Top-8 efforts by Gunnar Bentz and Michael Trice highlighted Georgia’s efforts on Thursday in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the Georgia Tech campus.
 
 
After two days of competition, the Bulldogs stand ninth with 68 points. Texas leads with 209, followed by Florida (163), California (141), North Carolina State (137) and Michigan (90). Georgia has finished in the Top 10 at the NCAAs seven times in the last eight seasons.
 
 
“We were pretty happy with the way our guys performed today,” Georgia head coach Jack Bauerle said. “They stepped up with some solid morning swims and then backed it up with good swims at night. Gunnar showed that he’s a big-time guy and Trice was a big surprise as he scored individually at the NCAAs for the first time. We’re excited about what they did for us.”
 
 
Bentz came in fifth as he went 1:41.57 in the 200 individual medley. That is the second-lowest effort in school history, trailing only Chase Kalisz’s 1:41.19 set in 2014.
 
 
Trice celebrated his birthday by placing eighth in the 50 freestyle as he reached the wall in 19.23. During prelims Thursday morning, Trice went 19.16 to eclipse his own school record of 19.31.
 
 
In the 500 freestyle, Kevin Litherland placed 12th with a time of 4:15.86.
 
 
The 400 medley relay of Taylor Dale, Bentz, Pace Clark and Matias Koski came in 12th in 3:06.65.
 
 
The NCAAs will continue on Friday with the 400 individual medley, the 100 butterfly, the 200 freestyle, the 100 breaststroke, the 100 backstroke, the 3-meter springboard and the 200 medley relay.
 
 
Said Bauerle, “We’ve got a pretty big day ahead of us (Friday). That should be a day for us. We just need to keep it going.”
 
 
Streaming for Friday prelims can be found at AtlantaSwimming.com/Webcast, while ESPN3 will carry the finals. Results can be seen at RamblinWreck.com.