Courtesy: Georgia Tech Athletics
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech swimming and diving announced its leadership corp for the 2021-22 season, naming six as team captains on Thursday.
Seniors Christian Ferraro and Clark Wakeland and sophomore Justin Alderson will represent the men’s captains, while senior Nicole Williams and juniors Abby Cohen and Carmen Woodruff will represent the women’s captains.
A veteran on The Flats, four-time All-American Ferraro returns this season after another strong year in which he qualified for the 100 and 200 fly at NCAA’s, ranking 21st and sixth, respectively, during the regular season. He earned his fourth All-American honor when he finished 11th in the 100 fly at Nationals, while also earning All-ACC honors in the 200 fly and for joining Kyle Barone, Caio Pumputis and Corben Miles in medaling in the 200 medley relay at ACC’s. Ferraro also excelled in the classroom last year, being named to the Academic All-ACC team.
A two-time CSCAA Scholar All-American and ACC Academic Honor Roll member, Wakeland has been a stalwart member of the Georgia Tech freestylers since 2018. Last season, he turned in career-bests in the 200 Free (1:36.03 – NCAA B), 500 free (4:18.81 – NCAA B) and 1650 free (15:17.73 – NCAA B). Wakeland reached the finals in both the 200 free and 500 free at the ACC Championships, finishing in the top 20 of the league.
Alderson hit the ground running in his first year on The Flats, recording the fourth-fastest 50 free time on the season, as well as an NCAA B qualifying time and school freshman record of 53.51 in the 100 breast at the ACC Championships. In his first year at Georgia Tech, Alderson also performed well in the classroom, earning CSCAA Scholar All-America honors.
In just her second year at Georgia Tech, Cohen made strides on all sides, including upping her already top-10 400 IM time in program history to No. 5 all-time. The sophomore also turned in career-best times in the 200 fly (ACC Championships) and 100 fly (vs. Vanderbilt). Cohen’s fifth-best 400 IM time came in the finals at the ACC Championships.
Williams continues to help pace Georgia Tech’s breaststroke team, finishing with the second-best 100 breast time on the team (1:01.82 – NCAA B) and third-best 200 breast time (2:17.47 – NCAA B), while also recording the third-best 200 IM time on the team. She reached the finals of the 100 breast at the ACC Championships after finishing top-20 in prelims.
An honorable mention CSCAA Scholar All-American last year, Woodruff continued to be a leader on the diving team in her second year on The Flats. Woodruff jumped onto the program’s all-time annals, recording the fourth-best platform score (241.75) at the UGA Invitational and the ninth-best 3-meter score (293.20) in a tri-meet against Florida State and Miami. For the second-straight year, she qualified on all three boards for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships.