Blue Devils Fall Short Against NC State and Georgia

Friday, November 3

Raleigh, N.C.

5 p.m.

Duke University

NC State

Blue Devils Fall Short Against NC State and Georgia

11/3/2023 9:28:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

RALEIGH, N.C. – No. NR/15 Duke's swimming and diving team fell short on Friday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C., as they completed competition against No. 4/4 NC State and No. 9/13 Georgia.

SCORES
NC State Men defeated Duke Men – 246-53
Georgia Men defeated Duke Men – 243-56
NC State Women defeated Duke Women – 151-149
Georgia Women defeated Duke Women – 155-143

HOW IT HAPPENED

Junior diver Margo O'Meara finished second on the podium in the 1-meter dive, producing a score of 312.25. Josie Zillig competed in the 1-meter dive as well on Friday, placing fourth with her score of 272.90.
On the men's side, Will McCollum placed fourth in the 3-meter dive, posting a time of 337.35.
In the pool, Duke's 200-Yard Medley Relay consisting of Ali Pfaff, Kaelyn Gridley, Aleyna Ozkan and Tatum Wall took home first place, clocking in with a time of 1:38.75.
In the 200-Yard Freestyle, Sarah Foley finished second in the event with a 1:47.70 time, while Ali Pfaff also placed second in the 100-Yard Backstroke.
In the 100-Yard Breaststroke Gridley earned an NCAA B-Cut with a time of 1:00.56. Catherine Belyakov placed fourth in the event and narrowly missed her B-Cut with a time of 1:02.38.
Sophomore Martina Peroni finished first in the 200-Yard Butterfly on Friday, posting a time of 1:58.30, a full second faster than the competition.
Pfaff and Molly Donlan collected spots on the podium in the 200-Yard Backstroke. Pfaff clocked a time of 1:56.47 to take home first place, while Donlan posted a time of 1:58.86 for third place.
Gridley and Foley batted in the 200-Yard Breaststroke with Gridley edging out Foley for the top spot. Gridley clocked a time of 2:11.05, followed quickly by Foley, 2:11.66.
Freshman Kalen Anbar sliced four seconds off his previous best 200-Yard Breaststroke, finishing fourth in the event on Friday with a time of 2:00.90.
In the 100-Yard Butterfly, Aleyna Ozkan earned an NCAA B-Cut and finished first in the event with a time of 52.94, while Peroni finished second, clocking in at 54.13.

QUOTES
"I am just psyched about this program and so proud of how they competed. The energy that both the men and women brought to every event was unbelievable. The fight in this program has been awesome. I told the women's team today, we race anybody, anywhere, anytime and they showed up. We won the 200-Back, 200 Medley Relay, 200 and 400 IM and the 100 and 200-Breast today. We took two top-10 teams down to the final relay and we deserve everything that is coming. We've worked our tails off all week, and we've worked our tails off all season. On the men's side it's the subtle challenge of showing our best, so we can plan for the rest of the fall and the rest of the season. We produced some of the best times out of our men's team tonight and we will continue to build on that." – Head coach Brian Barnes on his overall thoughts on the meet this evening.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils return to the pool on Saturday, Nov. 4 for a platform diving event against NC State. Duke then has a week off, before competing at the Tennessee Invitational (Diving Only) and the Wolfpack Invitational (Swimming Only).

For more information on Duke swimming and diving, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeSwimDive".

#GoDuke