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 Carrie Chin |
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| The Georgia Tech swimming and diving team takes on Western Kentucky and Bowling Green this weekend. |
The Georgia Tech swimming and diving team continued their two month struggle, losing to conference opponent Clemson this past weekend.
Going into the dual meet, Coach Seth Baron was optimistic about the competition, but he knew that Clemson was one of the best teams in the ACC. The Yellow Jackets were defeated by 68 points, scoring a mere 78.5 to the Tigers' 146.5.
Junior Kevin Brooks, winning the 1-meter and 3-meter diving competitions, was the only team member to win an event in Clemson, South Carolina. Brooks continues to dominate diving, breaking the school record for the 11-round 3M diving competition. At Clemson, Brooks scored 520.20 points in the 3M competition, surpassing Brandon Lumm's school record of 505.9 points.
Coach Seth Baron commented on Brooks record-breaking performance.
"It was a very positive thing, not only for Kevin, but for the team to see someone step up and have a record breaking performance. It's leading towards Kevin having a really good conference championship."
Even though Tech did not win any of the swimming events, a few individuals performed well at Clemson. Freshman Rich Maletto swam a lifetime best in the 200 breaststroke, finishing in 2:15.49. Junior Glenn Goldstein had his best time of the season in the 100 backstroke in 54.48 and he also had a season best lead-off time in the 400 medley relay. Freshman David Laube placed third in the 500 freestyle competition in 5:01.90.
The team's lack of success at Clemson was described by Coach Baron. "I think the guys got a little too wound up in the fact that this was one of the better teams we've competed against and they couldn't relax and get into any kind of rhythm. From the very first event we were a little awestruck."
Tech's swimming and diving team has not won a competition since the December break, but looks at the Clemson competition as a learning experience. Baron is looking forward to this weekend's competition. "We did not perform up to our ability or expectations. Even when we swim poorly, we can learn from a bad performance so that we can perform better next time. We talked about it after the meet to try to get the team refocused and regrouped in preparation for this weekend against Western Kentucky and Bowling Green State."