Nov. 22, 2009

Seminoles Soar At Georgia Tech Invite
From beginning to end Florida State’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams dominated at the Georgia Tech Invite. In all the teams earned 21 event wins and 32 NCAA B-cut qualifying times.

On the women’s side, Florida State earned an overall score of 977.5. The team’s nearest competitors were rival Florida with 933.5 points and ACC foe Clemson with 471. Day Three brought the women wins in four of the final seven meet events and four B-cut times.

The women began the final day with a sweep of the top three spots, and an overall six of the top ten spots in the 1650 free. Freshman Marissa Harrington earned a B-cut time of 16:36.90 to claim the top spot in the event. Freshman Caroline Smith came in second (16:43.82) and Holly Mills came in third (16:43.82). Charlotte Broadbent (sixth, 17:02.81), Anja Buehner (eighth, 17:12.18) and Corey Allison (ninth, 17:16.47) rounded out the strong distance showing for the Seminoles.

Clemson Swimming and Diving Concludes Competition at Georgia Tech Invite
The Clemson men's and women's swimming and diving teams finished the Georgia Tech Invitational on Sunday afternoon with both teams taking third place in a meet that featured some of the top athletes in the country. The women's team finished with 471 points and the men had 486 points.

Clemson had another relay team earn a NCAA-B time as the men's group of sophomores Seth Broster, Myles Oliver, Chris Reinke and Chris Dart took third in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:00.80.

The 200 backstroke was a strong event for the Tiger men as senior Tom Recko took second, sophomore Chris Dart finished fourth and freshman Andrew Abeysinghe took eighth.

Georgia Tech Swimming & Diving Finish Fourth at GT Invitational
The Georgia Tech men's and women's swimming and diving teams ended the final day of competition at the 2009 GT Invitational on Sunday in fourth place, as the men's team tallied 453 points on the weekend, while the women's squad finished with 392.5 points.

Overall, Florida State finished first on both the men's and women's sides. The Seminole men ended the weekend with 1055 points, while the women finished with 977.5 points.

Action started on the afternoon with the finals in the women's 1650-free, in which senior Jing Li was Tech's top finisher with an 11th place finish in 17:18.98 to earn the Jackets six points. On the men's side, freshman Colin Schouten was Georgia Tech's top finisher in 11th in a time of 16:14.43 to earn six points. 

Henley, McCann Post Top Times at GT Invite
Marifrances Henley and Christina McCann posted two more all-time top-10 times as NC State finished its stay at the Georgia Tech Invitational on Sunday, Nov. 22.

Henley recorded the sixth-fastest 100 freestyle in Wolfpack history with a 51.51, while McCann swam the ninth-best 200 breaststroke ever at NC State with a 2:20.24.

Both the men’s (340 points) and women’s (338) teams finished in fifth-place. The weekend was certainly a productive one for the Pack, as both Anna Linkenauger (400 IM) and Mason McGee (500 freestyle) hit NCAA “B Cut” qualifiers, while the women’s squad recorded 10 top-10 all-time marks – including two each from Henley and Jen Kopenitz.

Nov. 21, 2009

UNC Swimmers & Divers Run Away With Gamecock Invitational Titles
The University of North Carolina men's and women's swimming and diving teams concluded a successful weekend by taking team victories in the Gamecock Invitational at the Carolina Natatorium. The UNC women won the team title by a margin of 408 points over runnerup Duke while the UNC men had a separation of 342 points over second-place South Carolina.

Redshirt sophomore David MacDonald continued to shine as he set his second school record in two days, taking top honors in men's one-meter diving. MacDonald had a score of 367.45 points on Saturday night to break the old school standard of 345.85 points set by Ryan Funderburk in 2006. On Friday night, MacDonald also broke Funderburk's school record in three-meter diving.

On the final night of competition, the Tar Heel women took home individual honors in a pair of events with sophomore Laura Moriarty winning the 200-yard breaststroke and freshman Katie Nolan taking home first place in the 200-yard butterfly. 

Terps Repeat at 2009 Terrapin Cup
The Maryland women's swimming and diving team racked up a massive 1,072 points en route to its second straight Terrapin Cup title, which concluded Saturday at Eppley Recreation Natatorium.

Ginny Glover (1:58.91) and Jackie Davidson (2:01.99) finished first and third in the 200 back, respectively. The Terps landed four swimmers in the 100 free finals, led by a second-place finish from Annie Fittin (50.75). Laura Wright (51.17), Glover (51.20) and Megan Lafferty (51.48) also landed in the top eight for Maryland. Alexa Hamilton continued to shine in the breast events, winning the 200 (2:15.76) while fellow sophomore Ashley Cox finished fifth (2:21.83).

Maryland boasted a phenomenal five Terps in the finals of the 200 fly. All-American Jen Vogel won the event (1:59.56) with Addison Koelle (2:02.29), Patty DeScenza (2:02.68) and Meggie Schmidt (2:02.69) capturing the next three spots. Nina Rossi finished eighth (2:05.79) to round out Maryland's dominance in the fly Saturday.

Maryland Wins 2009 Terrapin Cup
The Maryland men's swimming team racked up 1,144 points to win the three-day 2009 Terrapin Cup in commanding fashion, which concluded Saturday at Eppley Recreation Natatorium.

Chris Rouchard led the evening finals off with a win and a lifetime best in the 1650 free (15:39.60). Freshman Nick Evans added a third-place finish (15:50.01) and Brian Honore took fifth (15:54.23). Andrew Relihan continued his stellar sophomore campaign with a second-place finish in the 200 back (1:47.52) and was followed by three other Terps in the top eight, including Drew Fisher (1:50.26), Alex Spina (1:50.91) and Myles Poster (1:52.79).

Mitch Challacombe led Maryland in the 100 free, touching the wall second (45.26) while freshman Andrew McGehee took third in the 200 breast (2:08.16).

FSU Still Leads At Ga Tech Invite
The Seminoles continued to push themselves on Day Two of the Georgia Tech Invite. Earning a combined seven event wins and 12 NCAA B-cut qualifying times, the Seminole's continue to lead heading into the final day of the meet.

The Florida State women's team earned 317.5 points Saturday to increase their overall meet score to 654.5.

The women started the finals with a second place finish in the 200 medley relay. Shanda Casella, Kristine Polley, CJ Hendry and Brittany Selts combined for a B-cut time of 1:42.20. 

Tech women finish second at Volunteer Invitational, men place fourth
The Virginia Tech H2Okie swim teams concluded their fall season with second and fourth-place finishes in the three-day Volunteer Invitational held at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center on Saturday. The No. 17 Lady H2Okies held their ground for a second-place finish with 799 points, while the No. 23 men took fourth with 598 points. Kentucky took first for the women with 837.5 points, with Tennessee placing third behind Tech and Alabama fourth. Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama finished first, second and third, respectively, on the men’s side, as the Vols finished with 872.5 points.

Erika Hajnal added to her already-impressive resume throughout the three-day meet, earning two titles and two additional NCAA “B” cuts in the 1650 freestyle and 200 butterfly events, supplementing a first-place finish in the 500 freestyle and second-place finish in the 400 IM earlier in the meet. Hajnal broke the pool record in the 1650 free with a top-finish in 16:09.92, 25 seconds quicker than the next finisher. The Budapest, Hungary, native was also dominant in the 200 fly, finishing in 1:59.18. Both times were season-best marks for the sophomore.

Lauren Ritter took third in the mile freestyle behind Hajnal with a time of 16:46.45, while Laura Simon added a fifth-place finish. Alabama took the top-two spots in the men’s 1650 free, while Blake Trabuchi-Downey guided the men’s anchor with a seventh-place spot in 15:46.80, a season-best mark. Philip LaRosa, Caglar Gokbulut and Griffin Lutterbein rounded out the top-10. 

Tigers Finish Second Day at Georgia Tech Invite
The Clemson men's and women's swimming and diving teams concluded their second day of action at the Georgia Tech Invite Saturday. Both teams maintained the third place standings among some of the top swimmers in the country.

The women started the day off strong as the relay group of Kelli Kyle, Katrina Obas, Maddie Tarantolo and Meg Anderson finished third in the 200 medley relay with a NCAA-B cut time of 1:42.58. Kyle earned another NCAA-B cut time as she finished second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 54.80.

Junior Elizabeth Savage took tenth in the 400 IM with Tori Cervone and Katrina Obas also scoring in the event. Maddie Tarantolo and Heather Savage tied for fifth in the 100 butterfly. Tarantolo set a career best time of 55.00, which also moved her into third place in Clemson history in that event. 

Georgia Tech Swimming & Diving Remain in Fourth after Day Two of GT Invitational
After two full days of competition at the 2009 Georgia Tech Invitational, both the Yellow Jacket men's and women's swimming & diving teams remained in fourth place overall, as the men's squad has 308 points while the women have 209.5 points.

Overall, Florida State remained in first place on both the men's and women's sides. The Seminole men have 696 points, while the women's squad has 654.5 points.

Things started off on the night with the women's 200-medley relay, as the team of Heidi Hatteberg, Christine Chuang, Lisa Pucci and Agatha Kwasnik finished sixth in a time of 1:44.74 to earn the Yellow Jackets 26 points. In the men's 200-medley relay, Matt Tang, Jeremy Jackson, Eric Chiu and Nigel Plummer finished third after hitting the wall in 1:30.93. The effort earned the Yellow Jacket men's squad 32 points. 

NC State Continues at GT Invite
Anna Linkenauger hit an NCAA “B Cut” qualifier and the NC State women’s swimming team posted five top-10 all-time marks as action continued on day two of the Georgia Tech Invitational.

Both the men’s (236 points) and women’s (237 points) squads remain in fifth-place overall.

Gaites Brown, Dan Forsythe, Mike Seiferth and Conor Brennan placed fifth in the 200-medley relay with a 1:33.11, while Kevin Woodhull-Smith took eighth in the 400 IM finals after swimming a 4:04:33 in the prelims. Daniel Basler finished 13th in the 100 butterfly with a 50.59, while Sean Reams (50.48) and Seiferth (50.94) also competed. 

Duke Women Finish Second, Men Third at Gamecock Invitational
The Duke swimming programs finished up the weekend long Gamecock Invitational on Saturday evening. The women took second place in a nine-team field, beating the likes of South Carolina and historic swimming powerhouse, Florida. Their male counterparts held on to third place , swimming past Florida but failing to defeat North Carolina and South Carolina.

The Day 3 finals session began with the 1650 freestyle and that meant another title-defending effort from the junior Ashley Twichell. Last year she swam a 16:06.76 in the event to set the meet record. This year she finished just five seconds long of that mark but it was still a strong enough performance to win the event by 32 seconds. Senior Jackie Fasano supported Twichell’s winning effort with a sixth-place finish in a time of 17:00.29. Rose O'Connor also competed in the mile swim, scoring five points for the women with a 12th-place finish.

In the men’s 1650 freestyle, Duke was only able to offer one scoring swimmer; Nathan French took 11th place in 16:02.52 which earned the team six points. However, four other Blue Devils gained invaluable experience by swimming the grueling event against some of the nation’s top competitors. Alex Harmon, Hunter Roux, Matt Carder, and Andrew Clark each got a swim of the 1650 under their belts which will bode well come the ACC Championships.

Nov. 20, 2009

FSU Leads At Georgia Tech Invite
Florida State's swimming and diving teams got off to an excellent start at the Georgia Tech Invite on Friday. At the end of the first day of competition both teams are in first place. The women's team leads with 337 points, while the men's team is in first with 301.5 points.

In all 24 Seminoles competed in finals heats, 13 competed in consolation heats and six were in the bonus heats.

On the first day the women's team earned three first place finishes and four NCAA B-cut qualifying times. 

Tar Heels Continue Outstanding Performance At Gamecock Invitational
The University of North Carolina's Jenna Moore and David MacDonald set school records in women's one-meter and men's three-meter diving, respectively, as the University of North Carolina increased its lead on the second day of the 2009 Gamecock Invitational at the Carolina Natatorium.

Moore's score of 290.25 on the one-meter board allowed the sophomore to break the previous school record set by Mandi Arak in 2005 with 283.50 points. MacDonald shattered both the Carolina Natatorium pool record for men's three-meter diving which was 409 points, but he also took down Ryan Funderburk's school record mark of 413.25 points which had been set in 2007. MacDonald's score Friday was 447.50 points as he beat the second-place finisher in the event by almost 60 points.

In the team race, the Tar Heel women lead the competition with 824 points after the second day, followed by Duke with 526, East Carolina with 355.5, South Carolina with 333.5, James Madison with 142, Florida with 129, Georgia Southern with 91, Old Dominion with 75 and College of Charleston with four points.

Maryland Extends Terp Cup Lead
The Maryland women's swimming and diving team extended its comfortable lead at the 2009 Terrapin Cup on Friday at Eppley Recreation Natatorium.

Maryland started the evening finals with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:42.68) as Annie Fittin, Nina Rossi, Jen Vogel and Megan Lafferty captured Maryland's third relay win of the invitational.

The Terps reigned supreme in the 100 fly, racking up five of the top eight finishes in the final. Vogel led the way with a second-place finish (54.19), followed by Fittin (55.03) in third and Patty DeScenza (56.00) in fifth.

Yellow Jacket Men and Women Fourth After Day One of GT Invitational
After one full day of competition at the 2009 Georgia Tech Invitational, both the Yellow Jacket men's and women's swimming and & diving teams are in fourth place, as the men's squad tallied 140 points on the night, while the women ended the first day of competition with 102 points.

Overall, Florida State is in first place on both the men's and women's sides. The Seminole men have 337 points, while the women's squad has 301.5 points.

Action kicked off in the finals with the women's 200-free relay, as the team of Jessie Mason, Kate Riley, Keren Siebner and Agatha Kwasnik finished fourth after hitting the wall in 1:33.57, to earn the Yellow Jackets 30 points. On the men's side, the team of Nigel Plummer, Jeremy Jackson, Jeffrey Phillips and Sullivan Lynch also placed fourth in 1:22.18 to earn 30 points. 

Clemson Swimming and Diving Completes First Day in Atlanta
The Clemson men's and women's swimming and diving teams finished the first day in with both teams currently sitting in third place at the Georgia Tech Invitational after Friday's action.

The men's 200 free relay team of Eric Bruck, Myles Oliver, Seth Broster and Chris Dart finished third with a time of 1:21.86. Top 25 ranked Florida State and Florida edged them out to finish first and second respectively. Junior David Gordon had a seventh place finish in the 500 free and sophomore Chris Dart took sixth in the 200 IM with a lifetime best 1:50.28.

Freshman Eric Bruck took third in the 50 freestyle, with a time of 20.43 in the finals. Clemson's men finished the night off with a fourth place finish in the 400 medley relay. In diving, Clemson's David Giambra took eighth on the three-meter boards.

Hajnal, deMarrais lead H2Okies through day two of Invitational
Kelly deMarrais and Erika Hajnal were significant contributors for the H2Okies on the second day of the Volunteer Invitational, posting top finishes and earning NCAA qualifying marks, and helping the women keep the second-place spot with 548.5 points. The men remain in fourth with 949.5 points.

deMarrais and Hajnal paced the No. 17 women's team with first and second-place finishes in the 200 free and 400 IM, respectively, each earning NCAA "B" qualifying marks. After winning the preliminary 200 freestyle race, deMarrais came out even stronger in the finals, beating her preliminary mark and taking first with a finish in 1:48.06, half a second off of her school-record time. Hajnal added a second-place finish in the women's 400 IM event with a season-best mark of 4:18.04. Both deMarrais and Hajnal earned NCAA "B" qualifying marks in the 500 freestyle on Thursday as well.

The deMarrais and Hajnal duo would strike again in the day's final event, helping the women's 800 freestyle team earn the first-place title with a finishing time of 7:21.24 and notch an NCAA "B" qualifying mark.

McGee, Kopenitz, Henley Shine at GT Invite
The NC State swimming and diving program put up one NCAA "B Cut" qualifier and three all-time top-10 times in a productive first day at the Georgia Tech Invitational on Friday, Nov. 20.

Mason McGee hit an NCAA "B cut" in the men's 500 freestyle with a time of 4:26.12. Jen Kopenitz recorded the second-fastest women's 200 IM in school history with a 2:03.70 in the prelims, while Marifrances Henley's 4:54.41 is the sixth-fastest all-time in the women's 500 freestyle. Henley, Allison Hendren, Patrice Dason and Ashley Richter also recorded the second-fastest 200-freestyle relay in school history with a 1:34.13.

Both the men's and women's teams ended the first day of action in fifth-place, with the men owning 111 points and the women holding 91.

Booth Leads Duke on Day 2 of Gamecock Invitational
By the conclusion of Day 2 of the Gamecock Invitational, the Blue Devil men and women strengthened their holds on third and second places, respectively. The men have earned 341 points which ranks behind the 578.5 points of host South Carolina and the 795.5 points of North Carolina. The women have amassed 526 points which trails only North Carolina (824); the next closest squad is East Carolina with 355.5 points.

On Day 2, the women carried out the Colella game plan to perfection; qualify as many swimmers for finals as possible. Of the 35 Duke women who competed in individual qualifiers on Friday morning, 24 earned berths in the evening finals session (a 69% qualifying rate).

To begin the evening, the Blue Devil women took second and fourth place in the 200 yard medley relay, earning 64 points toward the team score. The first individual event was the 400 IM which saw two Duke swimmers, Jessica Perry and Kaitlin Ray, finish in the top eight. Perry took third place in a time of 4:26.36 while Ray stopped the clock in 4:34.90, giving her rights to eighth place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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