(Photo by John Kelley)
The Georgia swimming & diving teams will open the 2015-16 season on Saturday at 11 a.m. against North Carolina at Gabrielsen Natatorium. There is no fee for admission.
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• Coach Jack Bauerle: “We have brand new teams with big challenges. There are some big shoes to fill and we’ve told our athletes they have to do things better than they’ve done it before. … This meet is an absolute toss-up. We can beat them and they can beat us. We’ve been practicing hard and now we just have to go fast on Saturday.”
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• The Lady Bulldogs have won 94 straight dual or tri meets at home, a streak that dates back to Nov. 8. 1995. They also have won 13 straight season openers and are 27-9 all-time under Bauerle.
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• Bauerle is beginning his 37th season with the Lady Bulldogs and his 33rd with the Bulldogs. He has an overall record of 514-123-3 (301-33-2 women, 213-90-1 men), which ranks first all-time in the SEC, second among active coaches and fourth on the all-time list.
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• Bauerle-coached teams are 38-4 all-time against North Carolina – 21-0 for the women and 17-4 for the men.
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• Georgia has three senior women in Hali Flickinger, Brittany MacLean and Annie Zhu and six senior men in Crawford Berry, Matias Koski, Garrett Powell, Nick Salyers, Ty Stewart and Michael Trice. Would-be seniors Chase Kalisz and Chantal Van Landeghem are redshirting this season to train for the Olympics.
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• Koski won the 1,650-yard freestyle national title a year ago, extending Georgia’s streak of at least one male or female individual or relay winning an NCAA title since 1995.
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• MacLean, Koski and Olivia Smoliga have NCAA titles on their résumés. Kalisz and Van Landeghem are past national champions as well.
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