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Tane Bidois from Sydney, Australia, has signed a letter of intent to swim and study at the University of Georgia. He will arrive in Athens in the second half of the 2024-25 season.

“The team is like one big family. It’s definitely a move out of my comfort zone but having never swam in short course yards before, I’m looking forward to going fast and experiencing the NCAA hype.”

Bidois graduated from Knox Grammar School in December 2022. He had previously committed to Arizona for fall 2024 but requested a release from his NLI and will now begin at Georgia in January.

He swims year-round with the club team Knox Pymble Swim Club and specializes mainly in freestyle and backstroke. At the Australian Short Course Championships in September, he placed 6th in the 50 back, 21st in the 50 free, 21st in the 100 free, and 25th in the 100 back and updated his SCM times in the 50 free (22.02), 100 free (49.29), 50 back (24.78), and 100 back (54.04).

In long course, Bidois qualified for Australian Olympic Trials in the 50 free, 100 free, and 100 back. He finaled in the 50 free (14th) and clocked a PB in the 100 back (56.25), coming in 17th in prelims. At the Australian Open Championships in April, he finaled in the 50 free (13th), 100 free (24th), 50 back (10th), 100 back (11th), and 50 fly (16th). He improved his best times in the 50 free (22.67), 100 free (50.10), 50 back (26.12), 100 back (56.43, which he lowered at Trials), and 50 fly (24.43).

Bidois represented Australia at the 9th World Aquatics Junior Championships in Netanya in September 2023, making the semi-finals in the 50 free and swimming a leg on the 4×100 free relay.

Describing his motivation for his decision, Bidois told SwimSwam, “I think for me my decision was based off the opportunity to swim and study in the one place, being surrounded by a super positive and uplifting culture. I perform well in the pool when I’m surrounded by people/coaches with the same goals and motivation as me so when I visited Georgia last month I felt right at home and knew that this was the right place for me. I like to live by the rule to never have any regrets – you never know until you try, so after visiting I knew it was a no brainer.”

Bidois will join the Bulldogs’ class of 2028 with divers Aiden Sadler and Bo Bridges and swimmers Drew Hitchcock (#5 in the class of 2024), Elliot Woodburn, Kyler Heffner, and Will Gavin.

Best LCM times (converted):

• 50 free – 22.67 (19.70)
• 100 free – 50.10 (43.69)
• 50 back – 26.12 (22.99)
• 100 back – 56.25 (49.59)
• 50 fly – 24.43 (21.37)

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CONWAY, S.C. (WMBF) – Coastal Carolina is making a special gesture to those who serve our country and communities ahead of the football team’s home finale this weekend.

The Chanticleers will offer free tickets to military members and first responders for Saturday’s game against Georgia Southern at Brooks Stadium.

Those eligible for the free tickets can secure them through CCU’s website, contacting the Chanticeler Athletics Office by phone at 843-347-8499 or by email at tickets@coastal.edu and using the promo code: military.

“Coastal Carolina is proud to honor the men and women who serve our nation,” Coastal Carolina Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics and University Recreation Chance Miller said in a statement. “Our Salute to Service game is an opportunity to show our gratitude to the military, their families, and first responders for their dedication and sacrifice. Providing complimentary tickets is a small way to thank them for their contributions to our country and our community.”

Saturday’s game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN+

Stay with WMBF News for updates.

Copyright 2024 WMBF. All rights reserved.

Georgia’s State Election Board voted Monday to request state lawmakers pass legislation next year making voter lists readily available to the public before and after elections. 

Board members have decided to forward their recommendations to the state Legislature rather than launch their own rulemaking process, which has recently resulted in several of their initiatives successfully challenged in courts. 

The controversial election board met for the first time since President-elect Donald Trump defeated Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia and six other swing states on Nov. 5. Several of Georgia’s most outspoken critics of the way counties tally votes attended Monday’s meeting before the election board, which had become ground zero in the heated debates over election rules proposals pushed by Republicans and Trump’s allies.

Monday’s five-hour meeting was shorter, more sparsely attended, and less contentious than recent meetings before the election. Previously, three Republican board members had rushed to set up new election procedures in time for the 2024 general election. 

Court orders prevented several rules from being enforced in this year’s election, a victory for critics who argued changes to certifying results and hand counting ballots could disrupt elections administration.

The Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to review the legality of the contested rules, including whether the State Election Board exceeded its authority by passing election law that should instead be passed by the state Legislature. 

On Monday, Georgia election board members Janelle King, Janice Johnston and Rick Jeffares, who were praised at an Atlanta rally by Trump as “pit bulls” for victory, asked state lawmakers to pass legislation which would require each county to make publicly available a list of all eligible voters during and after every election. 

Fulton County resident Lucia Frazier agreed to withdraw her two rules petitions in favor of having the board recommend that legislators take up the matter. 

She proposed mandating that counties make a publicly available updated registered voter list ahead of an election, which would be updated until Election Day.  

Frazier said she also wants state and county election officials to create an accessible database of everyone who voted during an election. Those files should contain the names of every voter, a copy of their voter ID, precinct, and check-in time, and the records must be available for two years after the election to anyone who requests them.

Frazier said she saw that during early voting Georgia Tech students had to wait for poll workers to confirm their registration because their names had not been updated on electronic poll devices. 

Moreover, Frazier expressed frustration with the inability to obtain a prompt response to open records requests and the expense of getting lists of eligible voters from county and state election officials.

According to Frazier, in order to have a truly auditable election, a certified list of electors needs to be available before voting starts, and updated regularly throughout. 

King said she heard similar complaints about people’s names not showing up on the poll pads during this election cycle. She moved to recommend the Georgia Assembly pass legislation making voter lists public and providing funding to defray costs for people who request the records. 

“I have to add that I have major concerns about the amount of money we’re charging for documents that’s supposed to be readily available to the public,” King said. “I feel like it disenfranchises candidates. It disenfranchises voters.”

Democratic Election Board member Sara Tindall Ghazal said that publishing supplemental lists of eligible voters during an election could impose an administrative burden on counties. She stressed the need for a better understanding of this burden before making legislative recommendations.

Johnston said two things are essential for election integrity: knowing who is eligible to vote and who voted.

“I think we all agree that these are the basics of holding an election and administering election,” Johnston said. “There’s nothing secret about this. There’s nothing proprietary about it. This should be available to the counties, to the superintendents, to the candidates, to the campaigns.”

Tindall Ghazal said that because Georgia’s voter registration deadline is based on when the paper application is postmarked in the mail, it led to some counties still processing thousands of voter registrations after early voting was underway. 

“I think it’s a huge problem that there was such a large backlog in some of these counties to process the registrations,” she said. “I need to have a better understanding of the administrative burden that we’re adding to the counties for posting these lists on a daily basis on top of everything else that they’re doing during an election.”

This story was provided by WABE content sharing partner the Georgia Recorder.