Jack Bauerle stood on deck by the pool in the Gabrielsen Natatorium Saturday with a smile, congratulating his swimmers as they exited the pool.

It was a moment of well-deserved relaxation after the Georgia men’s and women’s swimming teams had just posted victories over Tennessee in what Bauerle called one of the best dual-meets he has ever coached.

MARK DYLLA

“It was a hard-fought meet,” Bauerle said. “I’m really proud of our men’s team. We showed a lot of heart.”

For the Lady Bulldogs, sophomore Wendy Trott led the charge with victories in both the 500- and 1000-yard freestyles.

“The ladies did a great job,” Bauerle said. “Wendy in particular had a great day with those two wins. There are things that we could do better, but overall I think this was just a great win for our team.”

While the Georgia women easily dispatched of their Tennessee counterparts 189-111, the men had a more difficult road to victory.

Down by as many as 16 points more than halfway through the meet, the men staged a furious comeback to notch an improbable win 152-148.
“I never thought we were out of it,” Bauerle said, “but I knew there was a lot we had to do to be able to pull out a win.”

Junior Mark Dylla won the 200-yard butterfly as well as the 100-yard butterfly, the second of three consecutive races in which the Bulldogs finished in all of the top three spots.

“Coming down the last three swimming races, we had to go one, two, three in each to give ourselves a chance to win,” Dylla said. “We had guys step up all day, and beating Tennessee was a total team effort.”

For Georgia, it was the 69th consecutive win at home giving it a 70-1 record all-time at the Gabrielsen Natatorium.

The teams will play host to South Carolina and Alabama Saturday to close out their home schedule.