Georgia’s Patrick Humphreys competes in the men’s 200 yard Butterfly event during the Bulldog Last Chance Meet Finals at Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga. on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (Photo by David Barnes)
Four Bulldogs from the Georgia swimming and diving team are headed to the NCAAs. Three swimmers and one diver reached standards that will qualify them for the upcoming NCAA Championships during the Bulldog Invitational that concluded on Sunday at Gabrielsen Natatorium.
The highlight on Sunday came as Shauna Lee posted a time of 1:45.43 in the 200 freestyle to make the field for the NCAAs, which will be held March 16-19 at Georgia Tech. Lee reached the mark swimming a time trial as the only competitor.
“I feel really happy,” said Lee, a freshman from Great Britain. “It was my very last chance to qualify for NCAAs, so that’s quite satisfying. I had incredible support from my amazing teammates and it feels great to do that for them.”
During Saturday’s competition, James Guest and Powell Brooks advanced for the Bulldogs, whose NCAAs will be March 23-26 at Georgia Tech. Guest notched a time of 1:54.64 in the 200 breaststroke and Brooks went 1:42.90 in the 200 butterfly.
Also on Saturday, Natalie Wallace reached the standard for platform diving at the NCAA Zone Championships March 7-9 at Georgia Tech. Wallace scored 260.65 points to give Georgia a full complement of divers at the zone meet.
“What a neat experience for all of those student-athletes,” Georgia head coach Jack Bauerle said. “It’s a lot of pressure trying to make it, but they all were extremely focused this weekend and they had their teammates pushing them on. We could not be happier for all of them.”
During Sunday’s meet, Basil Orr improved his B cut in the 200 breaststroke to 1:59.11 and Colin Monaghan landed on the provisional time of 1:59.79. Blake Atmore improved his B-cut time in the 200 butterfly to 1:44.54. John Mattern lowered his B-cut time in the 100 breaststroke to 54.45.
Both Georgia teams are coming off third-place showings at the Southeastern Conference Championships in Columbia, Mo. The recap of the men’s championship will air on Wednesday at 4 p.m. on ESPNU, followed by the women’s recap at 5:30 p.m.
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