{"id":600070,"date":"2024-11-23T18:10:52","date_gmt":"2024-11-24T01:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=600070"},"modified":"2024-11-23T18:10:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T01:10:52","slug":"georgia-tech-invite-michigan-off-to-hot-start-through-first-two-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/georgia-tech-invite-michigan-off-to-hot-start-through-first-two-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Tech Invite: Michigan Off to Hot Start Through First Two Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Georgia Tech Invite: Michigan Off to Hot Start Through First Two Days<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Michigan women’s team of\u00a0Stephanie Balduccini<\/strong>,\u00a0Brady Kendall<\/strong>,\u00a0Claire Newman<\/strong> and\u00a0Lindsay Flynn<\/strong> won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:27.21, with Flynn coming home in 21.49. Auburn, anchored by\u00a0Lora Komoroczy<\/strong> in 21.44, came in three tenths back in 1:27.51, with Georgia Tech third (1:28.96).<\/p>\n

The Wolverines went 1-2-3 in the 500 free, with Hannah Bellard<\/strong> edging out\u00a0Rebecca Diaconsecu<\/strong> for the win, 4:34.77 to 4:35.03.\u00a0Madison Smith <\/strong>came in third at 4:42.92. Balduccini clocked 1:55.82 for the win in the 200 IM, beating Florida State’s\u00a0Maddy Huggins<\/strong> (1:56.76) and Michigan teammate\u00a0Devon Kitchel<\/strong> (1:57.27). Flynn won the 50 free in 22.04, with Auburn’s\u00a0Lexie Mulvihill<\/strong> (22.16) and Newman (22.20) rounding out the top-three.<\/p>\n

Michigan’s winning streak would come to an end in the final event of the night, with Florida State earning the win by seven hundredths in the 400 medley relay. The Seminoles’\u00a0Alice Velden<\/strong>, Huggins,\u00a0Edith Jernstedt<\/strong> and\u00a0Gloria Muzito<\/strong> clocked 3:31.68, holding off the Wolverines<\/a> despite a nearly-heroic 46.99 closing split from Flynn.<\/p>\n

The Seminoles also opened day two in fine fashion. Jenny Halden<\/strong> stepped in for the butterfly leg alongside Veden, Huggins and Muzito to win in 1:35.13, followed by Auburn (1:36.00) and Michigan (1:36.17).<\/p>\n

Bellard got Michigan rolling again with a dominant win in the 400 IM, touching in 4:07.87. The top three also included Auburn’s Audrey Crawford<\/strong> (4:13.22) and Georgia Tech’s\u00a0Kendal Chunn<\/strong> (4:16.82).\u00a0Natalie Kan<\/strong> won the 100 fly for the Wolverines in 52.04, just ahead of the Florida State duo of Jernstedt (52.06) and Halden (52.18).<\/p>\n

Argubably the top swim of the meet thus far came from Balduccini in the 200 free, a race she dominated in 1:41.85. As a freshman, Balduccini finished 11th in the 200 free at the NCAA Championships, but her time Saturday evening would have been good enough for third at the national meet last year behind\u00a0Bella Sims<\/strong> and Anna Peplopwski<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Florida State’s Huggins touched out Auburn’s\u00a0Stasya Makarova<\/strong> to win the 100 breast, 59.39 to 59.40, and\u00a0Julia Mansson<\/strong> clocked 1:00.44 to make it a 1-3 finish for the Seminoles. Auburn’s\u00a0Lora Komoroczy<\/strong> finished first in the 100 backstroke in 52.17, followed by Florida State’s Velden (52.35) and Michigan’s\u00a0Casey Chung<\/strong> (52.63).<\/p>\n

Michigan dominated the 800 free relay to conclude Saturday’s session.\u00a0Bellard,\u00a0Malia Amuan<\/strong>, Balduccini and\u00a0Rebecca Diaconescu<\/strong> clocked 6:59.76, with the Michigan “B” team taking second (7:08.59) ahead of Georgia Tech (7:12.61) and Florida State (7:17.78).<\/p>\n