Georgia Women, Cal Men Take UGA Fall Invitational

The Cal Golden Bears and Lady Bulldogs swam to the top of the scoreboard during the last finals session of the UGA Fall Invitational, with multiple swimmers snagging more NCAA A cuts along the way. The Lady Bulldogs (916 points) held off the Cal women (907 points) for first. On the men’s side, Cal took the meet with 921 points, just ahead of the Georgia men (916 points).

Virginia’s Leah Smith kicked off finals with an NCAA A cut in the 1650 Free (15:42.72). Lady Bulldog Brittany MacLean touched second under the A cut as well in 15:51.73.  Cal’s Cierra Runge followed up for third (15:57.70).

The Cal duo of Elizabeth Pelton (1:49.00) and Missy Franklin (1:49.23) completed a 1-2 Golden Bear sweep in the 200 Back and took home NCAA A cuts. Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew followed up for third in an NCAA A cut of 1:49.94. Fourth-place Lady Bulldog Kylie Stewart also swam to an NCAA A cut, finishing in 1:52.20.

Lady Bulldog Olivia Smoliga took the 100 Free, swimming under the NCAA B standard with a 47.92 that’s just a few hundredths off of the NCAA A cut. Cal’s Farida Osman was just one one-hundredth of a second behind with a 47.93. Georgia’s Madeline Locus followed up for third in 48.32.

On the men’s side, Bulldog Michael Trice (43.20)  edged Cal’s Seth Stubblefield (43.23) by just three one-hundredths of a second for the top spot. Four one-hundredths of a second behind Stubblefield was his teammate Tyler Messerschmidt for fourth (43.27). The top seven swimmers in finals all swam under the NCAA B standard.

Virginia’s Laura Simon took home an NCAA A cut to win the 200 Breast (2:06.90) ahead of Georgia’s Annie Zhu (2:08.87) and Cal’s Urzianqu Garcia (2:09.16), who both swam under the NCAA B standard. The rest of the finals swimmers also swam to NCAA B cuts, as well as the top four swimmers in the B final and the top swimmer in the C final.

Georgia’s Nicolas Fink held onto his first-place prelims finish for a win in the men’s 200 Breast with an NCAA A cut of 1:53.45. Virginia’s Yannick Kaeser  finished just a few hundredths off the NCAA A standard for second (1:53.79). Cal’s Chuck Katis (1:55.00) edged Auburn’s Michael Duderstadt (1:55.06) by just sixth one-hundredths of a second for third.

Florida State’s Chelsea Britt took in the 200 Fly, winning in an NCAA A cut of 1:53.68. Following up for second was Georgia’s Hali Flickinger (1:54.46), touching just ahead of Cal’s Noemie Thomas (1:54.63). Georgia teammates Lauren Harrington (1:54.87) and Megan Kingsley (1:55.22) touched fourth and fifth, respectively.

Georgia’s Chase Kalisz claimed his second NCAA A cut of the meet on the men’s side, touching first in 1:42.22. His teammate Tyanan Stewart took second (1:42.91), just ahead of Florida State’s Connor Knight (1:43.03). Georgia’s Pace Clark touched fourth in 1:43.29 to complete a 1-2-4 Bulldog sweep.

The Virginia Tech women swept the platform diving event, taking first through fourth for a sweep of the scoreboard. The charge was led by Kaylea Arnett scoring 288.85 points. Auburn’s Fraser McKean claimed the top spot in the men’s platform event, scoring 413.70 points. Virginia’s JB Kolod took second with 404.60 points.

To finish off finals, the Cal women touched first in the 400 Free Relay with an NCAA cut of 3:11.15. The Georgia women’s A team followed up for second with a 3:12.72 ahead of the third-place Cal B team (3:14.42). Both teams swam under the NCAA standard.

On the men’s side, the Georgia A relay took first with a 2:51.87 ahead of Auburn’s A team (2:52.47). Both relays took home NCAA A cuts with their swims. Third was Cal’s B team with a 2:54.23.

Click here for full results.

The final point standings were as follows:

Women’s Scores

1. University of Georgia – 916 points

2. Cal Berkeley – 907 points

3. University of Virginia – 748 points

4. Auburn University – 405 points

5. Penn State University – 363 points

6. Florida State University – 214 points

7. Virginia Tech – 169 points

8. UCLA – 84 points

9. Harvard University – 62 points

Men’s Scores

1. Cal Berkeley – 921 points

2. University of Georgia – 916 points

3. Auburn University – 641 points

4. University of Virginia – 526 points

5. Penn State University – 331.5 points

6. Florida State University – 311.5 points

7. Virginia Tech – 167 points

8. Harvard University – 18 points