The University of Georgia’s women’s swimming and diving squad commenced their campaign at the 2024 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships with an impressive performance on home turf at Bauerle Pool, Gabrielsen Natatorium, Wednesday evening.
In the 800-yard freestyle relay, a quartet comprising sophomore Shea Furse, senior Sloane Reinstein, junior Duné Coetzee, and senior Zoie Hartman clinched First Team All-America honors, securing sixth place with a commendable time of 6:54.67.
Furse set the tone with a personal-best 200-yard freestyle sprint of 1:43.81, followed by Reinstein’s strong push with a split of 1:43.07, before Coetzee surged ahead in her leg, allowing Hartman to seal the deal with a robust finish in the second heat.
This achievement marks Georgia’s fourth consecutive top-eight finish in the event, boasting their fastest time since their 2016 NCAA title triumph with a clocking of 6:51.80.
Earlier in the evening, the Bulldogs narrowly missed securing a second All-America citation, landing 17th in the 200-yard medley relay.
Junior Eboni McCarty, Hartman, sophomore Emma Norton, and freshman Helena Jones clocked in at 1:36.19, a mere hundredth of a second behind Alabama’s relay.
McCarty set the pace with a season-best 50-yard backstroke time of 23.71.
After the first night’s competition, Georgia currently occupies the 11th spot with a tally of 26 points.
The NCAA Championships are set to intensify on Thursday, featuring the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard IM, 50-yard freestyle, 1-meter diving, and 200-yard freestyle relay.
Notably, junior Rachel Stege leads Georgia’s charge with three of the top eight seeds in the 500-yard free, while Hartman holds the eighth seed in the 200-yard IM.
Preliminaries kick off at 10 a.m., followed by senior Meghan Wenzel in diving prelims at noon and finals at 6 p.m. ESPN+ will provide live coverage, with results accessible on GeorgiaDogs.com.
