Florida State Men, Georgia Tech Women Take Wins in Early ACC Matchup

Photo Courtesy: Christa Salerno / Florida State Athletics

The (No. 18/RV) Florida State swimming and diving teams split the 2020 season opener against (RV/NR) Georgia Tech on Friday afternoon at the Morcom Aquatics Center.

Scores:

Men: Florida State 152, Georgia Tech 147
Women: Georgia Tech 176, Florida State 124
Results

Florida State Press Release

“I thought we did really well,” FSU head coach Neal Studd said. “I thought we fought really hard. We had some of our top athletes out. 2020 is different and we’ve got to go with what we’ve got. I’m excited with how they competed in this first meet of the year.”

In the men’s meet, the Seminoles jumped out to an early lead, winning five of the first seven swimming events, including four by ways of first and second place.

Florida State started by taking major first and second place points in both the 200 medley relay and 1000 free.

The team of freshman Mason Herbet, junior Izaak Bastian, sophomore Domen Demsar and junior Jakub Ksiazek (1:29.01) won the 200 medley relay ahead of junior Jackson Lucas, senior Jackson Seith, freshman Rush Clark and sophomore Blake Moran (1:31.62).

Rookies David Quirie (9:25.31) and Zach Smith (9:25.80) paced with each other and swam a one-two showing in the 1000 free.

Georgia Tech won the 200 free, the Seminoles answered with another one-two finish as Herbet led the charge in the 100 back (48.20) ahead of Lucas (50.28) in second place.

Bastian added a victory in the 100 breast (55.40) and Ksiazek (20.69) and Demsar (20.87) closed the early portion of the meet by placing first and second in the 50 free.

Senior Joshua Davidson led the Noles in 1-meter diving, scoring 325.50 for first place, ahead of freshman Jesco Helling (273.53) in third place and rookie Darwin Nolasco (270.83) in fifth.

The Yellow Jackets gained ground by winning the next two events, but sophomore Nick Vance dominated the 200 back, winning with a time of 1:48.57. Redshirt freshman Noah Young made his debut in the Garnet and Gold, touching in third place at 1:54.03, ahead of Jackson (1:57.52), who secured key fourth place points.

Bastian turned in a second place finish in the 200 breast (2:04.23), but Georgia Tech would not quit and added a one-two punch in the 500 free.

The Seminoles surrendered a victory in the 100 fly, but thanks to the depth in the event, the Noles were able to limit the damage as junior Max McCusker (48.56), Herbet (48.75) and Demsar (50.60) finished in second, third and fourth place, respectively.

After the final break, Vance (1:49.76), Herbet (1:51.66) and Lucas (1:54.04) placed second, third and fourth in the 200 IM, just putting the meet out of reach for the Yellow Jackets heading into the final relay.

FSU would take second place in the 400 free relay behind, McCusker, Ksiazek, Demsar and sophomore Aziz Ghaffari (2:59.87), taking the meet by five points.

Without key swimmers in the women’s meet, the Noles had to switch around the lineup and call upon its freshmen to step up.

The Seminoles bested the Yellow Jackets in the sprints, finishing in first, second and third place in the 100 free behind senior Rebecca Moynihan (51.73) leading the way, followed by freshman Gabrianna Banks (52.46) in second and senior Emma Terebo (52.53) in third.

Prior to the 100 free, Moynihan (23.56) and Banks (23.84) added a one-two punch in the 50 free.

Rookie Samantha Vear was the winner on 1-meter in her collegiate debut, scoring a tally of 253.30.

“We’ve been back for three full weeks of practice,” FSU head diving coach John Proctor said. “We’re on the second sentence of the first paragraph of page one. I think they did a great job. There were certain points that we didn’t think that any of this was going to happen and here we are. It’s nice to be back in here and for these guys to have to opportunity to do what they love to do.”

Freshman Phoebe Griffiths turned in a pair of close runner-up finishes, touching with a time of 1:51.60 in the 200 free, just four-one-hundredths off the win. She later took second in the 500 free at 4:57.12 by one one-hundredth.

Her countryman and classmate Pia Murray also added two second place showings in the backstroke events, touching with a time of 56.02 in the 100 and 2:01.94 in the 200.

FSU added a victory in the 400 free relay to close out the meet behind senior Ana Zortea, Griffiths, Terebo, and Moynihan with a time of 3:28.32.

“All-in-all, I’m excited with what we saw today,” Studd added. “We still have things to fix and but it’s great the season is here and we’re getting things going. We’re thankful and grateful we get to do this. We’re happy we’re back and it’s nice to get a win.”

Georgia Tech Release

In a thrilling season opening battle, Georgia Tech swimming & diving used 21 gold medals across 32 events to split on the road against Florida State in Tallahassee, Fl., on Friday afternoon.

Tech’s women left The Sunshine State with their first win of the year, topping the Seminoles 176-124. On the men’s end of things the Jackets lost a close fight 152-147. Combined the Yellow Jackets beat FSU with a score of 323-276.

“We are grateful that our teams had the opportunity to compete today,” said Toni M. and Richard L. Bergmark Swimming & Diving head coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “Our team has been working hard and It was great to see them against FSU today. FSU has a great team so a dual meet with them is always fun.”

The Yellow Jacket women started the meet off fast as they took first with a time of 1:44.28 in the 200 Medley Relay, with juniors Allie Paschal, Nicole Williams, Emily Graham and sophomore McKenzie Campbell leading the way.

Sophomore transfer Duda Seifer opened the day for Tech with a first-place finish in the 1000 Free, clocking in at 10:12.01. She would follow that performance up with another first-place finish in the 500 Free, swimming to a 4:57.11 finish, just milliseconds ahead of second-place finisher Phoebe Griffiths (4:57.12) of FSU.

Tech was able to sweep the top-three in two separate events, winning the Women’s 100 & 200 Breast events. The 100 Breast squad trio saw senior Catriona MacGregor (1st, 1:04.29), Williams (2nd, 1:04.75) & true freshman Claudia Butterfield (3rd, 1:04.90) earn the Jackets their first event sweep of the day. Butterfield (2nd, 2:20.36) and Williams (3rd, 2:21.65) joined senior Julia Shuford (1st, 2:20.07) in the top-three in the 200 Breast.

Senior Caio Pumputis had a solid day taking Gold in three separate events. He was the first Yellow Jacket men’s swimmer to put first-place points on the board in the Men’s 200 Free (1:37.32). Later in the meet he would post a 1:56.70 mark in the Men’s 200 Breast, finishing in first nearly eight full seconds ahead of FSU’s second-place finisher Izaak Bastian (2:04.23). Pumputis earned his third first-place finish of the day in the 200 IM, coming in at 1:48.92.

Fellow senior Christian Ferraro also captured Gold in three events, as he placed first in the Men’s 200 Fly (1:46.41), 100 Free (45.02) and 100 Fly (47.74). Both seniors teamed up with freshman Grant Allison and sophomore Darren Lim to take first in the 400 Free Relay (2:58.69), shrinking FSU’s margin of victory to just five points.

Pumputis’s 200 Breast and Ferraro’s 200 Fly times were both fast enough to earn a B Standard for NCAA’s this year.

The diving squad took the top-two spots in both the men’s & women’s 3m competition, with sophomore’s Carmen Woodruff (266.63) & Ruben Lechuga (328.58) each taking first. It was a close fight on the women’s end of the 3m contest as fellow true freshman Anna Bradescu placed second at 263.25 points. Senior Jacob Kreider (286.95) was the second-place diver in that event on the men’s side.

“I am so happy for our ladies,” Shealy Hart added. “Our women winning is a huge stepping stone for us and our long-term goals. Our men fought hard and it came down to the last two few events. We are looking forward to getting everyone back and competing at the UGA Invite in two weeks.”

True freshman Rei Kuramoto shined in her collegiate debut taking first in the 200 Free at 1:51.56. Seifer would join her in the top-three in that event as she placed third (1:53.65). The Women’s 100 Fly saw Kuramoto earning another first-place finish as she won in 56.59.

MacGregor followed up her first-place performance in the 100 Breast with another victory in the 200 IM, touching the wall at 2:04.77. Campbell was right behind her taking second at 2:06.54.

Paschal was another member of the women’s 200 Medley Relay squad that saw similar successful results later on in the meet. She would take first in the both the 100 Back (55.48) & 200 Back (1:59.83).

Woodruff (249.83) and Bradescu (239.55) competed well in the 1m diving competition taking second- and third-place, respectively, to go along with their top-two performance in the 3m.

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