Georgia Tech Invite: Michigan Completes Sweep Behind Stephanie Balduccini, Gal Cohen Groumi
The University of Michigan swim and dive teams finished off their sweep of the Georgia Tech Invitational Sunday with five additional victories. The Michigan women scored 1475 points, 100 ahead of runnerup Auburn (1374.5), with Florida State (1005.5), Georgia Tech (958) and Emory (73) also competing. For the men, Michigan scored 1418 points, ahead of FSU (1252), Auburn (1245), Georgia Tech (1004) and Emory (3).
The Wolverines swept the women’s 1650 freestyle to open the final day, with Rebecca Diaconescu winning in 15:56.12 ahead of teammates Marian Ploeger (16:11.54) and Madison Smith (16:22.60). Michigan got another sweep in the 100 free. One day after posting a 1:41 in the 200 free, Stephanie Balduccini clocked 47.33 to beat out veteran teammates Lindsay Flynn (47.97) and Claire Newman (48.03). Michigan’s Hannah Bellard comfortably won the 200 butterfly in 1:53.45, with Florida State’s Edith Jernstedt second (1:56.08) and Michigan’s Leila Fack third (1:57.86).
Auburn’s Ellie Waldrep topped the 200 backstroke, edging out Michigan’s Lily Cleason (1:55.35). Another Wolverine, Malia Amuan, took third (1:55.90). Florida State’s Maddy Huggins clocked 2:09.30 for the win in the 200 breaststroke, with teammate Julia Mansson (2:11.42) and Auburn’s Audrey Crawford (2:11.48) rounding out the top three. In platform diving, Georgia Tech’s Anna Bradescu scored 284.00 to beat FSU’s Kayleigh Clark (281.10) and Auburn’s Emily Hallifax (271.15).
Michigan finished four-and-a-half seconds clear of any competition in the 400 free relay, with Balduccini, Newman, Brady Kendall and Flynn posting a time of 3:11.09. Georgia Tech took second in 3:15.64, while the Michigan B-team (3:16.01) and C-team (3:16.25) both had marginally quicker times than third-place Auburn (3:16.33).
The men’s mile went to Michigan’s Jon Jontvedt in 14:48.20, ahead of teammate Joshua Brown (14:53.71) and Georgia Tech’s Lukas Vetkoetter (14:58.05). Following previous wins in the 200 IM and 100 fly, Gal Cohen Groumi won the 100 free by a half-second in 41.75. FSU’s Sam Bork (42.31) and Auburn’s Ryan Husband (42.58) completed the top three.
Auburn’s Nate Stoffle was the only swimmer under 1:40 in the 200 back, clocking 1:39.36, with Georgia Tech’s Berke Saka (1:40.07) and FSU’s Michel Arkhangelsky (1:40.45) also among the top three. Georgia Tech’s Max Fowler won platform diving with a score of 340.40, with FSU’s Hayden Schroeder (329.10) and Michigan’s Kameron Liberman (325.45) also among the top three.
Florida State’s Tomasso Baravelli completed the sweep of the breaststroke events with a time of 1:54.23 in the 200, with teammate Lleyton Arnold second in 1:55.31 ahead of Auburn’s Jacques Rathle (1:55.44). The 200 fly also went to the Seminoles, with Logan Robinson clocking 1:41.04 to beat Michigan’s Colin Geer (1:41.43) and Auburn’s Danny Schmidt (1:42.51).
The Seminoles finished their meet-closing flurry with a 400 free relay win, courtesy of Bork, Mason Herbet, Max Wilson and Yordan Yanchev, with the team checking in at 2:49.33, beating out squads from Georgia Tech (2:50.18), Auburn (2:50.42) and Michigan (2:50.95).
