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National Collegiate Swimmer-of-the-Week

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.: Virginia Tech Women 144, NC State 99. Virginia Tech Men 131, North Carolina State 111

BLACKSBURG, VA , October 17th, 2004

The Virginia Tech swimming and diving teams opened their inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference season with a victory over ACC foe North Carolina State on Friday evening at War Memorial Pool. The women's side cruised over the Wolfpack, 144-99, while the men's team won in a nail biter, 132-111.

Led by Brazilian native Gus Calado's three victories, the Hokie men now stand at 1-0. Calado won the 200 butterfly in 1:44.99, qualifying for the NCAA Championship and breaking both the school and pool records already held by him. He also won the 200 backstroke (1:54.52) and 500 freestyle (4:39.14). Other winners for the men side: freshman Zac Czaplicki in the 200 freestyle (1:43.25) and Doug Roper with a pair of diving victories.

The men's meet came down to the final event, the 400 free relay, where the team of Christian DeLollo, Tom Alberi, Scott Beard and Aaron Sherman, won in dramatic fashion, coming from behind to secure the race and meet victory, in a time of 3:09.01. The Wolfpack relay team finished in 3:10.70.

The women won 8 of 13 events, led by triple winners freshman Jessica Botzum and junior Emily Guschke. The Raleigh, N.C. native won the 200 breaststroke in a pool record time of 2:18.44. She also won the 200 IM (2:07.11) and helped the 400 medley relay to victory, along with Guschke, Katy Peterson and Becky Horning, in a time of 3:51.50. Guschke won the 100 freestyle (52.62) and led off the 400 free relay team, which included Juliana Daniell, Laura Campbell and Whitney Johnsen, to a victory in 3:32.14.

Other victors for the women included: freshman Millie Campbell in the 200 freesytle (1:53.41), sophomore Mason Walsh in the 50 free (23.23) and Peterson in the 200 backstroke (2:05.74). The women ended up sweeping both relays and the 50 and 100 freestyle to move to 1-0 on their young season.

The next meet for the both teams will be in Blacksburg on Saturday, October 16, in the Intra-Squad and Alumni Meet. This will be held at 8 a.m. at War Memorial Pool.

The next external competition for the women will be at home on October 23 at 3 p.m., against the Miami Hurricanes, while the men travel to Georgia Tech for a two day dual meet on October 29-30.