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ATHENS, Ga. – The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming teams completed day one of the Georgia Invitational Friday in Athens, Ga.

The No. 18 Cavalier women stand in third place after day one with 187 points, trailing top-ranked Georgia (335) and second-ranked California (197.5). The No. 21 Virginia men are fifth overall with 159 points behind fifth-ranked Auburn (279), ninth-ranked Georgia (238), No. 14 Indiana (177) and sixth-ranked California (238).

“We are very pleased with the overall performance of the team,” head coach Mark Bernardino said. “There were a lot of very exciting swims and we have a lot to look forward to as the meet progresses and as the season progresses. We are continuing to learn more about our first and second year athletes and how they respond to the training that we’ve put in thus far.”

The women’s 200 freestyle relay team of Lauren Perdue, Meredith Cavalier, Dana Nessler, and Emily Lloyd teamed up to take third place in a NCAA ‘B’ time of 1:30.57.

Sophomore Rachel Naurath finished eighth in the 500 freestyle (4:42.29) after posting a season-best time of 4:40.91 during the preliminaries. Freshman Alison Haulsee was 15th (4:44.47) and sophomore Caroline Kenney (4:45.11) was 16th. All three times were NCAA ‘B’ marks.

The freshmen duo of Sarah White (2:00.31) and Ellen Williamson (2:00.88) finaled in the 200 individual medley and placed seventh and eighth, respectively. Senior Erika Stewart clocked the fastest time for UVa in the finals to win the consolation heat in 1:59.84. Kelly Flynn was 10th (2:00.09) and Charlotte Clarke was 13th (2:01.14). All five of those times were NCAA ‘B’ standards.

“Everyone swam great today and it helped the coaches had a lot of confidence in us going into tonight,” White said. “I was really happy with my morning 200 IM swim and I matched that tonight, so that was great. I am excited to swim my events tomorrow and just want to focus on going fast and having fun.”

Junior Lauren Perdue tied her prelim mark, posting a 22.81 to place fifth in the 50 freestyle. Classmate Meredith Cavalier was sixth in 22.88; both were NCAA ‘B’ marks. In the consolation final, Flynn recorded a 14th-place finish in 23.13.

Cavalier joined junior Christine Olson, freshman Ellen Williamson and sophomore Emily Lloyd on the 400 medley relay team that placed fifth in 3:37.95. Another Virginia relay placed right behind them in sixth as Clarke, Flynn, Naurath and Perdue touched in 3:38.15. Both of those times were ‘B’ marks.

For the Virginia men, Ivan Capan, Matt Murray, Kyle Dudzinski, and Jack Murfee teamed up to take seventh overall in the 200 freestyle relay in a time of 1:23.87.

Sophomore Jan Daniec placed sixth overall in the 500 freestyle with a NCAA ‘B’ time of 4:20.92. Swimming in the consolation final, Bradley Phillips was 10th (4:22.55, ‘B’), Parker Camp was 13th (4:24.71, ‘B’) and Nathan Vredeveld was 16th (4:31.05).

Senior David Karasek led the way in the 200 individual medley with a third-place performance, touching in 1:48.04. Sophomore Taylor Grey was fifth overall in 1:48.80. Both of those final times were NCAA ‘B’ standards. In the consolation final, junior Nick Montes de Oca (1:49.37) was 10th followed by junior Tom Casey (1:49.41) in 11th and freshman David Ingraham (1:49.99) in 12th.

Junior Tom Barrett took eighth in the 50 freestyle (20.31) and senior Peter Geissinger was 13th overall (20.58).

The men’s 400 medley relay team of Matt Murray, Grey, Geissinger and Barrett took fifth overall with a NCAA ‘B’ time 3:15.87. Camp, Casey, freshman Kyle Dudzinski and Karasek were ninth in 3:20.36.

Day two of the Georgia Invitational continues Saturday with preliminaries in the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke. The first session begins at 9:30 a.m.

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