laura Ryan won the 3-meter diving with a score of 360.30.

In the 200 medley relay, the team of Olivia Smoliga, Margalis, Harrington and Chantal Van Landeghem touched in first at 1:40.71. The Lady Bulldogs also finished the meet with a winning time of 3:23.84 in the 400 freestyle relay by the team of Vreeland, Van Landeghem, Margalis and Smoliga.

The Bulldogs will return to action in the 2014 SEC Championships on Feb. 18-22. Georgia will host the event in Gabrielsen Natatorium. Tickets are required for admission to the meet. Visit georgiadogs.com for ticket information.

Alabama Press Release

Alabama swimming and diving’s last meet of the regular season was a coming out party for freshman Kristian Gkolomeev, who joined the Crimson Tide in January for the spring semester. Gkolomeev won both the 50 and 100 freestyles at Georgia in the first road meet of his Alabama career.

As a team, the Alabama men fell to the Bulldogs 164.5-116.5 while the Tide women lost 181-102 in Athens, Ga. during Georgia’s Senior Day.

Gkolomeev posted a time of 20.02 to win the 50 freestyle, which ranks him sixth all-time at Alabama in the 50 just three meets into his Alabama career. His time was more than a quarter of a second faster than the rest of the field. The rookie from Athens, Greece then came back and won the 100 freestyle with a 45.08, again more than a quarter of a second ahead of the field.

With Gkolomeev’s 50 time against Georgia, Alabama now has four men on its current roster that are ranked in the Tide’s all-time top-10, including sophomore Brett Walsh (fifth/20.01) and seniors Vlad Caciuc (fourth/19.86) and BJ Hornikel (second/19.71).

The Tide men also picked up wins off the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events when freshman Brent Sagert posted a 341.48 off the 1-meter to finish more than a dozen points better than his nearest competitor before coming back and winning the 3-meter with a 345.90..

On the women’s side of the meet, Alabama was led by junior Kristel Vourna who won the 100 butterfly with a 54.69.

With the regular season behind them, Alabama opens the postseason with the Southeastern Conference Championships Feb. 18-22 back in Athens, Ga.

For all the latest information on the Alabama swimming and diving teams, follow AlabamaSwimDive on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can be found @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.

Results For: Alabama vs. Georgia

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