Two Records Fall to Wrap Up Day One of ACC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships
An exciting week is in store at the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships, as the University of Virginia looks to accomplish the same goal as its counterpart last week. The Cavaliers won both relay events Wednesday night and broke a pair of records to take the lead with 80 points.
Georgia Tech posted runner-up finishes in both events to stand in second place with 66 points, while Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia round out the top five in a three-way tie for third at 60 points apiece.
The Cavaliers came out strong in the opening event of the ACC Championship, as the foursome of Bryan Stahl, PJ Sullivan, Lee Robertson and Scot Robinson combined for a season-best and NCAA “B” time 1:27.11 to take the first place in the 200 medley relay. The title in the event was the fifth all-time and first since 2001 for the Cavaliers.
In addition, the top seven relay teams set “B” cuts with season-best times in the 200 medley relay. FloridaState’s quartet of Ian Powell, Matt Shead, Corey Swanson and Scott Baker finished second with a time of 1:27.62, while Georgia Tech’s squad of Matthew Tang, Mickey Malul, Onur Uras and Mauricio Sousa touched in at 1:27.68 for third.
In the 800 freestyle relay, Georgia Tech’s Noah Copeland gave the Yellow Jackets an advantage swimming the leadoff but Virginia would battle back to close the gap. Darren Ankosko, swimming the third leg, pushed ahead of the field to give the Cavaliers the lead with anchor Matthew McLean touching in with an automatic qualifying mark of 6:22.93 for the thrilling victory. The time was a season best for Virginia and shattered the conference record that had stood since 1993 by North Carolina.
The Yellow Jackets followed in second with an NCAA “B” cut 6:31.97, while Virginia Tech (6:34.20) pulled slightly ahead of North Carolina (6:34.66) for third place.
Day two of the ACC Championships resumes Thursday with preliminaries beginning at 11 a.m. and finals starting at 7 p.m.
Raycom Sports, in a partnership with Turner Broadcasting, will produce the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships for broadband video streaming on www.ACCSelect.com, providing live coverage of the diving and final events each evening through Saturday, Mar. 1.
Below are the team standings and results from the first day of competition at the ACC Championships.
Team Standings Points
1. Virginia 80
2. Georgia Tech 66
3. Florida State 60
North Carolina 60
Virginia Tech 60
6. Clemson 54
7. Maryland 48
8. Duke 40
9. NC State 22
10. BostonCollege 18
Wednesday’s Final Results
200-yard Medley Relay
1st – Virginia (^1:27.11 – Bryan Stahl, PJ Sullivan, Lee Robertson, Scot Robison)
2nd – FloridaState (^1:27.62 – Ian Powell, Matt Shead, Corey Swanson, Scott Baker)
3rd – Georgia Tech (^1:27.68 – Matthew Tang, Mickey Malul, Onur Uras, Mauricio Sousa)
800-yard Freestyle Relay
1st – Virginia (*!^6:22.93 – John Azar, Scot Robison, Darren Ankosko, Matthew McLean)
2nd – Georgia Tech (^6:31.97 – Noah Copeland, Onur Uras, Ralph Long, Travis Wagner)
3rd – Virginia Tech (^6:34.20– Zac Czaplicki, Chip Hughes, Kaan Tayla, Scott Beard)
+Denotes NCAA “A” mark
^Denotes NCAA “B” mark
* Denotes conference and meet record
# Denotes GeorgiaTechAquaticCenter record
