The Georgia Bulldogs took a short trip to Atlanta on Wednesday to open the season in a relay-only dual meet with Emory. The Bulldog men and women each swept the relays and walked away with a win. Teams competed in the 200 medley relay, 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 500 free relay (50-100-150-200), 3×100 relays of each stroke, mixed 200 free relay, and mixed 4×100 IM relay.
The freshman class made their debut for Georgia, highlighted by performances from Danielle Della Torre andCamden Murphy. Della Torre got things started by helping the Bulldogs to a victory in the 200 medley relay. She teamed up with Kylie Stewart (back- 27.13), Chelsea Britt (fly- 24.70), and Veronica Burchill (free- 23.14), posting a 28.95 breaststroke leg to give the ‘A’ team the only sub-30 split of the field. Following her role on that relay, Della Torre went on to post a 23.66 anchor split in the mixed 200 free relay, a 1:04.09 leadoff split in the 300 breast relay, and a 58.95 split on the 400 IM relay.
Murphy, on the other hand, had his most impressive leg of the day on the 200 free relays. In the mixed 200 free relay, he took on the 2nd leg, posting a 20.65 to give them the fastest split of the field. That’s a solid swim for Murphy, who has a lifetime best of 21.01 from a flat start. He was also within a few tenths of his best time shortly after that as the leadoff of the men’s 200 free relay in 21.34. In addition to his roles on the freestyle relays, Murphy split a 48.09 on the 300 fly relay and a 21.70 as the butterflier on the 200 medley relay.
In the first yards meet of his career, Youssef Said posted the fastest back split of the field with his 23.92 leading off the “B’ team in the 200 medley relay. Fellow freshman Cade Anderson was right there with him, posting a 23.94 for the ‘C’ squad. Said’s development will be key this season, as he may be needed as the backstroker on the Bulldogs’ medley relays. Though Javier Acevedo is the team’s best backstroker, they’ll probably need to use him on the freestyle leg since he’s the fastest sprint freestyler as well.
In the 300 backstroke relay, Said took on the 2nd leg after Blake Atmore (51.32), splitting a 49.63 to hand it off to Acevedo, who anchored in 47.78. Said made good use of his front half speed, flipping in 23.99 to nearly match his 200 medley relay split, but wasn’t as fast in his closing split as Acevedo, coming home in 25.64 to Acevedo’s 24.26. After his backstroke splits, Said also put up a 22.02 on the 200 free relay and a 46.86 on the 400 free relay.
PRESS RELEASE – GEORGIA:
ATLANTA, Ga. — The Georgia swimming teams opened the 2017-18 season on Wednesday by sweeping Emory in a relays-only meet at Madeleine Jude Brown Aquatic Center.
The Lady Bulldogs posted a 40-21 decision in winning their 16th consecutive season opener, while the Bulldogs claimed a 38-23 victory. Jack Bauerle, Georgia’s Tom Cousins Head Swimming and Diving Coach, improved to a perfect 42-0 against Emory.
“We saw a really good effort by our teams today,” Bauerle said. “It was solid racing throughout. The biggest thing was we had good racing without much rest in between. That will be helpful to us as we head into the duals. We’ve never had a meet like this before, so it was nice to change things up.”
Other wins by the Bulldogs included:
• 500 crescendo relay: Acevedo, Clayton Forde, Burns and Higgins, 3:58.61.
• 300 butterfly relay: Murphy, Powell Brooks and Atmore, 2:27.57.
• 300 backstroke relay: Atmore, Youssef Said and Acevedo, 2:28.73.
• 300 breaststroke relay: Guest, Monaghan and Basil Orr, 2:50.02.
In addition, Georgia picked up wins in the mixed 200 freestyle and 400 individual medley relays. In the 200, Acevedo, Murphy, Burchill and Raab reached the wall in 1:27.83. The 400 went to Monaghan, Guest, Raab and Sammie Burchill in 3:38.22.
Georgia will open the home portion of its schedule against North Carolina on Friday, Oct. 6, at 3 p.m.
PRESS RELEASE – EMORY MEN:
The defending national champions Emory University Men’s Swimming and Diving team opened the 2017-18 season Wednesday evening, hosting the University of Georgia at the Madeleine Jude Brown Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
The meet consisted of primarily relay events including the 200 Medley, 500 Free, 300 Butterfly, 300 Backstroke, 200 Freestyle, 300 Breaststroke and the 400 Freestyle as well as mixed 200 Freestyle and 400 Medley. UGA came away with the victory, edging out the Eagles 38-23.
The Emory swimmers return to the pool next Friday, October 6th, with the annual Blue-Gold Intrasquad meet.
PRESS RELEASE – EMORY WOMEN:
The defending national champions Emory University Women’s Swimming and Diving team opened the 2017-18 season Wednesday evening, hosting the University of Georgia at the Madeleine Jude Brown Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
The meet consisted of primarily relay events including the 200 Medley, 500 Free, 300 Butterfly, 300 Backstroke, 200 Freestyle, 300 Breaststroke and the 400 Freestyle as well as mixed 200 Freestyle and 400 Medley. UGA came away with the victory, edging out the Eagles 40-21.
Leading the Eagles in other events were Olson, Lally, Taylor and senior Megan Campbell in the 200 Medley (1:49.41); Muir, Daro and seniors Cindy Cheng, Julia Wawer in the 500 Free (4:39.92); sophomore Maria Kyle and freshmen Rachel Song, Bethany Seagraves in the 300 Fly (2:55.97), Cheng, Seagraves and senior Sia Beasley in the 300 Back (2:55.99); and Wawer, Taylor, senior Ming Ong and freshman Christy Taylor in the 200 Free (1:40.10).
The Emory swimmers return to the pool next Friday, October 6th, with the annual Blue-Gold Intrasquad meet.
Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com.
He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming.
Aside from his life on the InterWet, …
This would have been a fair match up if Connor McCourt wasn’t out sick!
All three Litherlands and Gunnar Bentz missed the meet for Georgia, so …
*whoosh*