Seniors succeed in final meet; team prepares for ACCs
By Amanda Thomas/ Student Publications
Sophomore Onur Uras competes in the 200 fly in the final meet of the season against Emory. Both the men's and the women's teams won easily. The men won 173-118 and the women won 161-139.
The men's and women's swimming and diving teams had their final dual meet of the season against Emory. While Emory, a Division III school, did not put up much competition, it gave the seniors a good way to go out, and allowed Tech to prepare for the ACC championships. The men defeated Emory 173-118, and the women won 161-139.
"We had six guys competing for two spots on the traveling squad. The rest of the guys are probably going to swim exhibition. Everyone swam very fast, and that to me is what really matters going into the ACC championships," Head Coach Stuart Wilson said.
The Jackets won 25 out of 32 total events at the dual meet. There were many notable performances on both the men's and women's teams.
On the women's side, freshman Caroline Jones won the 200-meter freestyle race with a time of 1:53.29, and sophomore Elizabeth Stowe won the women's 500 and 1000-meter freestyle races with times of 5:01.60 and 10:13.37. However, the most notable performance of them all came from senior Laurissa Prystaj who won the one-meter springboard with an NCAA zone qualifying score of 289.05.
"I got the mark, and I was very excited about that. Now I can go to the NCAA zone meet. This meet was really just like any other meet to me though," Prystaj said.
On the men's side, junior Ryan Bishop was victorious in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 0:58.25. Freshman Andy Miller won the 200-meter breaststroke by recording a new personal record time of 2:09.18. Sophomore Evan Stowers won the three-meter springboard event with an NCAA zone qualifying score of 359.93. Senior Sam Morgan won the 1650-meter freestyle race with a time of 9:30.31.
"I was really happy with what the divers did all year long. The diving competition was more of a relaxed atmosphere, which allowed the divers to let it all out and not be worried. Michael Bennett became our sixth and final NCAA zone qualifier. So all of our divers qualified for the NCAA zone meet. I did not expect that to happen, but I think that it is great that it did," diving coach John Ames said.
The women have two weeks until the ACC championships, while the men have three weeks to prepare. The meet will be held at the University of Maryland.
"We want to qualify as many swimmers as we can for the NCAAs. Last year, we finished third at the ACC championships, which no one expected us to do. Hopefully, we can duplicate that performance this year," Wilson said.
"This is the first class of seniors to graduate under my belt. Hopefully, this class has set the standard for the classes that follow," Wilson said.
After the ACC championships neither team will have to travel very far for NCAA championship cometition. Those Jackets with good enough times will compete in in the NCAA zone meet March 10-12 in Athens, Ga. The women's NCAA championships will be hosted in Athens, and the men's NCAA championships will be hosted here on campus March 23-25.
