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Virginia Women Finish Third, Men Place Fourth in Georgia
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Dec. 4, 2016
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ATHENS, Ga.-The Virginia women’s swimming and diving team finished third and the men placed fourth as action at the Georgia Fall Invitational concluded Sunday (Dec. 4) at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga.
The No. 5 Cavalier women finished third with 716 points, behind No. 10 California (914) and No. 2 Georgia (821), but ahead of No. 4 Michigan (641) and Florida State (403). UVA’s men finished fourth with 608.5 points, behind No. 6 Cal (859), No. 13 Georgia (710) and No. 17 Auburn (656), but ahead of Florida State (539.5) and No. 10 Michigan (503).
“This was a great three days of racing for us,” UVA head coach Augie Busch said. “The men have a great spirit and fight about them this year. They fought so hard and ended with incredible efforts on the freestyle relays. Our women were missing two key members, but showed great resolve. This upcoming championship season can be a special one. We can’t wait to get back to work.”
The Cavaliers went 1-2 in the women’s 200-yard butterfly with senior Kaitlyn Jones (Newark, Del.) winning in a time of 1:53.29 and junior Jennifer Marrkand (Westford, Mass.) touching second in 1:53.75. Jones’ prelim time of 1:52.93 is a new school record, while Marrkand’s finals time ranks second on UVA’s all-time list. Jones went 4-4 in breaking individual school records this weekend, including the 200 IM on Friday and the 400 IM and 100 fly on Saturday.
Senior Laura Simon (Simmern, Germany) won the women’s 200 breast in a time of 2:06.94, while freshman Madeleine Vonderhaar (Lakeside Park, Ky.) was sixth in 2:11.51, which ranks third on UVA’s all-time list. Sophomore Vivian Tafuto (Hummelstown, Pa.) was seventh in 2:12.35.
The women’s 400 free relay of junior Laine Reed (Austin, Texas), freshman Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.), senior Ellen Thomas (Guildford, United Kingdom) finished fifth in an NCAA-automatic qualifying time of 3:15.66.
The men’s foursome of senior Matt Lockman (Charlottesville, Va.), freshmen John Whiteside (Fairfield, Conn.) and Joe Clark (Worcester Park, Great Britain) and senior Austin Quinn (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) placed fifth in 2:53.48, the third-fastest time in school history. Lockman’s lead-off 100 free of 43.89 ranks eighth on UVA’s all-time list.
In the men’s 1,650 free, sophomore Sam Magnan (Bethlehem, Pa.) finished third in 15:11.47, while redshirt sophomore Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) and sophomore Matthew Hrabchak (Concord, Mass.) placed fifth and sixth. Junior Cece Williams (Tallahassee, Fla.) placed sixth in the women’s 1,650 free in 16:31.35.
In platform diving, freshman Bryce Shelton (Vienna, Va.) finished sixth on the men’s side with 281.95 points, while junior Corey Johnson (Ambler, Pa.) placed eighth on the women’s side with 210.05 points.
“Today was a good day for us, as we had another opportunity to get a tower event (platform) under our belt and perform the new dives that we learned a few weeks ago,” UVA head diving coach Jason Glorius said. “Overall, it was a solid meet. We did a lot of good things, but we need to work on being more consistent and rebounding from dives that didn’t go our way.”
Quinn finished sixth in the men’s 200 back in a time of 1:43.45, while freshman Ryan Baker (Arlington, Va.) won the B final in a time of 1:43.69, which ranks ninth on the Cavaliers’ all-time list.
In the men’s 200 fly, sophomore Zach Fong (Moorestown, N.J.) finished sixth in 1:44.61. Whiteside touched seventh in the men’s 100 free in 43.46, fifth on Virginia’s all-time list.
In the women’s 100 free B final, freshman Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.) clocked a time of 48.53, which ranks fourth on UVA’s all-time list, while junior Laine Reed (Austin, Texas) finished in 49.00, which is ninth.
Up next, the Cavalier diving corps will compete at the Tennessee Diving Invite Jan. 3-5. The full UVA squads will be in action for their final home meet against Virginia Tech Jan. 13-14.