The Blue Devils went down to Georgia this past weekend to face off against the Yellow Jackets at the McAuley Aquatic Center.
Georgia Tech and Duke split the meet, the home team’s 21st-ranked men beating the Blue Devils 258-102, while the No. 20 Duke women claimed a 201-167 victory over the Yellow Jackets.
Junior Tatum Wall was the star of the weekend, with a blazing 47.65 in the 100-yard freestyle that earned the Ashburn, Va., native a first-place finish and a new school record. Her previous best time was a 48.22 at the Wolfpack Elite Invitational. Considering the fast-paced nature of the 100-yard freestyle, the .57 drop in only a few months bodes well for Wall’s future performance at the ACC and NCAA championships. The Olympic Trials qualifier remains just .55 seconds off the NCAA A qualifying time.
Over in the diving well, Margo O’ Meara achieved dominant wins in both the 1-meter event and her signature 3-meter event. With a 314.63 in the 1-meter, the St. Louis native outscored fellow Blue Devil Kiera Lu by a near-20 point margin, and in the 3-meter, the Olympic Trials finalist outscored freshman Keira Lu by 53 with a 335.85. In total, O’Meara scored 22 points for Duke. Her consistency in both score and placement this season is quite a feat, especially considering her nearly two-year hiatus due to a double shoulder surgery from 2022-24. In the 1-meter event, Lu dove to second right behind O’Meara.
The Blue Devils excelled in distance events this weekend. To begin the contest, Yixuan Chang and Ella Passe produced first- and third-place finishes, respectively, in the 1650-yard (or one mile) event. For an impressive repeat performance on the second day of the meet, Chang and Audrey Portello secured a one-two finish in the 500-yard event with a 4:53.10 and 4:53.17, respectively. Duke’s strength typically resides in sprint races, so four podium finishes is a great indicator of Duke’s emphasis on creating a well-rounded team and for a possible rise in Duke’s ACC Championship placement come March.
On the men’s side of competition, the Blue Devil divers helped to make up crucial ground against the Yellow Jackets. Junior Yannis Schattman finished second in the 1-meter dive with 310.35 and third in the 3-meter at 323.48, while sophomore Charles Berman achieved first in the 3-meter with a 361.20 and third in the 1-meter at 309.15. Berman also secured second place in the platform event for an additional four points with a 336.90. Combined, Berman and Schattman scored 23 points for the Duke men.
Both the men’s and women’s team shined in the grueling 400-yard individual medley. Graduate student Yugo Tsukikawa and senior Michael Jiang went two-three in the event with 3:56.61 and 3:59.38 respectively. Meanwhile, Audrey Portello and Martina Peroni placed first and third with 4:15.81 and 4:19.18. Portello coasted about a second under the NCAA B cut after already securing her place at Championships in the early season contest against Northwestern.
Similarly impressive, the Blue Devils went one-two in the 200-yard individual medley. Peroni led the charge in first with a 2:00.48, followed by Molly Donlan with 2:01.38. Sophomore Andrew Li placed second in the men’s event at 1:50.25.
Duke men’s performance over the weekend shows significant improvement from earlier in the season, especially considering Georgia Tech is a ranked team, while the Blue Devils are not. When compared to an early-season performance against a similarly 19th ranked Virginia Tech, Duke has found itself on the podium much more often in the New Year.
The 200-yard medley relay dream team of Ali Pfaff, Kaelyn Gridley, KyAnh Truong and Wall stepped up to the blocks ready to dominate — as they do every meet. The team — which has three Olympic Trials Qualifiers in Pfaff, Gridley and Wall — sprinted its way to first place with a blazing 1:37.49. Meanwhile, the men’s squad of Jiang, Kalen Anbar, Charlie Morici and Milo Shue nabbed a third-place finish at 1:28.73. Wall and Truong posted similar performances in the 50-yard freestyle event with a one-two performance, where both women achieved the NCAA B standard of 22.58, Wall with a 22.07 and Truong at 22.28. The 400-yard free relay team swapped Gridley for freshman Clare Logan and clocked in at 3:15.69 at No. 1.
Duke looks forward to the first home meet of the year against Tennessee Jan. 31, when the team will celebrate senior weekend.
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