NCAA Men’s Championships: Sates, Magahey, Urlando Lead Overachieving Georgia Bulldogs

Matt Sates -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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NCAA Men’s Championships: Sates, Magahey, Urlando Lead Overachieving Georgia Bulldogs

Particularly on the men’s side, the Georgia Bulldogs typically lack sprint depth that delivers NCAA team championships. Still, head coach Jack Bauerle’s group has produced national-championship-caliber individual swimmers year after year, and many of those swimmers have gone on to achieve significant international success. It was just eight months ago that the Georgia-trained duo of Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland placed 1-2 in the men’s 400 IM at the Olympics and Nic Fink took fifth in the 200 breaststroke at the Olympics after a decade training in Athens.

Now, Georgia has three of those swimmers already making an impact on the college level, all with obvious potential for more on a grander stage. Sure, Georgia probably lacks the sprint depth necessary to contend for one of the top spots at the NCAA Men’s Championships, and honestly, the Bulldogs might not sniff the top-eight in a relay again after Wednesday’s runnerup finish in the 800 freestyle relay. Still, the group of Matt Sates, Jake Magahey and Luca Urlando make up one of the country’s top trios.

Luca Urlando — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Urlando, 20, is a sophomore at Georgia and very much a veteran. He first jumped onto the national scene as a 16-year-old when he placed third in the 200-meter butterfly at U.S. Nationals, and a year later, he became the third-fastest American ever in the event at 1:53.84. He looked like a future star, a potential successor to Michael Phelps as the leader for the United States in the event. But in 2020 and 2021, it did not come together as planned for Urlando. He topped out at fourth place in the 200-yard fly at his first NCAA Championships, and then he finished a heartbreaking third place in the 200-meter fly at U.S. Olympic Trials, missing a spot on the Olympic team by less than a tenth.

Magahey, another 20-year-old sophomore, was a huge success story in his first year with the Bulldogs as he made a rapid jump onto the national level, culminating in a surprise win in the 500 free at the NCAA Championships and a second-place finish in the 1650 free. However, he did not achieve that same form in long course as he aimed for the Olympic Trials in June.

Finally, there’s Sates, an 18-year-old freshman who was an Olympic semifinalist in the 200 IM in Tokyo while representing South Africa. That was impressive, but it was just a taste of what he could do. During the fall, he broke world junior records in short course meters in the 200 IM and 200 freestyle on the FINA World Cup circuit. Most impressive were a pair of victories over Olympic gold medalist Kyle Chalmers in the 200 free. Just a few months later, Sates moved across the world to Athens, and he quickly acclimated to the unique format that is short course yards racing.

Barely two months later, Sates already has an individual NCAA title under his belt as he and his Georgia teammates have been very impressive through the first two days of the meet.

After Sates, Urlando, Zach Hils and Magahey jumped up from the sixth seed in the 800 free relay to second place, Sates returned for the 500 free to pull off one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent college swimming memory. At the 300-yard mark, Sates flipped in fifth place. He was a whopping 2.27 seconds behind Florida’s Kieran Smith, the owner of the fastest time in history. But then Sates flipped a switch. His last four splits were 25.04, 24.21, 23.98 and 23.87. That pulled him even with the field with 100 yards to go, and with just two lengths remaining, he was almost a second ahead of any swimmer not wearing a Georgia cap.

Any swimmer that is, except Magahey. As Sates blasted past the field, Magahey stuck with him. Sates hit the wall in 4:06.61, and Magahey was second in 4:07.39 for a Georgia 1-2.

One event later, Urlando swam in lane one in the 200 IM final. Certainly, Urlando is best-known for his butterfly , and he has solid mid-distance freestyle skills. The individual medley has not been a main focus for him, and he did not even swim the event at the 2021 NCAA Championships. Before the SEC Championships, his best time stood at 1:42.81, nowhere near the level needed to score on the national level.

Now? Urlando is the sixth-fastest performer in history, having improved to 1:41.19 at the SEC Championships, 1:40.65 in Thursday’s prelims to qualify for the NCAA final (the fastest in history) and then a huge 1:39.22 in the final to place third. Sure, he was overshadowed by Leon Marchand taking down Caeleb Dressel’s U.S. Open and NCAA records in the event, becoming the first man ever under 1:38, and also by Destin Lasco in the Cal sophomore’s brilliant runnerup finish, but Urlando swam a time that would have won all but one of the previous NCAA Championships in history. He topped that off with a swift 18.79 split on the Bulldogs’ 11th-place 200 free relay.

Did we mention that Urlando is better in the butterfly events? Surely, the field will be on the lookout for his 100 fly Friday, where he enters as the third seed, and the 200 fly, where he is ranked second behind Nick Albiero.

Speaking of what’s to come, Sates is undoubtedly a title threat in the 200 free, where he will face off against Smith, Texas’ Drew Kibler and Arizona State’s Grant House, and he also figures to contend in the 200 fly. Magahey will have trouble fending off Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke in the 1650 free, but he is a solid bet for second place.

Regarding the team race, Georgia currently sits sixth with 100 points, and given the Bulldogs’ relative weakness in backstroke, breaststroke and sprint freestyle, it’s tough to see them making a run for a top-five finish like last year. The projected top five of Cal, Texas, Florida, NC State and Arizona State is going to be tough to crack, and Indiana and Stanford should be tough as well. But Georgia has already surpassed its pre-meet 11th-place seed to now be projected for an eighth-place finish at the end of the week. If Sates, Magahey and Urlando can continue to perform like stars, that will make the task of climbing up the rankings a little less daunting.

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