Duke, Georgia Tech Swimming Split ACC Match-Up

Photo Credit: Georgia Tech Athletics

ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech swimming and diving teams split their final home meet of the season with ACC rival Duke, as the Yellow Jacket men came out on top 200-88 and the women fell 196-104 on senior day.

Georgia Tech Press Release

The Georgia Tech swimming & diving team celebrated Senior Day Saturday at the GT Aquatic Center as senior Andrew Kosic led the men past Duke, 200-88, while the women were edged by the Blue Devils.

The Yellow Jacket men, who were receiving votes in the latest CSCAA Top 25 poll, defeated the Blue Devils 200-88 and improved their dual meet record to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in the ACC. The women were downed by Duke 196-104 and slipped to 6-8 overall, 2-3 in the ACC.

Tech honored its 10 seniors before the before: Kate Brandus, Elliott Brockelbank, Andrew Chetcuti, Dylan Kase, Andrew Kosic, Kelsey Maloney, Catherine Richards, Mark Sarman, Nico van Duijn and Kate Woolbright.

Women’s Highlights
• Sophomore Maddie Paschal was impressive in winning the 100 back in a time of 57.04, and she followed that up later with a second-place finish in the 200 back (2:04.07). Her 100 back time was a season best, and her 200 back time was a career marker.
• Shannon Lumbra was victorious on the 3-meter board, posting a score of 306.98, and she backed that up with a win on the 1-meter board (292.20).
• Freshman Morgan Lyons finished second in the 50 free, posting a time of 24.15. The rookie also placed second in the 100 free with a time of 52.63.
• On Senior Day, Catherine Richards won the 200 breast with a time of 2:21.31. She was followed in second place by Efrat Rotsztejn (2:21.71).
• The 400 free relay of Chiara Ruiu, MaryKathryn Terry, Xanna Tracy and Erika Staskevicius finished the meet with a second-place finish in a time of 3:32.55.

Men’s Highlights
• The 400 medley relay of Brian Woodbury, Mark Sarman, Ben Southern and Youssef Hammoud got things started strong for Georgia Tech with a winning time of 3:18.74.
• Kosic won three different individual events, taking the 50 free in 19.94, the 200 free in 1:39.36 and the 100 fly in 47.70. The 50 free and 100 fly times were each NCAA B-cuts.
• The Yellow Jackets swept the top three spots in the 1,650 free, paced by sophomore Yuval Safra’s winning time of 15:39.51. The debut of rookie Moises Loschi was a success as the mid-year enrollee from Italy placed second in 15:42.39 with Elliott Brockelbank in third (15:56.51).
• Safra, Loschi and Brockelbank also went 1-2-3 in the 500, with Safra clocking in at 4:31.92, Loschi in 4:34.98 and Brockelbank in 4:37.52.
• Tech also swept the 100 back, led by Brian Woodbury’s time of 50.37. Robert Borowicz (50.47) and Youssef Hammoud (50.57).
• Ben Southern took home the 200 fly, putting down a winning time of 1:49.76.
• Hammoud led a sweep of the top three spots in the 100 free with his winning time of 45.86. He was followed by Chetcuti in second (46.08) and Harasz (46.55) in third.
• Tech finished strong as its 400 free relays placed first and second. The relay of Kosic, Hammoud, Chetcuti and van Duijn were clocked in a winning time of 3:01.82, followed by Taylor Wilson, Mark Keaveney, Noah Harasz and Dan Cohan Solal in 3:05.44.

Quotes from head coach Courtney Shealy Hart
“It was a good meet getting back to racing after having been off for a little bit. Our women were missing some key people due to injury or illness, but they performed well. Hopefully we’ll have everyone back and ready to go in February. And our men had a great meet. They continue to race hard and continue to show that their hard work is paying off. It’s been fun to watch.”

“Obviously, it was emotional honoring our seniors before the meet, and it was great to see Kosic, Chetcuti and Catherine Richards all have strong meets today. She did a great job in the 200 breast. And I was happy to see Maddie Paschal have a season-best and a career-best in the backstroke.”

Up Next
At Virginia Tech next Saturday to battle the Hokies, the University of Miami and UNC Wilmington.

Duke Press Release

The Blue Devil women earned first-place finishes in 12 of 16 events to top Georgia Tech by a 196-104 score Saturday at the Yellow Jackets’ Aquatic Center. With the dual meet victory, the squad improved to 8-1 on the season (2-1 ACC) for the program’s most wins since the 2007-08 campaign.

On the men’s side, Duke dropped a 200-88 decision to Georgia Tech to slip to 4-5 overall and 0-3 in the conference.

“It’s always great to come swim in a world-class facility,” said head coach Dan Colella. “Our women did a much better job of really swimming with some intensity and determination from start to finish today. Last week we had such a great start, then had a little lull, but came back strong. Today we were able to come out of the gate strong and maintain all the way through. It was a much better team effort and as a result we came away with a nice victory.”

The women kicked off the meet in strong fashion, touching first in the 400-yard medley relay. Sophomore Jessie Sutherland, sophomore Ashleigh Shanley, freshman Isabella Paez and sophomore Maddie Rusch combined for a time of 3:49.19, while the Blue Devils’ ‘B’ team was third in 3:53.96.

Women’s swimmers notched individual victories in the next two events, with freshman Verity Abel leading a one-two finish by her and sophomore Lindsay Schlichte in the 1,650 freestyle and sophomore Brittany Friese headlining a Duke sweep in the 200 freestyle. Friese was first to the wall in 1:52.40 in that race, followed by Paez in a season-best 1:54.24 and sophomore Liza Bragg at 1:55.18.

After freshman Hanna House took second in the 100 backstroke, Duke women won the next three events to increase their lead over the Yellow Jackets. Goldman was the top finisher in the 100 breaststroke, recording a season-best time of 1:04.12, while Shanley was second (1:04.79). Sophomore Colleen Wixted followed by taking first in the 200 butterfly (2:04.36) and Rusch won the 50 freestyle in 23.45.

“We had people with some great swims today,” Colella said. “Brittany Friese early on had a really great 200 free. It might have been her best in-season, and it set her up for the 500 free later on. Leah Goldman continues to impress with her individual wins.”

The Blue Devil divers contributed scoring as well, as sophomore Kirby Quinn placed second in the women’s 3-meter springboard competition (279.15), junior Kendall McClenney third (272.48) and freshman MaryEllen Targonski fourth (266.33).

With the Duke women leading Georgia Tech 99-51 at the first break, Goldman collected her second individual win of the day in the 100 freestyle (51.93) and Bragg added a first-place showing in the 200 backstroke (2:04.07). Paez (5:03.61) and Friese (5:04.65) went one-two in the 500 freestyle and after Targonski paced the divers in the 1-meter event with a second-place finish (279.30), Goldman won her third event, the 100 butterfly. Her time of 55.53 led the field while Rusch was second (55.67) and junior Linsay Cooper third (57.17).

Freshman Lizzie Devitt, junior Kiera Molloy, Abel and Bragg claimed the top four spots in the 400 IM, and the women closed out the afternoon with a first-place performance by Goldman, Rusch, Cooper and junior Kathryn Eckhart in the 400 freestyle relay (3:30.68).

Sophomore Peter Kropp was a double winner for the Blue Devil men, taking the 100 (55.33) and 200 (2:02.44) breaststroke. Sophomore Michael Miller clocked a season-best mark of 4:01.03 to best the field in the 400 IM and was second in the 200 butterfly, while classmate Bradley Cline turned in a first-place showing in the 200 backstroke (1:50.61) and touched second in the 200 freestyle and the 400 IM. In addition, freshman Marco Hosfeld came in fourth in both distance events.

“On the men’s side we had some nice individual swims,” Colella said. “Hats off to [Georgia Tech head coach] Courtney [Shealy Hart] and her staff. They’ve been doing a great job and have been ranked in the top 25 almost all season. Our guys did a great job of racing with these guys today. We won some individual events and broke them up in some events they could have dominated.”

Following a week off of competition, Duke wraps up the regular season Friday, Jan. 30 in a 5 p.m. dual meet at North Carolina.

Results: Duke vs. Georgia Tech

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