Women Second, Men Fourth After Day One of Georgia Invitational

Story Links

ATHENS, Ga. The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams fared well on the first day of the annual Georgia Invitational Friday in Athens, Ga. After 12 events, the Cavalier women stand in second place with 295 points while the men are fourth with 156 points.

Both the Georgia women and men stand in first place after the first day of competition with 358 and 324 points, respectively. Northwestern (220) and Harvard (192) currently are in front of the Cavalier men with two days remaining.

The Virginia women racked up nine NCAA B’ qualifying standards on day one. The 200 freestyle relay team of Kristen Moores, Jessica Lewis, Amber Bialas and Stephanie Glover finished second in 1:32.33 for the team’s first B’ standard of the invitational.

UVa picked up other B’ standard in the 400 medley relay, finishing second in 3:43.22. Swimming for the Cavaliers was Mei Christensen, Ellie Freeman, Glover and Lewis.

Virginia was strong in the 200 I.M., claiming spots two through five and racking up four NCAA B’ standards. First year Claire Crippen nabbed second place with a finish of 2:01.21, while teammate Megan Evo followed close behind in third, clocking in at 2:01.71. Liz Shaw (2:02.06) and Christensen (2:03.41) were fourth and fifth, respectively.

The Cavaliers also had a strong showing in the 500 free, posting three top six finishes, all B’ times. Led by first year Claire Galdun’s fourth-place finish of 4:47.63, UVa teammates Jenn Narum (4:48.64) and Jenna Harris (4:49.25) followed in fifth and sixth place, respectively.

Darren Ankosko led the Virginia men with a fifth-place finish in the 500 free (4:27.42). In the 50 free, Lee Robertson (20.85) posted a sixth-place finish while teammate Scot Robinson (21.00) was seventh.

The Cavalier men also had two top eight finishes in the 200 I.M., as Tim Hayes (1:52.85) and John Azar (1:52.93) finished seventh and eighth, respectively.

Day two of the Georgia Invitational resumes Saturday.