2023 Georgia Invite: Day 1 Prelims Live Recap

2023 Georgia Invitational

• November 16-18, 2023
• Gabrielsen Natatorium, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
• Prelims start at 9:30AM Eastern, Finals at 5:30 PM Eastern
• Participating teams: #3M/#6W Florida, #13M/#25W Auburn, #17M/#15W Michigan, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Wisconsin (diving)
• Live Stream Links (different per session)
• Meet Results

The 2023 Georgia Invitational kicks off on Thursday morning with top 25 ranked teams from #3M/#6W Florida, #13M/#25W Auburn, #17M/#15W Michigan, plus hot-handed Florida State and Georgia Tech teams and the Wisconsin divers.

Day 1 will feature the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free in prelims plus timed-finals of the 200 free relay and 400 medley relay in finals.

WOMEN’S 500-YARD FREESTYLE — PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 4:24.06 — Katie Ledecky, Stanford (2017)
• 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 4:37.89
• 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 4:41.09

Top 8:

1. Dune Coetzee (UGA), 4:35.72
2. Bella Sims (FLOR), 4:35.75
3. Rachel Stege (UGA), 4:37.63
4. Abby McCulloh (UGA), 4:38.11
5. Sloane Reinstein (UGA), 4:38.79
6. Emma Weyant (FLOR), 4:39.56
7. Averee Preble (AUB), 4:42.25
8. Hannah Bellard (MICH), 4:42.49

Georgia junior Dune Coetzee dropped nearly three seconds to lead the field in the women’s 500 free, edging out Florida freshman Bella Sims in a time of 4:35.72.

The swim for Coetzee lowers her personal best time down from 4:38.54, set at the 2023 NCAA Championships (in the prelims) where she finished 8th.

Her swim this morning was faster than what was required to win the NCAA title last season (4:36.62), as was the performance from Sims, who was just .03 back in 4:35.72 to mark her fastest time (so far) in college.

Sims is one of the fastest swimmers in history with her lifetime best standing at a sizzling 4:28.64.

UGA sophomore Rachel Stege, the reigning SEC champion in the event, advanced 3rd overall in 4:37.63, nearing what she produced in last season’s NCAA final (4:37.32) where she finished 5th. Stege set a PB of 4:36.31 at SECs.

Two other Lady Bulldogs were under 4:39, with Abby McCulloh (4:38.11) and Sloane Reinstein (4:38.79) both setting new lifetime bests. Reinstein in particular dropped big, going from 4:43.17 down to 4:38.79.

MEN’S 500-YARD FREESTYLE — PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 4:06.32 — Kieran Smith, Florida (2020)
• 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 4:10.74
• 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 4:14.36

Top 8:

1. Jake Magahey (UGA), 4:13.79
2. Mason Mathias (AUB), 4:14.21
3. Michael Bonson (AUB), 4:15.13
4. Oskar Lindholm (FLOR) / Jake Mitchell (FLOR), 4:15.21
5. –
6. Gio Linscheer (FLOR), 4:15.98
7. Yordan Yanchev (FSU), 4:17.09
8. Sam Powe (UGA), 4:17.30

Jake Magahey set the tone for the UGA men with a blistering prelim swim in the 500 free, firing off a time of 4:13.79 to knock more than a second off his season-best set earlier this month (4:15.07).

Auburn’s Mason Mathias (4:14.21) and Michael Bonson (4:15.13) had solid showings to qualify 2nd and 3rd, with both owning personal bests in the 4:12 range from the 2023 NCAAs.

Florida had the next three qualifiers, all in the 4:15s, with Oskar Lindholm and Jake Mitchell tying for 4th in 4:15.21.

Magahey (3rd), Mitchell (5th), Mathias (15th) and Bonson (16th) all earned second swims in the event at the 2023 NCAAs.

WOMEN’S 200-YARD IM — PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 1:48.37 — Kate Douglass, Virginia (2023)
• 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 1:53.66
• 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 1:56.90

Top 8:

1. Isabel Ivey, Florida – 1:54.65
2. Zoie Hartman, Georgia – 1:56.09
3. Zoe Dixon, Florida – 1:56.62
4. Hannah Ownbey, Auburn – 1:57.12
5. Stephanie Balduccini, Michigan – 1:57.15
6. Aris Runnels, Florida – 1:58.58
7. Devon Kitchel, Michigan – 1:58.59
8. Maddy Huggins, Florida St. – 1:58.75

Florida newcomers continued to make a huge impact for the Gators on Thursday. After the freshman Sims affirmed her candidacy for an NCAA title in the 500 free, Cal transfer Isabel Ivey roared to the top seed in the 200 IM prelims in 1:54.65.

Ivey, the 3rd place finisher in the 200 IM at her last NCAA Championship meet in 2022, has had an eclectic collection of championship events in her college career to date. Now with easily the best time in the NCAA so far this season (Ieva Maluka from Arizona State swam 1:55.61 at the NC State Invitational).

Zoie Hartman of Georgia, the SEC Champion, cruised to a 1:56.09 to qualify 2nd. That’s slower than she was mid-season last year in prelims, but finals will validate that trend. She had trouble maintaining her speed from SECs to NCAAs last year, so a different approach to this season isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Zoe Dixon of Florida was 3rd in 1:56.62, which isn’t a best time but is three-tenths better than she was at NCAAs last year (1:56.98). The same is true for Auburn’s Hannah Ownbey (1:57.12 vs. 1:58.26).

MEN’S 200-YARD IM — PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 1:36.34 — Léon Marchand, Arizona State (2023)
• 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 1:41.03
• 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 1:43.14

Top 8:

1. Zach Hils, Georgia – 1:43.87
2. Eitan Ben-Shitrit, Michigan – 1:43.89
3. Max Wilson, Florida State – 1:44.17
4. Danny Schmidt, Auburn – 1:44.60
5. Nils Bognar, Georgia Tech – 1:44.78
6. Berke Saka, Georgia Tech – 1:44.94
7. Mason Laur, Florida – 1:45.09
8. Gal Cohen, Michigan – 1:45.12

Georgia’s Zach Hils, an SEC finalist last season, led prelims in the 200 IM in 1:43.87, just ahead of Michigan’s Eitan Ben-Shitrit (1:43.89). The two swim their races fairly similarly, with the exception that Hils is the better breaststroker of the two. If he’s within half-a-second of Shitrit in the finals going into that leg, he’s got a shot at winning.

Florida State’s Max Wilson put up the best swim of the day so far for the Seminoles, finishing 3rd in 1:44.17. His previous best time was at last year’s ACC Championships, where he was 10th in 1:44.97. A 1:44.17 at that meet would have bumped him into the A final.

Notably, Georgia’s Ian Grum missed the A-final, finishing 9th in prelims in 1:45.15, but that’s still a two second best time. He swam as part of Team USA at the Pan American Games earlier this season and has had a really good 6 months of racing, and is likely already qualified for NCAAs with his 1:40.27 in the 200 back from the NC State/Duke tri meet. The backstroke events will be more telling of whether Georgia’s coaches have given him a different approach to this season because of the Pan American Games.

WOMEN’S 50-YARD FREESTYLE — PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 20.79 — Maggie MacNeil, Louisiana State (2023)/Gretchen Walsh, Virginia (2023)
• 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 21.63
• 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 22.15

Top 8:

1. (TIE) Lexie Mulvihill, Auburn/Lindsay Flynn, Michigan – 22.29
3. Emma Steckiel, Auburn – 22.34
4. Claire Newman, Michigan – 22.35
5. Micayla Cronk, Florida – 22.38
6. Brady Kendall, Michigan – 22.48
7. Ekaterina Nikonova, Florida – 22.50
8. Helena Jones, Georgia – 22.55

Michigan’s Lindsay Flynn and Auburn’s Lexie Mulvihill both put up positive times put up encouraging times in prelims of the 50 free on Thursday morning.

For Flynn, a change of coach at Michigan to Matt Bowe hasn’t impacted her times. That 22.29 is almost exactly the 22.28 that she swam in both prelims and finals last season, which is crucial as she’s going to be the cog of the bridge as Bowe tries to reload Michigan’s roster on the recruiting trails this fall.

For Mulvihill, meanwhile, that time is better than she was at this meet last year, faster than she was in any individual swim last year, and just .14 seconds away from her lifetime best done at the 2022 SEC Championships.

As good as Georgia was in the 500 free, they weren’t quite as sharp in prelims of the 50, with Helena Jones just-sneaking in as the 8th qualifier and Bri Roberson just missing out in 22.59 for 10th.

Mulvihill’s result paired with that of her teammate Emma Steckiel, who dropped .06 seconds to qualify 3rd, are more signs of the positive momentum in Ryan Wochomurka’s rebuilding of Auburn’s sprint legacy.

Florida’s Micayla Cronk is having a breakout year and will be a key leg on the Gator relays this season; she qualified 5th in 22.38. That’s not a best time, but is faster than the 22.79 she did against Virginia earlier this season. By the transitive property of swimming, that implies that she could challenge her personal best in the 100 free.

MEN’S 50-YARD FREESTYLE — PRELIMS

• NCAA Record: 17.63 — Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018)
• 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 18.82
• 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 19.21

Top 8:

1. Josh Liendo, Florida – 18.79
2. McGuire McDuff, Florida – 19.28
3. Dillon Downing, Georgia – 19.38
4. Kalle Makinen, Auburn – 19.42
5. Adam Chaney, Florida/Reese Branzell, Georgia – 19.50
7. Peter Varjasi, Florida State -19.52
8. Bence Szabados, Michigan – 19.53

Florida sophomore Josh Liendo, the runner-up in this event at last year’s NCAA Championship meet, cracked 19 seconds for the first time in prelims with an 18.79. He’s now one of four swimmers who have gone under that barrier in this weekend’s first round of mid-season invites, along with the defending NCAA Champion Jordan Crooks of Tennessee (18.40), Arizona State’s Jack Dolan (18.90), and NC State freshman Quintin McCarty (18.91).

Last year, Liendo was 18.83 mid-season, so he’s already ahead of schedule this year.

His Florida teammate McGuire McDuff qualified 2nd in 19.28, and along with an Adam Chaney 19.50 and an Ed Fullum-Hout 19.70 makes up the quartet likely to try and defend the Gators’ NCAA title in the event. They graduated one leg from that NCAA Record-setting group, Eric Friese, who split 18.64 at nationals last year. That ramps up pressure on Fullum-Hout to bring that time down at year’s end.

For Auburn, sophomore Kalle Makinen swam 19.42 to qualify 4th; that’s about where he was at mid-season last year before placing 13th at SECs.