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Wednesday, November 3, aoio The Red a Buck
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Swimming and diving looks
to extend home win streak
By ROBBIE OTTLEY
The Rkd & Buck
Sometimes sporting records are so
lopsided they become outlandish.
Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hit
ting streak from 1941 may stand forever.
The Atlanta Braves’ record of 14 con
secutive division titles was an unparal
leled accomplishment. And in 1616,
Georgia Tech proved it could win a foot
ball game against a team that had dis
continued its football program before
the season when it defeated Cumberland
College 222-0.
The Bulldog women's swimming and
diving team may hold the Georgia equiv
alent of such an asymmetric record.
Since moving into Gabrielsen Natatorlum
in 1995, Georgia’s women have lost only
one home duel meet, a streak of 71 con
secutive victories before last Friday.
"I forget a lot of the wins, but you
don’t forget the losses, especially when
you have one in fifteen years,” head
coach Jack Bauerle said. “It’s a remark
able record, and it’s certainly threatened
every year. This is just another threat."
The last team that beat the Bulldogs
at home was Florida, and the Gators
were in an excellent position to break
the home streak last Friday. Florida’s
women won the swimming and diving
national championship last year, and
while Georgia’s women placed a respect
able fifth at the meet, they nonetheless
remained underdogs going into last
week’s duel meet.
“Last year they won [National
Championships], they lost a few people,
but they’re still gonna be tough,” sopho
more Megan Romano said.
But despite the expectations, Georgia
won a convincing victory over Florida
with a final score of 180-120 to extend
the streak to 72. Highlighting the match
were Georgia wins in both the 200-yard
medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle
relay, which helped to tip the match in
favor of the Bulldogs.
Romano swam backstroke in the med
ley relay and was Georgia’s second swim
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mer in the free relay. But even in the
races where they didn’t finish first,
Romano and her teammates were able
to score crucial points for the Bulldogs.
“This is one of those meets where
everybody has to step up,” Bauerle said.
“Whether you get a fifth place Instead of
a sixth or a first instead of a second, it’s
pretty dam important.”
Georgia’s men, however, did not fare
as well on Friday. They lost to Florida by
a score of 170-130 to start off their sea
son with a two-meet losing streak.
Nonetheless, the match saw many
individual accomplishments for the
Bulldogs, including junior Michael
Arnold’s second-consecutive victory in
the 50-yard freestyle.
“I know almost from when I dive in
that I can hang with this guy, if not blow
him out,” Arnold said. “I’ve worked hard
er than this guy every day.”
Friday’s match was a positive rebound
for the Bulldogs after opening the sea
son with struggles against North Carolina
earlier last month. The men’s team lost
in Chapel Hill 183-117, and while the
women’s team won a 168-132 decision,
the match was much closer than either
team would have liked.
And though Georgia wouldn’t charac
terize the performance as a positive
occurrence, it nonetheless helped the
Bulldogs to reprioritize entering the
match against Florida.
“I think we took UNC as a lesson kind
of thing. We need to be more prepared,
no matter who the opponent is,” Arnold
said. “We’re gonna beat UNC at the end
of the season.”
The Bulldogs continue their season
tonight with a meet in Atlanta against
Georgia Tech and Emory. Because Emory
is a Division 111 opponent, Georgia’s male
and female swimmers will have the oppor
tunity to race in competitive events out
side their regular repertoire.
“Some of us swim some of our third
and fourth-best events ... so we usually
get excited to do an event we don’t do
very often,” Arnold said. “I think we’ll
just approach it like any other meet.”
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▲ Wide receiver Tavarres King eaki He does not know much about the
state of Idaho, but he is looking forward to Saturday’s game against
Idaho State.
Dogs wary of Idaho State upset
By RACHEL G. BOWERS
The Red & Buck
Mark Richt has never
been to Idaho. Tavarres
King said all he knew
about the state was its
association with potatoes
and that it’s “somewhere
over there.”
The Bulldogs will host
the Idaho State Bengals
Saturday for Georgia's
third non-conference game
of the season. But as the
FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK
Bengals come to town
Saturday, the thought of
an FCS team upsetting an
FBS team lingers on the
horizon. Richt said he
won’t address that issue
fully until the end of the
week, but did say that he
had an extra practice peri
od Monday for the players
to work on being in the
right position during the
right plays.
the week
gets toward
start think
motivation
for the KING
game, not
so much the motivation of
the practice,” Richt said.
King said he's excited
to play the Bengals and
will learn their defensive
backs' names —as he does
every week so he can
talk to them on the field
and “let them know that I
know who they are.”
“It’s fun. It’s going to be
a fun game,” the wide
receiver said. “I’m still
going to get the chance to
do what I love to do, which
is play football. It’ll be
interesting and I’ll get the
chance to meet some new
people meet the guys on
the other side of the ball."
No comeback yet for
Bulldogs
Of Georgia’s five losses,
three have been by a
touchdown or less. In two
of those losses, Georgia
has come back firom dou
ble-digit deficits in the
fourth quarter to tie the
game before eventually
losing.
The Bulldogs have posi
tioned themselves to win
games in the fourth quar
ter, but turnovers and
defensive breakdowns
have added to the loss col
umn.
“We’ve had ourselves in
position in the Arkansas
game and the Florida
game to maybe come from
behind, get in position to
win,” Richt said. “But get
ting in that moment of
truth and not making the
plays that need to be
made to win, so that's
been a little bit of a factor
too [in the losses].”
Quarterback Aaron
Murray said Georgia has
the talent to finish out the
close games, but a handful
of plays have been the dif
ference and the things
keeping the Bulldogs from
reaching their full poten
tial.
“We’ve come back from
games, but haven’t had
that comeback victory yet.
We’ve either won pretty
good or lost when it's real
ly close where we’ve had a
chance to win,” Murray
said. “Every game we’ve
been right in there and we
feel that we’ve had the
chance to win every game
this year. It just hasn’t
happened that way.”
Grantham speaks about
sideline gestures
Todd Grantham made
choking gestures Saturday
toward Florida kicker Chas
Henry, telling him he was
going to choke and miss
the overtime field goal.
Georgia’s first-year defen
sive coordinator addressed
the media about it
Tuesday night.
“Here's what I got to
say, I’m very passionate
about the game. I’m very
passionate about the
University of Georgia
being verylsuccessful as a
program ... as a competitor
... sometimes you get
caught up in the heat of
the moment. I wish the sit
uation hadn’t happened. It
was a tough, hard-fought
game. They won it. I’m
ready to move forward and
finish out the year strong.”