Tech golf has established itself as a program with national pedigree. Last year was historic – junior Hiroshi Tai won an individual national championship, Tech alum Christo Lamprecht finished second in the PGA Tour University Rankings and the team made it to the semifinals of the national championship. Even with the Jackets being preseason ranked 11th and having the defending national champion, Tech golf is in unprecedented territory. Tech’s roster went down from 11 golfers in 2023-24 to eight this year, with multiple players never having played in a collegiate tournament and no seniors.

Can they maintain the program standard?

Amidst this uncertainty, Tai’s play will be a core piece for the team this season. He came into the season as the defending national champion, and ranked 29th on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). Tai has been a key contributor to the past two NCAA championship runs and will be counted on this year as a team leader. The Technique had the opportunity to speak with him about his historic victory, summer, and plans for the upcoming season. 

“It [the season] kind of starts all in August once everyone gets back to school. Our team will only be as good as our worst player. So I think everyone on the team really matters. All the little stuff we do, whether it’s waking up for workouts, going to class, doing our school work on time, turning in assignments on time, so we can show up to tournaments and not worry about that sort of stuff. All the little things kind of go into it and whatever all of us do as a whole, is the end result we get at the end of the year” Tai said. 

Tai has been busy this offseason working on his game as well as playing tournaments. He received an invitation to compete in the U.S. Open because of his national championship win. The U.S. Open is one of the four major championships in professional golf and plays host to golf greats such as Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Rory McIlroy. This tournament ended up being a fantastic experience for Tai. 

“I got to speak with Matt Kuchar, a Georgia Tech alum, had breakfast with him. And then I was on the putting green at the same time as Tiger [Woods] when he was putting. So that was pretty cool. My caddie, who was my teammate from last year, were both like ‘Holy crap, that’s Tiger’. I also got to hit balls next to Xander Schauffele and Rory [McIllroy] But pretty much everyone grows up watching Tiger [Woods], so you see him walking to the putting green, it’s like ‘Oh crap, he’s here too’” Tai said.

Golf’s influence on Tai’s life is not confined to the course. “[You have to learn] how to manage your time to be successful at both of them [golf and school]. Whether or not golf works out or not, you will at least learn something from college and have a good education and a degree from Georgia Tech“Tai said. 

Tai was not the only golfer to find success in the offseason. After deciding to redshirt last season, redshirt-junior Benjamin Reuter won multiple international events, including the Internationaux de France – Coupe Gordon Bennett and the Dutch National Stroke Play Championship, and sits inside the top 150 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). Apart from Reuter’s victories, sophomore Carson Kim finished in the top 10 of the Trans-Mississippi Amateur Championship and junior Aidan Tran had a nice showing in the Southern California Match Play Championship.

Last November, Tech signed two new freshmen to the team for this season, Albert Hansson and Didrik Ringvall Bengtsson both from Helsingborg High School in Sweden. This duo is a continuation of the pre-existing international pipeline established by Reuter and Tai. Both freshmen come into the season with a wealth of experience playing high amateur golf. Hannson participated in the last two U.S. Amateurs and both men competed in the Amateur Championship this past year.

“They are both really mature and know what they want to do when they get here. They both work super hard. It’s more outside of golf. Help them out with getting to workouts, where their classes are. On the course, you can’t ask much more than to hit the ball really good and work really hard and they’re doing all they can on the golf course to play well” Tai said. 

This past weekend, the Jackets traveled to Loudon, TN to compete in the Visit Knoxville Open. While the eighth-place result was not ideal, there were bright spots, including great play from Hansson and Tai. The freshman finished at one-under par in his first collegiate outing in a tie for 18th, and Tai led the team at two-under par for a tie for 12th place. 

Looking forward to the rest of the fall season, Tech will participate in four more tournaments including two in Atlanta, the East Lake Cup and their home tournament, the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational.. While they would love to win their home tournament, Tai and the rest of the team have their sights on the last three spring tournaments — ACCs, NCAA regionals, and the National Championship.

The post Tai readies for unprecedented Tech golf season appeared first on Technique.

Following a historic victory against Florida State University in Dublin, Ireland, Tech has many reasons to celebrate. The Jackets knocked off a top-10 team for the first time since the Miracle on Techwood in 2015, and they won against the preseason  favorites to win the ACC. However, one of the , the most critical yet underappreciated causes of this victory was what head coach Brent Key, the coaching staff and the athletic department have been quietly building behind the scenes. 

With name, image and likeness opportunities (NIL) being introduced to NCAA sports just a few years ago and the transfer portal becoming increasingly popular, it has been harder for programs to establish themselves in the new recruiting environment. Key, along with the help of athletic director J. Batt has brought enormous amounts of buzz to Tech athletics and turned that interest into dollars . Last year, Tech raised $78.2 million  through the Alexander-Tharpe Fund, a 43% increase over the previous school record. These record-breaking numbers allowed Tech to make a run at the highest-ranked recruits in the nation. 

On Monday, Aug. 12, Tech made national headlines when the No. 14 recruit in the nation, offensive lineman  Josh Petty, committed to spend his next four years on the Flats. Petty chose Tech over five other schools, most notably FSU, as he became the first five-star to commit to Tech since Calvin Johnson in 2004. Petty came from Fellowship Christian School in Roswell, GA and was a AA state champion in wrestling as well as a dominant force on the field. 

Many reasons led Petty to choose Tech. Academics, proximity to home, the coaching staff and a competitive NIL package, but one of the most unique reasons was how much the Tech fanbase individually valued him. Popular Tech twitter accounts started a #PettyToGT trend that went viral among Jacket supporters and spread throughout the online fanbase. This represented the external culture shift surounding the Tech football program. While many national outlets and football fans were initially confused by the decision, Tech’s upset victory against FSU solidified Petty’s decision to stay home. Even though Tech had the top ACC rushing offense last year, all the talk before the game was how FSU would dominate Tech in the trenches. The result couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Tech ran for 198 yards on 36 carries while FSU could not eclipse 100 on 31 carries, and the Jackets defensive line wreaked havoc on FSU quarterback DJ Uiagalelei. While this may have come as a shock to many national outlets, those close to the program believed in the process. 

Offensive line coach Geep Wade and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner have recruited, developed and polished an incredible line up front to compete and win against the most talented teams in the nation. 

The momentum from this historic victory will transfer not only to the team for weeks to come, but also to recruits searching for a permanent home. Other than Petty, Tech secured a commitment from Damola Ajidahun, the number 53 ranked offensive tackle in the nation according to 247 Sports, further bolstering the offensive line depth. Then, Tech completed the flip for four-star commit Christian Garrett from u[sic]GA, marking a shift in the dynamics of Georgia recruiting. Garrett comes from Prince Avenue Christian School, the same Athens high school as Tech freshman quarterback Aaron Philo and redshirt freshman wide receiver Bailey Stockton. With these two new additions, Tech jumped to 19th in the 247 2025 team recruiting rankings. 

After arriving back in Atlanta, Tech’s focus returns to the job at hand, beating Georgia State University, but the coaching staff and recruiters
are tremendously busy. 

The buzz for Tech football has not been this high in a while. The Jackets need to seize this surging momentum and run with it to reach a level the program has not seen since the historic days of Bobby Ross. 

The post Tech adding to trenches on and off the field appeared first on Technique.

Over the last two weeks, thousands of the best athletes across the globe congregated in Paris, France to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. There were nine Tech incoming, current, or former students representing their country in four sports: men’s basketball, women’s volleyball, swimming, and tennis. 

Jose Alvarado, a two-time All ACC selection for the Jackets and point guard for the New Orleans Pelicans, led the Puerto Rico Men’s National Basketball Team  to their first Olympic berth since 2004. Puerto Rico drew Group C in the tournament, forcing them to face off against highly ranked opponents in the USA and Serbia. While the team went 0-3 and failed to advance out of pool play, Alvarado averaged over 15 points per game and played lockdown defense the entire way. 

Another Tech graduate that qualified for their first Olympic Games was Julia Bergmann, an outside hitter for the Brazilian Volleyball National Team. Bergmann had a stellar career at Tech, featuring multiple American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) teams, and being named ACC Player of the Year in 2021. She also cracked Tech’s record books, ranking sixth all time in total kills and first in kills/set at 4.31. This is also a huge accomplishment for Tech volleyball, as Bergmann is the first of their  alumni to make it to the Olympics. Brazil comes into the Olympics as the second-ranked team in the world and a medal contender. In their pool play rounds, they were the only team to win in straight sets for all four  of their matches thus far. After a loss to the U.S. in the semifinal, Brazil will be compete for the bronze medal.  

Tennis star Christopher Eubanks represented the Jackets on the red clay of Roland Garros. Many Tech fans rallied around Eubanks during his Cinderella run to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon  in 2023. Eubanks, an Atlanta native and Tech graduate, was a star throughout his time here in Midtown. He earned two nods for ACC Player of the Year and turned professional after college to begin competing on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour. Following his quarterfinals run where he bested multiple top 15 seeds, Eubanks reached the top 30 of the world rankings in late 2023. He currently sits as the 119th-ranked player in the Men’s ATP rankings and the 12th-ranked American.  In the first round of the singles competition at Roland Garros, Eubanks dropped his match and was quickly eliminated from medal contention. 

While Nic Fink may not have swam competitively as a Jacket (he actually swam for u[sic]ga), he graduated Tech with his masters degree in electrical and computer engineering in 2022. Fink works a full-time engineering job remotely while still performing at the highest level in swimming. Heading into these Olympics, Fink was looking to become one of the oldest first time swimming medalists in recent history at age 31. In his first race, he tied Great Britain’s Adam Peaty for silver in the 100m breaststroke, and then Fink won gold swimming the breaststroke leg for the 4×100 mixed medley relay. Not satisfied with two medals, Fink added another silver medal as the breaststroke leg in the men’s 4×100 medley relay. 

The other five Tech Olympians were all swimmers and competed in a variety of events . Current Tech students Ariana Dirkzwager (Laos) and Berke Saka (Turkey) failed to make it out of prelims, Dirkzwager in the 200m freestyle and Saka in the 200m individual medley and 100m backstroke. Tech incoming freshman Ela Naz Ozdemir (Turkey) and Giovana Reis (Brazil) both missed the finals in their respective relays, 4×200 freestyle and 4×100 freestyle, respectively. Lastly, recent Tech alumni Imane El Barodi (Morocco) competed in the 100m breaststroke, also failing to qualify for finals. 

Overall, it was amazing to watch and see these Jackets compete on the highest stage in the world for their respective countries. Tech brought home the gold with Fink’s victory, and Bergmann could add another bronze medal depending on Brazil’s volleyball results. Hopefully, there will be even more Tech athletes to cheer on as they go for the gold next time in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The post Jackets go for the gold in Paris Olympics appeared first on Technique.

During the summer, the Jackets released their 2024 volleyball schedule featuring many matches against highly rated schools. The most exciting non-conference game will likely be when Tech hosts the University of Florida, an SEC powerhouse, in McCamish Pavilion on Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. as part of the Georgia Tech Classic. The match against the Gators is a rematch of the 2024 round-of-32 5-set duel where Tech prevailed. Other reputable out-of-conference opponents include the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) in the GT Invitational, Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah and u[sic]ga in Athens, Ga., a display of Clean Old-Fashioned Hate. 

After concluding out-of-conference play, they embark on a rigorous ACC schedule that includes  matchups against familiar top ACC opponents in Pittsburgh and Louisville, as well as  newly added ACC competitors in Stanford and Southern Methodist University (SMU). These new ACC opponents further deepen the already well-established pedigree of ACC volleyball and will pose new challenges to Tech. 

After a successful season that ended with a round-of-16 loss to Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament, Tech volleyball has been busy bringing in new recruits and developing their returners. With the expansion of the ACC, it is vital that head coach Michelle Collier recruits both freshmen and transfers from the portal. The Jackets have brought in a total of five new players, three freshmen and two transfers, focusing mostly on defense, setting, and middle blocking with hopes that these improvements will push them to another run at NCAAs. 

The first position that Collier wanted to address was finding another middle blocker/possible right side. Middle blocker Logan Wiley comes to Tech from Alpharetta, GA and was one of the most decorated recruits in history, ranked 38th in the upcoming class according to PrepDig.com. She played at the nationally ranked A5 Volleyball Club and led her team to a club national championship in 2022 while also notching USA Volleyball Club All-American Honors. Wiley began practicing with the team during the spring and will address a need at the middle blocker position. 

After the graduation of Bella D’Amico last spring, Tech searched the portal to find another setter to run their typical 6-2 rotation. The Jackets decided to tap into their international recruiting pipeline to grab Brazilian standout senior Luanna Emiliano from University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). Emiliano comes to Tech with the 10th most career assists (3,569) among active NCAA players and was a great defensive setter at UTRGV. Emiliano will join returning sophomore Heloise Soares to run the 6-2 rotation, allowing more flexibility as the setters will not play the front row. 

Another position that Tech wanted to address in the offseason was finding a couple of more defensive specialists. Following the graduation of star libero Paola Pimentel, Tech began searching for someone to fill the position long-term. First, Tech added freshman Lydia Zeng from Marietta, GA who is rated as a top five libero in Georgia according to PeachStateVolleyball.com. Then, Collier went to the transfer portal and landed a possible hidden gem by  picking up Sofia Velez, a defensive specialist/libero from Trinity Valley CC. Velez accumulated the most digs (1523) in the National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association (NJCAA)). 

Other than these new additions, Tech will rely heavily upon their wealth of pin-hitting experience. With new additions and those involved with the round-of-16 run last year, expect to find Tech at the top of the ACC and making a run in the tournament.

The post Tech Volleyball digging in for 2024 campaign appeared first on Technique.

When redshirt-sophomore Hiroshi Tai successfully completed his up-and-down, sinking a five-foot par putt on the par-four ninth hole in the final round of the NCAA National Championships, he was unsure if it would be enough to win the title. Just earlier, Tai looked as if he was going to cruise to an individual victory, but a major hiccup on the par-three eighth hole resulted in a triple bogey to shrink his four shot lead to one. He nervously watched his opponents for another two hours, but his anxiety turned into relief as Tai captured the individual NCAA Championship. He joined three other Jackets, Watts Gunn (1927), Charlie Yates (1934), and Troy Matteson (2002) as individual champions. 

In late May, the Jackets traveled to Southern California to compete for an NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort North Course. Head coach Bruce Heppler stuck with his typical starting lineup of senior Christo Lamprecht, graduate student Bartley Forrester, Tai, and freshmen Kale Fontenot and Carson Kim. Tech came out of the gates on fire with Tai carding a five-under 67 to take the individual lead and the team finishing in fourth place out of 30 through the opening round. The concern for the Jackets came after the round when Lamprecht, who had carded a two-under 70, began experiencing back spasms that forced an early exit from the tournament. He was replaced by sophomore Aidan Tran. 

Even without one of the top amateur golfers in Lamprecht, the Jackets stuck within striking distance of the match play portion. Tech fired a 301 (+13) followed by a 292 (+4) and sat tied  for ninth heading into the final round of stroke play. The Jackets needed to crack the top eight in order to qualify for match play and have the chance to avenge their runner-up finish a year ago. After starting the championship in the lead after round one, Tai found himself three behind Ohio State’s Adam Wallin going into the final round of the individual portion of the championship. 

The final round was stressful for the Jackets. Tai and Kim both came out on fire, shooting a pair of 34s, and the Jackets made the turn inside the projected cut line. The Jackets continued the front nine with strong play, but then Tai made a brutal error by carding six strokes on the par-three eighth hole — a triple bogey. Now, the Jackets sat right on the cut number (+25) and were forced to wait to see how Florida and Oklahoma finished in order to determine if their season would continue. After Oklahoma’s Jase Summy bogeyed the par-five 18th, and Florida collapsed on the closing nine holes, Tech was sitting pretty inside the cut number. Even after it was clear that Tech would qualify for match play, the wait was still on for Tai to become the top amateur as opponent after opponent tried to chase his lead down. After each player fell short, Tai was officially crowned the 2024 Individual National Champion in a narrow one-shot victory over six different players. With this historic win, Tai earned a spot in the 2024 U.S. Open (in which he would go on to miss the cut) and into the 2025 Masters. 

As the last team to qualify for match play, the Jackets drew the top-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini in the quarterfinals. Lamprecht, still dealing with back issues, was kept on the bench, so Tech had to try and defeat this experienced squad without their number one player. The start of match play went poorly for the Jackets. Forrester led the Jackets in the opening match and dropped holes early while he and Kim both found themselves in early deficits. The momentum continued in the direction of the Illini as they took the lead over Tai in the final match, but then the Jackets started to turn it around. Tran opened up a lead against Illinois’ Piercen Hunt, and Forrester flipped his two down deficit to one up against Tyler Goecke. The experience of Forrester and his match play prowess showed and he clinched his match, but after the two freshmen fell behind, it was up to Tran and Tai to close out the match. Once Tai made a turn, he flipped a one-down deficit to a three-up lead within a five hole span. Tran sealed his match with a par on the par-three 16th, and the Jackets sent Illinois packing in style when Tai hit the flagstick on the 16th, and the ball landed just feet from the pin. The 3-1 victory propelled the Jackets onto the semifinals where they would square off against Florida State, who they lost to in the ACC tournament, for a chance to play for a national championship.

The revenge match for a spot in the finals was a nailbiter for the Jackets. Just around 20 minutes before the Jackets were supposed to square off against the Seminoles, Lamprecht stopped experiencing back spasms and decided to compete. Forrester continued his match play dominance by winning the opening match, and it looked like Tech was firmly in control. Both Kim and Lamprecht led in their matches, and Fontenot kept pace in his. Unfortunately, the screws began to fall apart in Lamprecht’s match as FSU star Luke Clanton started staging a comeback. Clanton flipped the match from two down to two up and defeated Lamprecht to put a point on the board for FSU. A short time later, it all came down to Fontenot against FSU’s Tyler Weaver. On the 18th hole in regulation, Fontenot made a clutch five-foot birdie putt to extend the match to extra holes, but a three-putt on the first playoff hole proved costly, as the Jackets fell to the Seminoles, 3-2. 

While the conclusion may have been disappointing, the season itself was full of historic achievements. Not only did Tai win the individual title, Lamprecht broke the overall Tech scoring record with a 70.05 stroke average during his career. Tai and Lamprecht both earned First-Team All-American Honors for the 2024 campaign. While Heppler will have to replace both Lamprecht and Forrester for next season, the pedigree of Tech golf is reaching new heights each year. Many of its golfers will be making their names well known on the national circuit this summer.

The post Hiroshi Tai wins National Championship, Tech finishes season strong appeared first on Technique.

In mid-March, Tech traveled to their closest tournament of the semester, the Linger Longer Invitational, to compete on the Great Waters course at Reynolds. The Jackets sent their usual starting five, senior Christo Lamprecht, grad student Bartley Forrester, sophomore Hiroshi Tai, and freshmen Carson Kim and Kale Fontenot with an additional pair of individuals (sophomore Aidan Tran and senior Aidan Kramer). The field in Lake Oconee, Ga. was highlighted by archrival University of Georgia Bulldogs, ACC foe University of Virginia Cavaliers and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.

Right out of the gate, the Crimson Tide blitzed the field by shooting a first round 267 (-21) to open up a nine shot lead on the second place team. While the Jackets played solidly, carding a team score of 280 (-8), they immediately found themselves in a deep hole if they wanted to take home the hardware. Leading the way for Tech was Tai shooting a 68 (-4) that was good enough to tie him for fourth heading into the second round. Shockingly, the score of Lamprecht, who had been the most successful Tech golfer all season, did not count in the opening round. 

Heading to round two, head coach Bruce Heppler and the team knew that another round of 280 (-8) would not be enough to dent an enormous Alabama lead. Unfortunately, the Jackets carded that exact score, and lost eight strokes to the Crimson Tide as they shot a 272 (-2). Despite the mediocre score, Tai continued to contend for the individual title firing another 4-under par round of 68 to move into solo second place. Tai would need a historic final round as he trailed the leader, Alabama’s Jonathan Griz by seven shots.

Sitting in fifth place as a team and trailing first place by a large margin, Tech was most likely out of the team title, but finishing ahead of rival Georgia was still on the cards. While the Jackets fired their worst team score of the week, a 286 (-2), it was still enough to move them to fourth place, but still behind the Bulldogs. Tai, who had led the team all week, shot a disappointing 75 (+3), while Lamprecht, who had performed poorly to his standards in the first two rounds, tied for the low final round with a 5-under 67. To much surprise, individuals Tran and Kramer finished their tournament at or better than all five of the Tech golfers counting for team score. 

After finishing fourth in the Linger Longer Invitational, the Jackets traveled back out west to play in The Goodwin at TPC Harding Park in the largest field of the year boasting over 30 collegiate teams. TPC Harding Park, located in the Bay Area, showed why it was the host of the 2020 PGA Championship, as the wide majority of collegiate players struggled to string together good rounds. In the first round, coach Heppler decided to keep the lineup identical to Linger Longer and the Jackets found themselves in seventh place, but only four shots behind the leaders. Fontenot was the only Jacket under par shooting a 1-under par 69. With a crowded leaderboard, the Jackets stood well within striking distance of a team title after round one. 

The second round was much of the same for the Jackets. Kim was the only one under par shooting a 69 (-1) and the team shot a 284 (+4), one worse than their performance a day prior. All that being said, despite being in sixth place the distance between them and the leaders only marginally grew and they were only five shots back heading into the final round. 

Both Kim and Lamprecht were tied for 18th heading into the final round. TPC Harding Park played close to two shots easier in the final round and the team scores showed. Four of the top five teams shot under par and with that, the Jackets one-under par round as a team was only just enough to crack into the top five. Forrester shot a 66 (-4) which was good for the round of the day and enough to tie him with Lamprecht for a t-11 finish. 

Following The Goodwin, the Jackets will compete in the Calusa Cup in Naples, Fla., and then head to Charlotte Country Club in Charlotte, N.C. for the ACC Championships. Notably, the Jackets will be without their star and number one amateur in the world for the Calusa Cup, as Lamprecht will be competing in The Masters after receiving an invitation from winning The Amateur Championship last summer. Still, despite Lamprechet’s absence, they were able to finish fourth at the Calusa Cup. Three Tech golfers finished among the top-20 with Forrester and Tran tying for 12th place in the individual standings.

Hopefully, the Jackets can gain some momentum in these events heading into the most important stretch of the year, NCAA Regionals and Nationals. Although their performance at the Linger Longer was not up to their usual standards, they showed signs of bouncing back in the Calusa Cup as they get ready for the critical stretch of the season.

The post Golf struggles at Linger Longer Invitational appeared first on Technique.

Over the last two weeks, Tech Swim and Dive concluded their season at the NCAA Championships. The women’s team sent two people to the Championships hosted in Athens, Ga. The men sent a record-tying nine to Indianapolis for the men’s championships. Mens’ and womens teams were represented in both the swimming and diving contests. The nine participants on the men’s side were senior Batur Ünlü in the 200 free, junior Mert Kilavuz in the 1650 free, junior Leandro Odorici in the 100 breast, junior Berke Saka in the 200 individual medley (IM), freshman Max Fowler in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dive, freshman Ricky Baluccini in both the 400 free relay and 800 free relay, junior David Gapinski in the 400 free relay, freshman Vitor Sega in the 800 free relay and freshman Robin Yeboah in the 400 free relay. The two representatives on the women’s side were freshman Sabyne Brisson in the 100 and 200 breast and senior Anna Bradescu in platform and 1-meter dive. Tech headed into the NCAA Championships coming off one of their better ACC championship performances in recent years. Both the men’s and women’s teams placed ninth while breaking many school records. The Women’s Championship began in Athens on March 21 where Bradescu dove in the women’s one-meter dive scoring 198.85 to finish in the top-50. The next day Brisson, who has school records in both the 100 and 200 breast, competed in the 100 breast, clocking just under one minute (59.70) and finishing 27th. On the last day of the Women’s NCAA Championship, both Brisson and Bradescu participated in their final events of the season. 

Heading north to Indianapolis, the men hoped to put the icing on top of a successful season. On the first day, the 800 free relay team of Baluccini, Sega, Saka and Ünlü closed with a time of 6:21.60 that had them finishing in last place (21st). Going into the second day, Tech hoped to be more competitive than in the preliminary rounds. Kilavuz swam in the 500 free finishing 38th with a time of 4:18.45 and Odorici finished 38th as well in the 50 free with a time of 19.49. On the third day of the NCAA Championships, Tech had their best day with two top-20 finishers. Odorici swam a time of 51.97 in the 100 breast to finish 20th in the preliminaries and Fowler tallied 350.70 points in the 3-meter dive for a 19th place finish. In the fourth and final day of the men’s national competition, Kilavuz outlasted much of his competition in the 1650 free finishing 18th with a time of 14:48.88.

Tech finished the 2023-2024 season with multiple top-20 finishers in national competition. Looking back at the season, the Jackets won multiple meets, most notably over the University of Miami and East Carolina University. Top individual performances included a bronze medal for Fowler in the men’s 1M during the ACC championships and a fifth place finish for Bradescu in the ACC Championships to qualify her for Athens. The Jackets will have a young foundation to build on in the coming years and they are primed for future success in the water after a strong season. They should make noise next year in the ACC.

The post Nine of Jackets swim and dive to nationals appeared first on Technique.

Ten years ago, most golf fans would have been hard-pressed to name five female golfers. 

The lack of awareness was entirely due to the limited opportunities to even watch women’s golf. Media deals were small and were often overpowered by higher-budget golf, so channels would air the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) during inopportune times and on playback. Furthermore, the LPGA suffered from not having a presence that could draw attention in the way that Tiger Woods drew attention to the PGA.   

The process to “grow the game” was far from simple. Changes needed to be made to the amateur game in order to spark growth for the LPGA Tour. One of the biggest improvements recently has been the addition of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA). Historically, women were excluded from Augusta National Golf Club (ANGC), the host course of the prestigious Masters Tournament each year, with the first woman member not being welcomed until 2012. Given the excitement that was generated around The Masters, ANGC Chairman Fred Ridley knew an opportunity existed for the women’s game. In 2018, he decided that Augusta National would host the ANWA in hopes of growing the popularity of women’s golf  for years to come. 

This year marks the fifth iteration of this tournament and the event has been sold out since its inception in 2019.  After her recent appearance in 2023, Duke star golfer Erica Shepherd mentioned she particularly enjoyed seeing the effect of the tournament on young girls across the course. 

The creation of the ANWA, along with a large investment in many other amateur and junior girl tournaments, has led to an increase in viewership of the pro game. In 2022, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group Tour Championship drew 4.7 million viewers, but the same event drew nearly nine million viewers. These increases have led to arguably the most important change in the game, an increase in prize money. In 2024, the LPGA will have ten tournaments that feature championship purses of over $3 million. 

There will be a record $116 million in total prize money throughout the year. The regular LPGA events are not the only events seeing record-breaking increases, as both the U.S. Open and Women’s PGA Championship have surpassed $10 million in prize money. Even with these encouraging signs, the disparity between the prize money available in the PGA versus the LPGA is still over $300 million.

What has been missing from the LPGA Tour for years has been the “it” factor, especially for American viewers. Many thought Lexi Thompson or Nelly Korda could provide just that, but, the current focus in the women’s golf scene has turned to LPGA Tour rookie Rose Zhang. During her time as a student-athlete at Stanford University, Zhang surpassed fellow Stanford phenom Woods’ record of most collegiate wins as a Cardinal by winning her 12th tournament last year. Arguably the most decorated amateur in women’s golf history, Zhang won the U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Girls Junior, ANWA and was a two-time NCAA
D-1 Individual Champion. 

Zhang’s parallels to Woods are uncanny. Her spotlight was further solidified when Zhang won her first ever LPGA event. She became the first LPGA Tour member to accomplish that feat since 1951 and finished in the top ten for three of the five majors last season. If Zhang can have any semblance of the same effect as what Woods had on the men’s game in the early 2000s, the economic gap between the LPGA and PGA will continue to shrink.  

Over the last ten years there has been immense progress, but there remains a massive opportunity for continued growth. Tech has yet to tap into that growth opportunity. While Tech would need to add a women’s golf team in compliance with Title IX, such a team’s ability to have a perennial top-25 women’s golf team and play a key role in growing the game.

Currently, 12 out of the 15 teams in the ACC have a women’s golf team. One of those is the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, the 2023 NCAA D-1 Team Champions. Of those 12 programs, few have a recruiting pool similar to what Tech could access. Not only could the Jackets tap into the thriving junior golf scene in Georgia and the Southeast, the school’s large international population attracts players from both Europe and South America. Aside from recruiting, a Jacket women’s team would capitalize off the existing Georgia golf market created by The Masters and the FedEx Cup. 

Since collegiate golf teams typically have no more than ten players, that would place minimal burden on the department. Further, the travel, especially for only about five to seven players per tournament, is considerably less than taking a team of 20-30 to an away game. 

One concern that would almost certainly surface in any discussions with the possibility of this addition would be space constraints. 

Currently, the men’s team practices at Noonan Golf Facility near Atlantic Station. This private facility would likely not fit two teams and initially, it may be difficult to find practice facilities close to campus. 

While currently a hypothetical, the Athletics department should consider  looking  into the growth opportunity of the addition of a women’s golf program. Given the consistent rise of women’s amateur and pro golf, now is the perfect time for exploration.

The post Could Tech play a large role in women’s golf? appeared first on Technique.

After having a successful week at the Amer Ari Intercollegiate in early February, the Jackets teed it up again in the Watersound Invitational, hosted at Shark’s Tooth Golf Course in Panama City Beach, Fla. Like their previous tournament, the Jackets found themselves amongst some of the best teams in the nation including Vanderbilt, Va., and Florida State. This is the fourth consecutive year Tech had traveled to Florida to play in the tournament and it ended with Jackets senior Christo Lamprecht and the team both finishing runner-up. With a good finish in the event this week, Lamprecht would vault to number one in both the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour University Rankings and the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).

The tournament started off uneventful for the Jackets as they shot a 287 (-1) as a team to put themselves in the middle of the pack after day one. Lamprecht and graduate student Bartley Forrester led the team with 71s (-1). While the team limited their bogeys, Tech was only able to make 11 birdies and one eagle in the first round. After the first round, the Jackets were nine strokes behind the Commodores and WAGR leader Gordon Sargent leading the way. If the Jackets were going to close that gap, they needed to give themselves more scoring opportunities and capitalize on the par 5s. 

Unlike the first round, where the gap between best and worst was just three strokes, the second round was much more tightly contested. Lamprecht shot a round-best 65 (-7) that vaulted him into first place and freshman Kale Fontenot fired a five-under par 67 highlighted by seven birdies. Both freshman Carson Kim and Forrester struggled and scored 78. Despite having to count a 78 (+6) in the team total, Tech was still able to move up place in the leaderboard after carding a 281 (-7) and improving by six strokes. However, the margin between them and Vandy still widened as the Commodores fired another 278 (-10). 

Needing a low final round to have any chance at the title, the Jackets fired a 276 (-12), which was tied for the overall tournament best, but they could not overcome the gap. Sophomore Hiroshi Tai led the team carding a 66 (-6) to vault him inside the top-10 individually, and Forrester bounced back off his 79 with a 68 including a stretch of four birdies in five holes. 

Lamprecht started the final day with the lead, but Florida State’s Gray Albright was quick on his tail, draining five birdies on his first nine to capture the lead heading into the back nine. Entering the back nine trailing by two strokes, Lamprecht needed some fireworks to make up for lost  ground. A bogey on the scorable, par 5 13th hole put Lamprecht in an insurmountable hole despite two birdies on the last three holes. Lamprecht finished tied for second with Sargent and one stroke behind the champion Albright.

Even though Lamprecht did not take home the hardware at the Watersound, his performance gave him his 15th career top-five finish in a collegiate event and elevated him into first place in both the PGA Tour U and WAGR rankings. If Lamprecht is able to hold onto the PGA Tour U top position, it would give him automatic status on the PGA Tour this next season. 

In the coming weeks, the Jackets will play at the RE Lamkin Invitational at San Diego Country Club this week, followed by the Linger Longer Invitational at Great Waters at Reynolds Lake Oconee and rounding out March by traveling back out west to The Goodwin at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, CA. 

These highly competitive tournaments will prepare head coach Bruce Heppler’s squad for ACC and Regionals next month as they look to capture the national title after claiming the runner-up spot in last year’s tournament.

The post Golf makes waves at Watersound Invitational appeared first on Technique.

Coming off an impressive home victory over Syracuse, the Jackets squared off against another orange team, the Clemson Tigers, on Wednesday night in McCamish Pavilion. Earlier in the season, Tech defeated the Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum in a double overtime thriller. If the Jackets wanted the season sweep,  they were going to need lots of production from freshman guard Naithan George and keep the  Tigers off the offensive glass. 

The Tigers pounced early, drilling threes left and right to build an early 23-9 advantage. This was not the first time the Jackets had found themselves down early in ACC contests. Notably, the Jackets were down double-digits against UNC before coming back and upsetting the Tar Heels. However, this  game bore more similarities to  the Jackets blowout loss against Wake Forest a couple of weeks back. 

After Clemson took the large opening lead, Tech tried  to start a run and claw back into the game, but the Tigers would reestablish their lead as soon as Tech started to build any sort of momentum. With seven minutes to go in the second half, a jumper from George shrank the lead to just six points, but then the Tigers went on a 13-4 run and Tech found themselves down by 12 points heading into half. Tech shot a mediocre 35% from the field and 38% from three while the Tigers shot both 50% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc, including nine threes. Junior forward Ian Schieffelin led the Tigers with 13 points in the opening half but  none of Tech’s scorers had above seven points. 

Any hopes to claw back into the contest were shot in the second half. If Tech was cold in the first half, they were frigid in the second. Tech put up eight threes and only hit one of them, shooting a  mere 24% from the floor. 

Unlike the Jackets, the Tigers kept up their terrific first half, capitalizing on another half of good shooting and continued to lengthen their lead. Even though the Jackets struggled as a team in the second half, junior forward Miles Kelly hit a career milestone as he tallied two free throws to reach the 1000 career points mark. He became the 48th Jacket to do so, but could not keep them from
falling to Clemson 81 to 57.  Coming off the disappointing home loss, the Jackets traveled down to Coral Gables, Fla. to face the Miami Hurricanes in a battle of two struggling ACC teams. 

Miami came into the matchup 6-10 in the ACC and in desperate need of a win over the Jackets to secure a first round bye in the ACC Tournament. Both teams started the game off strong, especially as Tech drilled 11 threes in the first half to Miami’s nine makes. Coming off his historic accomplishment last week, Kelly used that momentum to put together one of his best performances of the year. In the first half alone,  he made four threes and tallied 14 points to lead the Jackets in first-half scoring. 

Even with this stellar play, the Jackets still entered the second half trailing 45-49 and in need fora second-half comeback in order to pull a game closer in the ACC standings. The Jackets opened on a 9-0 run and followed it later with a 12-2 run to extend their sudden lead to 12. 

Soon, the Jackets had a 76-63 advantage and looked like they were going to cruise to a victory. 

However, Miami coach Jim Larrañaga’s squad started to full court press. The five guard lineup proved to be a great decision and the Canes started to claw back into the ballgame. After not scoring for nearly six minutes, senior Kyle Sturdivant hit a couple of free throws to make it a two possession game. Even after a last minute three, Sturdivant sealed the game with another pair of free throws to make it 80-76.

Tech takes on the Florida State Seminoles this Saturday, Mar. 2 at noon in McCamish Pavilion. This is the Jackets’ last home game of the season before the Jackets finish the regular season out against Wake Forest on Tuesday, Mar. 5 and Virginia on Saturday, Mar. 9.

The post Kelly makes history as Jackets split games appeared first on Technique.