University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships
Bulldogs Stand Ninth At NCAA Championships
March 26, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
Coach Bauerle and Freshman Gunnar Bentz talk about the men's opening day at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
March 26, 2015
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IOWA CITY, Iowa --- The Georgia men's swimming and diving team stands ninth after one day of competition at the NCAA Championships being held at Iowa's Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
The Bulldogs rolled up 61.5 points on Thursday. Texas has the team lead with 171, followed by California with 118, Florida with 108, Michigan with 105 and Alabama with 79.
"We had an interesting first day," Georgia coach Jack Bauerle said. "We had a great day in some regards and we also had some near misses. I'm proud of the way the guys competed today. We're doing pretty darn well. Friday is a big day for us and Saturday is an even bigger day, but we'll just take them one at a time and see what happens."
Gunnar Bentz was the lone Bulldog in a championship final Thursday night as he came in eighth in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 1:43.00. In prelims, Bentz went 1:42.44, the third-fastest time in school history.
In the consolation final, Nicolas Fink placed 11th in 1:43.07, followed by Ty Stewart in 13th in 1:43.53 and Chase Kalisz was 15th in 1:43.94.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Matias Koski won the consolation final for ninth as he stopped the clock in 4:11.83, which would have placed him third in the championship final. Koski also lowered his own No. 2 time in Georgia annals. Kevin Litherland touched in a career-best 4:17.09 to wind up 13th.
The 400-yard medley relay of Taylor Dale, Fink, Pace Clark and Michael Trice took sixth with a time of 3:05.39, breaking the school record of 3:05.50 set at last year's NCAAs.
The NCAAs will continue on Friday with prelims at noon and finals at 8 p.m. Video and live results can be found at HawkeyeSports.com. Friday's finals can be viewed on ESPN3.
