The University of Georgia Bulldog women preserved a 95 meet home win streak against a hard fighting UNC women’s team, while the men won comfortably. While the Tar Heel women came out swinging , winning the opening relay, they would come up just short despite winning the final relay with a final score of 152-148. The Bulldog men posted the fastest time in twelve out of sixteen events and led wire to wire with an exhibition affected score of 170-125
Helen Moffit was a standout performer for UNC, winning two individual races against the defending NCAA Champions. She recorded a 52.77 to win the 100 backstroke and 53.82 to win the 100 butterfly. Gunnar Bentz won two events for the Georgia Men, showing great versatility to win both the 200 free (1:37.50) and 200 Breaststroke (2:00.56).
Although Georgia was able to relax at the end, the Tar Heel women put a lot of pressure on the Bulldogs throughout the meet. Although Georgia would regain momentum with a 1000 free victory (9:42.40) from 2014 NCAA champion Brittney Maclean, UNC took back momentum with a 50 freestyle victory from Caroline Baldwin (22.74), a 1M Diving win from Elisa Dawson and 100 Freestyle victory from Allyn Hardesty (49.77).
We squeaked one out and I’m proud of the way they battled today. We have to scrap and claw for all that we get. I saw a lot of fight today and I can live with that. It’s always great to win and we’re proud that the steak continues. We know it will end one day and we’re glad it wasn’t today – Jack Bauerle, Head Coach, University of Georgia
Georgia recovered to win four out of the last six individual events, and it was just enough to survive a final relay victory from UNC that kept the score too close for comfort for the Bulldogs. Georgia relied heavily on their veterans, as senior Hali Flickinger notched three victories on the day, the 200 freestyle (1:46.65), 200 butterfly (1:56.85) and the 200 backstroke (1:54.24). Junior Emily Cameron came through in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.07), 200 breaststroke (2:14.26) and 200 IM (2:01.14).
On the men’s side, Bulldog Michael Trice was decisive with wins in both the 50 free (20.01), 100 free (44.76) and both relays. Zu Pigot impressed for the UNC men with a 100 fly victory in 47.33, and Jack Nyquist would win both diving boards for the Tar Heels, but ultimately the North Carolina men were totally overmatched.
Our guys really did a job today. They sort of took it to them and really deserved what they got. They earned this win- Jack Bauerle, Head Coach, University of Georgia
Georgia preserved a perfect record against North Carolina in women’s competition, remaining 22-0 all time, while the men advanced to 18-4.
UNC will follow up with a tough quad meet against Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky in Bloomington, Indiana on October 30th, while Georgia will battle SEC rival Florida in Gainesville on the same date.
Impressive triple by Flickinger.