Senior Maddy Huggins broke a school record to help the Florida State swimming and diving team defeat ACC foe Georgia Tech on Saturday at the Morcom Aquatics Center.
The Seminole women won nine of 16 events and beat the Yellow Jackets 162-138 to improve to 3-0 on the young season. FSU posted one 1-2-3-4 finish and two 1-2 finishes. In the men’s team competition, Georgia Tech edged out Florida State, 174.5-125.5, as FSU won five events while making its season debut.
Huggins was joined by fifth-year Yordan Yanchev and seniors Edith Jernstedt and Kayleigh Clark as Seminoles with multiple individual wins on Saturday.
“I am really excited that the women overturned last year’s defeat to earn the win today,” FSU head coach Neal Studd said. “We talked about how that felt, and we came out and executed. We had some newcomers step up and that was great for us.
“Obviously as a head coach when you lose one and win the other it’s tough. The men slipped up in a couple spots. Georgia Tech swam great today, and I thought we were really good too. The results show that both teams swam really fast, and in the end, we just didn’t get it done on the men’s side. It’s kind of a strange feeling to be super happy about one and really disappointed about the other, but congrats to Georgia Tech.”
Huggins’ school record in the 200-yard breaststroke was part of her day that featured two individual wins and a relay victory. The senior won the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:07.98, 0.59 seconds faster than the previous record holder, Nina Kucheran’s 2:08.57 set in 2021.
The senior’s day began with a 100 breaststroke win in 59.51, a victory by more than 1.50 seconds. Huggins also was second in the 200 individual medley and helped FSU to a 200 medley relay win.
Jernstedt won the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:57.64 and the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:59.71. Her 200 butterfly victory was by more than two seconds.
Juniors Julia Brzozowski and Sarah Evans also were important pieces of the Seminoles’ win today with individual wins. Brzozowski took a convincing win in the 1000 freestyle, victorious by almost ten seconds with a time of 10:03.85. Evans also posted a first-place showing in the 100 backstroke with a time of 54.01.
The divers came out with impressive performances in both the 1- and 3-meter events. Clark and freshman Evelyn Hall finished first and second in the 1-meter with scores of 306.00 and 264.45, respectively. Things only got better when the women moved on to the 3-meter, as they swept top four places against the Yellow Jackets. Once again, Clark took the lead with a score of 306.45.
FSU’s women began the day with a 200 medley relay win in 1:37.31. A win by almost two seconds was achieved by Evans, Huggins, graduate student Jenny Halden and senior Gloria Muzito.
The Seminole men displayed several notable performances, particularly in the relays. To begin their day, fifth-year Mason Herbet, juniors Tommaso Baravelli and Sam Bork and senior Jokubas Keblys won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:26.17. The foursome edged Georgia Tech by 0.56 seconds. Bork, Herbet, fifth-year Max Wilson and Keblys closed the day as they begun it, with a victory in the 200 freestyle of 1:19.30. That came by a 0.47-second margin.
Yanchev earned two victories in his season debut, in the 100 and 200 freestyle. The fifth-year won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:35.93, and the 100 freestyle with a personal best time of 43.89.
Freshman Logan Robinson picked up his first collegiate win in the 100 butterfly with a time of 47.17. He was a close runner up in the 200 butterfly as well, with a time of 1:47.07 that was just 0.17 seconds behind the first finisher.
The Seminoles are back at the Morcom Aquatics Center next weekend when they face No. 8/13 Georgia on Saturday, October 19.
