NC State Defeats Georgia to Take Inaugural Dual Meet Tournament
NC State’s sprint depth helped it claim a 443-314 win over Georgia Saturday in the championship match of the Inaugural Dual Meet Tournament hosted by Georgia Tech.
Auburn handled Florida State, 503-286, in the third-place meet at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta. Minnesota defeated the hosts, 445-435, while the thriller on the second day of the meet was reserved for the seventh-place meet, won by George Washington by a 398-388 victory over Army.
In the final, NC State took control of the meet in the middle phase, especially on the women’s side. Olivia Nel led the women’s 100 free in 48.05, ahead of Cassie Moses and Lily King in a 1-2-3. The 50 free went to Moses in 22.22, with Tyler Driscoll and Lily Christianson following. The NC State men went 1-2 in the 100 free, Kaii Winkler winning in 41.23 and Jerry Fox following. Drew Salls’ 19.23 edged Luca Urlando’s 19.44 in the 50.
The NC State women won the 400 free relay in 3:10.70, with Moses, King, Christianson and Nel. The team of Leah Shackley (winner of the 200 fly), Eneli Jefimova (winner of the 100 breast), Driscoll and Nel went 1:34.89 to win the 200 medley relay. Erika Pelaez (100 back) and Kennedy Noble (200 individual medley) added wins for the Wolfpack.
NC State’s men won the 400 free relay in 2:49.11, via Winkler, Fox, Salls and Bjornar Laskerud.
Urlando won the 200 fly ahead of teammate Drew Hitchcock, who went 1:44.59 to claim the 200 IM. Urlando, Elliott Woodburn (winner of the 200 fly), Ruard van Renen and 500 free winner won the 200 medley relay in 1:23.44.
In the third-place match, Auburn got a pair of wins from Taylor Bacher, who went 1:57.32 in the 200 fly and 1:59.52 in the 200 IM. Lora Komoroczy won the 100 back in 51.65 and was second to teammate Lisa Klevanovich in the 50 free with a 21.95. Isabel Iwasyk won the 100 free. Auburn won both relays, going 3:16.68 in the 400 free and 1:36.35 in the 200 medley, with Klevanovich and Iwasyk on both.
Florida State had more success on the men’s side, but Ivan Tarasov (100 back) and Mason Ballew (200 breast) started out with wins for Auburn. Kalle Makinen won the 50 free for Auburn in 19.41. Daniel Kirchevsky won the 500 free.
Florida State’s Logan Robinson won the 200 fly, Michel Arkhangelskiy claimed the 100 free and Mathias Christienen won the 200 IM.
Minnesota stacked wins from the beginning of the meet, taking the first five individual results. Katie McCarthy won the 200 fly in 1:59.06, .05 seconds over Georgia Tech’s Zara Masud, then claimed the 500 free in 4:50.20 and secured the 200 IM in 1:59.90. Livi Wanner won the 50 free in 22.36, and Ava Yablonski won the 100 back in 53.18. Yablonski and Wanner teamed with Kamdyn Periat and Ava Goodno to win the 200 medley relay.
Davide Harabagiu (100 back), Jacob Johnson (200 fly), Daniel Eichel (500 free) and Alberto Hernandez Garcia (200 IM) picked up wins to lead the Golden Gophers men.
Georgia Tech’s men were buoyed by their sprinters. Robin Yeboah went 19.70 to win the 50 free, and Ricky Balduccini’s 43.01 claimed the 100 free. They joined 100 free runner-up Vitor Sega and Joao Caballero to win the 400 free relay in 2:53.52. Balduccini and Yeboah joined Julian Killius and Stephen Jones to win the 200 medley relay in 1:27.03.
George Washington’s distance set was decisive. Ava Topolewski won the women’s 500 free in 4:47.33, then Daniel Choi claimed the men’s in 4:30.45. Andres Brooks won the men’s 200 fly, and Logan Watson-Brown claimed the women’s 100 free in 51.34.
Army kept the pressure on by sweeping all four relays. Thomas Hadji was on both quartets for the men. Hadji was second to teammate Ben Vorthmann (20.20) in the 50 free. Johnny Crush went 46.05 to win the 100 back before his medley relay leadoff leg, and Kohen Rankin claimed the 200 IM.
