In a hard-fought meet, University of Georgia swimming and diving remained unbeaten on the season as they topped a competitive Duke squad Saturday afternoon at the Taishoff Aquatics Center.
Team Scores
- Men: Georgia 170, Duke 130
- Women: Georgia 160, Duke 140
Georgia Swimming and Diving Press Release
Georgia’s top performer of the day was junior Courtney Harnish, who led all swimmers with 27 points and three wins. Harnish opened the scoring for Georgia with a 10:01.88 in the 1000 freestyle, followed shortly by a winning time of 1:48.25 in the 200 free. She finished her day with a victory in the 500 free (4:51.35), giving her wins in the 200 and 500 for the third-consecutive meet.
Fellow Georgia swimming and diving junior Danielle Della Torre swept the breaststroke events, taking the 100 (1:01.91) and 200 (2:14.74) for the first time this season, as well as swimming the second leg of Georgia’s victorious 400 freestyle relay. Della Torre was joined in the relay by junior Gabi Fa’amausili, senior Veronica Burchill and freshman Zoie Hartman in the anchor leg. Fa’amausili and Burchill narrowly missed wins in the 50 and 100 frees respectively, but combined for 13 points on the day.
Elsewhere for the Lady Bulldogs, senior diver McKensi Austin followed Friday’s win in the 1-meter with a first-place mark of 315.75 in the 3-meter, while also scoring in the 1-meter with a third-place finish. In the 200 butterfly, sophomore Dakota Luther remained unbeaten in the event this season with a B-cut time of 1:57.98, while senior Meryn McCann took first in the 200 backstroke at 1:58.71.
For the Bulldogs, juniors Camden Murphy, Jack Dalmolin and Greg Reed continued the impressive starts to their seasons, with each winning two races and racking up 18 points. Murphy tallied a 1:48.46 in the 200 fly, followed by a 48.57 mark in the 100 for the sweep, while Dalmolin took both breaststroke events (100: 56.08 / 200: 2:02.35). Reed was excellent in distance races, taking both the 1000 free (9:06.55) and 500 free (4:26.95), besting the field by seven seconds in the 1000.
Georgia swimming and diving senior Clayton Forde provided a consistent presence with his 16-point day, narrowly finishing behind Murphy in the 200 fly and third in the 200 breast before using a 25-second final lap to take the 400 IM. Freshman Harry Homans carried over his strong performance from Friday with three top-three finishes, including a thrilling win (1:46.80) in the 200 backstroke. Homans, along with teammates Andrew Abruzzo and Charlie Logan, swept the top three and helped put Georgia ahead for the remainder of the meet. Junior Grant Norgan also went back-to-back in the 200 free, posting a mark of 1:38.47. At the well, junior Zachary Allen scored for the Dawgs with a 3-meter mark of 362.78, nearly topping his career high.
Duke Press Release
“We are really proud of the way both teams swam and dove today,” Duke head swimming and diving coach Dan Colella said. “Georgia is a program that has a deep tradition. Our goal was to make our presence felt, and from start to finish we had some great performances that pushed the envelope today.”
Duke opened the meet winning both of the 200 medley relays for the second consecutive contest. Emma Shuppert, Halle Morris, Alyssa Marsh and Melissa Pish earned the win for the women in 1:39.44, a time that ranks ninth in Duke history in the event. Nathaniel Hartley, Colson Zucker, Charlie Gingrich and Miles Williams swam a 1:29.32 to take the event. William’s 19.57 50 free split as the anchor sealed the deal for the Blue Devils.
Marsh shined for the Blue Devils in the water, winning three events for Duke. She finished the 50 freestyle in a time of 22.62, an NCAA B cut time. The Davidson, N.C., native’s time of 50.08 made her the top finisher of the 100 freestyle. To finish her day, Marsh topped the 100 butterfly in 53.43 (B).
The Blue Devils swept the 100 backstroke as the women went one, two, three in the event and Hartley took it for the men. Emma Shuppert, Quinn Scannell and Shayna Hollander finished with times of 54.85, 55.34 and 55.82, respectively. Shuppert’s 54.85 in the event places her eighth in Duke history.
Matthew Whelan, Miles Williams and Connie Dean each added an additional individual win for the Blue Devils. Whelan topped the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.67. Williams finished fifth in the 50 freestyle but rebounded to finish first in the 100 freestyle with a time of 44.42. Dean won the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:19.53.
Duke finished the day with a win in the men’s 400 freestyle relay. The team of Sheldon Boboff, Coleman Kredich, Matthew Whelan and Miles Williams finished in 3:00.32 to end the meet on the right foot.
On the boards, the Blue Devils dominated. Nathaniel Hernandez topped the side in both the one-meter and three-meter events, earning 406.73 in the three-meter and 366.30 in the one-meter. Lizzie Fitzpatrick finished in first place in the one-meter and second in the three-meter with scores of 287.70 and 285.38, respectively.
“Overall, the divers did really well,” diving head coach Nunzio Esposto said. “We dove better than our first meet which is great. As we train more and more that is to be expected.”
Duke returns to action the weekend of Nov. 8-9 as the Blue Devils travel north to face Dartmouth and Connecticut at Boston College for a quad-meet on Friday at 3 p.m. Less than 24 hours later, Duke moves over to Harvard in a meet that will feature the Texas A&M men’s side in addition to the full Harvard team.
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