ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia concluded action at the Bulldog Last Chance Meet on Sunday in what was the team’s final Gabrielsen Natatorium appearance for the 2013-2014 season.
The meet offered individuals an opportunity to qualify or improve their swimming times for the upcoming NCAA championships.
“This weekend gave everybody a chance to put their suits on and race one more time,” UGA senior associate head coach Harvey Humphries said. “We had some really pleasant surprises this weekend that make us realize we can be an even stronger team, especially in areas where we thought we might be a little weak.”
On Wednesday, the NCAA will release lists of the qualified swimmers, eligible relays and alternates for the NCAAs. Georgia can bring a maximum of 18 swimmers or 17 swimmers and one or two divers to the NCAAs. A swimmer at the NCAAs may enter a maximum of three individual events and compete on up to four relays. A diver may compete on all three boards once qualified.
Courtney Peters improved her B-cut time as she recorded a 1:56.43 in the 200 butterfly on Saturday, the first day of the meet. Jessica Graber lowered her B cut to 22.52 in the 50 freestyle leading off the 200 freestyle relay and Anna Neumeister moved to 4:12.65 in the finals of the 400 individual medley. For the Bulldogs, Conor Sweeney improved his B-cut time to 1:37.52 in the 200 freestyle, while Pace Clark went 47.57 in the 100 butterfly.
Nine swimmers who have already qualified for the NCAAs either reached or improved B cuts in events on Saturday, including Melanie Margalis (100 butterfly, 100 backstroke), Shannon Vreeland (200 individual medley, 100 butterfly), Brittany MacLean (200 individual medley), Maddie Locus (200 freestyle), Amber McDermott (200 individual medley), Hali Flickinger (100 butterfly, 100 backstroke) and Rachel Zilinskas (200 individual medley) for the women and Matias Koski (50 freestyle) and Ty Stewart (100 butterfly) for the men.
In diving, Laura Ryan, Ann-Perry Blank, Darcie O'Brien and Ansley Long for the women and Spencer Madanay for the men have Zone B qualifying scores already. They will compete March 10-12 at the Zone B Championships in an attempt to advance to the NCAA Championships.
