The Georgia swimming and diving teams on Saturday will conclude the dual-meet portion of the schedule the way they began it.
Georgia will square off with Emory on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Gabrielsen Natatorium inside the Ramsey Center. There is no cost for admission.
Georgia opened the season in September by sweeping Emory in a relays-only meet in Atlanta. Jack Bauerle, Georgia’s Tom Cousins Swimming and Diving Head Coach, is a perfect 42-0 in his career against Emory.
The Lady Bulldogs are ranked No. 6 with an 8-0 record and they will be gunning for the 15th undefeated regular season under Bauerle. Georgia’s seniors are 36-1-1 the last four years. Emory’s women are No. 3 in the Division III poll. On the men’s side, the Bulldogs are 6-1-1 and ranked No. 9. The members of the senior class have compiled a 29-5-1 mark the last four seasons. The Emory men are No. 2 in the Division III rankings.
Following the meet with Emory, Georgia will charge into the postseason, beginning with the SEC Championships Feb. 14-18 at Texas A&M. After the Bulldog Last Chance Meet Feb. 24-25 in Athens, only the NCAA events will remain — Zone B Diving March 5-7 at Tennessee, the women’s championship March 14-17 at Ohio State, and the men’s championship March 21-24 at Minnesota.
“One of the beautiful things about swimming is that it’s an honest sport,” Bauerle said. “If you put in the work and follow the plan, the results will follow. I wish everyone on our team could go to SECs because of how hard they have trained and how they have gotten the results we wanted. Unfortunately, we just can’t do that due to the numbers, so we’re coming down to it. We, as coaches, have decisions to make and we’ll base some of them on what we see Saturday. We’ll shake some things up and see how it goes. We know we will get a good, clean meet with Emory. They have a top-notch Division III program and do a great job year in and year out.”
Entering Saturday’s meet, Georgia’s Courtney Harnish ranks fourth nationally in the 500 freestyle. Meaghan Raab is sixth in the 200 freestyle and 10th in the 200 individual medley, while Kylie Stewart stands eighth in the 100 backstroke and 10th in the 200 backstroke. Megan Kingsley and Chelsea Britt are Nos. 8 and 10, respectively, in the 200 butterfly, and Veronica Burchill is 10th in the 100 butterfly. Harnish (500 and 1,000 freestyle), Raab (200 freestyle), Olivia Anderson (1,650 freestyle), Kingsley (200 butterfly), and Freida Lim (platform diving) have SEC-leading efforts.
On the men’s side, Jay Litherland is second nationally in the 400 individual medley, while Camden Murphy is No. 8 in the 200 butterfly, and Javier Acevedo is No. 10 in the 100 backstroke. Murphy is the conference leader in the 200 butterfly.