Elizabeth Tilt Wins Twice On Day 1 Of Georgia Senior Champs

2023 GEORGIA LSC SENIOR CHAMPS

• July 21-24, 2023
• Columbus Aquatic Center, Columbus, Georgia
• Long Course Meters (50m)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “Georgia LC Senior State Championships 2023”

Day one of the 2023 Georgia LC Senior State Championships is in the books. The first day of racing featured the 100 breast, 200 free, 50 back, 100 fly, and 400 IM for individual events.

Elizabeth Tilt from Chattahoochee Gold Swim Club captured two victories on the opening night. The Georgia recruit touched first in the 200 freestyle at 2:02.81, topping the rest of the field by nearly four seconds. Her performance marked a season best time, with her personal best in the event standing at 2:01.03 from last summer.

Tilt went on to grab her second win of the night in the 100 fly, where she stopped the clock at 1:00.99. Just as in the 200 free, her swim was good for a season best but still just off her personal best from last summer (59.55).

The men’s 100 fly was one of the tightest races of the evening, as the top three finishers touched within less than a second of each other. Getting their hand on the wall 1st at 55.07 was Iago Moussalem, while Stephen Jones and McKee Thorsen stopped the clock at 55.76 and 55.84, respectively.

Georgia’s Roman Valdez took 1st in the 200 freestyle. He stopped the clock at 1:52.68 to beat runner-up Joel Thatcher by a second (1:53.64). Both Valdez and Thatcher were about a second shy of their own personal bests in the event.

Georgia Tech’s Claudia Butterfield won the women’s 100 breaststroke with a 1:12.17 in finals. She held off Auburn commit Olivia Stewart, who out-split Butterfield by half a second on the final 50 with a 38.42. Butterfield’s swim puts her about a second shy of her personal best in the event, while Stewart’s time of 1:12.43 establishes a new best for her by nearly a second.

Justin Bender won the men’s 100 breast decisively, going a 1:02.55 to top the field by almost two whole seconds. His performance marked a new personal best, taking half a second off his previous mark form last summer.

15-year-old Amy Shonk of the Savannah Swim Team was the only athlete to crack 30-seconds in the 50 backstroke. Shonk dropped nearly a second from her prelims swim to log a 29.80, while Zoe Thatcher was runner-up at 30.21. Columbia’s Seth Roach won the men’s race, stopping the clock at 27.68 to win the event by just under half a second.

Rounding out the winners on the women’s side of the meet was Georgia Tech post-grad McKenzie Campbell, who took the 400 IM in 4:56.56. Campbell neared her best time with her swim, with stands at 4:54.27 from 2021. Finishing 2nd was 16-year-old Amelia Harper, who dropped over ten seconds on the day to land at 5:04.14.

The men’s 400 IM went to Georgia Tech’s Nils Bognar, who recorded a personal best time of 4:31.50. His time is nearly four seconds faster than he was at U.S. Nationals in this event, and takes him under his previous best time from 2021 by about a second. Crow Thorsen from Emory finished two seconds back from Bognar at 4:33.70 to take 2nd.

Closing out the morning session was Spartans Aquatic Club time trial of the mixed 200 freestyle relay. The team of Jensen Nelson, Leyton Roe, Abigail Zboran, and Abigail Heizer took down the 15-18 National Age Group (NAG) record with a time of 1:38.67, knocking a full second off the previous record held by Aquatic Team of Mecklenberg.