Virginia Tech Sends Seniors out in Style vs. Pitt

In their final home dual meet of their careers, 10 seniors went out in style as they helped Tech sweep former BIG EAST foe Pittsburgh and break a total of nine school and pool records on Saturday afternoon at the War Memorial Pool.

With the 185.5-111.5 victory over Pittsburgh, the No. 23-nationally ranked women move up to 11-2 (3-1 ACC), while the men (9-3, 2-2 ACC) earn their second-ever win over the Panthers with a score of 177-117. Finishing first in 23 of 32 events, the H2Okies placed 1-2 in 18 events and 1-2-3 in 12 races during their dominating performance.

"I think it's so exciting to see our seniors perform," head coach Ned Skinner said. "Here they are in the twilight of their careers and to see them still swimming with a smile on their face and still love Virginia Tech swimming and diving and wanting to be a part of it means the world to all of us coaches and to the program.

"I think our team has a chance to be pretty good at the ACC and NCAA level," he added. "We've really addressed some of the holes over the last couple of years in some events. I really feel like the one thing that we're showing now is emerging depth. It seems like Virginia Tech swimming has had some good front-end kids who can score big points, but really our seven through 14 seem to be coming around such that I think they can be big players at the ACC level. Some day that can be the difference for the title."

Amongst all of the standout performances today for Tech, senior Kaan Tayla (Ankara, Turkey) stole the spotlight as he proved again to be the fastest active swimmer in the ACC. In the first event of the day, he swam the fourth leg of the 200-yard medley relay following senior Scott Beard (Chesterfield, Va.), Scott Harkins (Williamsburg, Va.) and Ian deToll (Culpeper, Va.) to help the team win the event at 1:30.96, just .01 second away from tying the pool record.

A few events later, Tayla came back in the 50 freestyle to win at 19.87, a pool record and personal-best time as he swam under 20 seconds for the first time in his career. He was just .05 seconds away from tying the school record. Then in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, Tayla swam the first leg at 43.86, a new school and pool record. He broke his own school record of 44.10, which he set back in November. Fellow seniors Beard, Jake Bova (Roanoke, Va.) and Zac Czaplicki (North Haven, Conn.) kept the momentum going as they helped Tayla set a pool record in the relay event.

"Unbelievable," Skinner said when asked about Tayla's performance. "It was so fun. It was something that stops an auditorium. When you look up there at the scoreboard and see 19.87 and 43.86, it takes the wind out of you because it's so fun to watch this guy race. No one has tempo like him in the country, in the world probably, and that's why he's an Olympian because he's special."

Beard, Bova, Czaplicki and Pete Cancila (Broomall, Pa.) also gave their family and friends present something to smile about. Besides helping set the 400 free relay record, Beard broke pool records in the 100 butterfly (47.95) and 100 backstroke (49.32), while Bova placed second in the 50 freestyle behind Tayla. Czaplicki had the best time in the 500 freestyle and also took second in the 200 butterfly behind freshman Trey Stewart (Luling, La.). Cancila placed fourth in the 50 freestyle and helped his 400 freestyle relay team finish second.

Other winners included Zach Holmes (Clifton, Va.), Chip Hughes (Greer, S.C.) and Griffin Lutterbein (Manakin-Sabot, Va.), who placed first in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 1,000 freestyle, respectively. Diver Mikey McDonald (Annandale, Va.) also won the 1 and 3-meter diving events.

For the women, the 200 medley relay event set the tone for the rest of day as Tech finished 1-2-3. Senior Millie Campbell (Richmond, Va.) along with Katie Suhr (Decatur, Ga.), Megan Newell (Ashburn, Va.) and Sara Smith (McGaheysville, Va.) won the event, while Jordan McHorney (Virginia Beach, Va.) helped her team on the first leg finish third with a school-record time of 26.25 in the 50 backstroke. Campbell would later win the 100 breaststroke.

The other four seniors also had strong swims. Three-time All-America Jessica Botzum (Raleigh, N.C.) broke the pool record in the 200 breaststroke at 2:16.64 after helping her 200 medley relay team place second along with fellow senior Becky Horning (Sterling, Va.). Horning would later take third in the 100 butterfly. Beth Byrum (Spring, Texas) won the 1,000 freestyle and placed third in the 500 freestyle, while Courtney Walsh (Yardley, Pa.) helped Tech's top 400 freestyle relay team place second.

An All-American in the 100 freestyle, Smith showed her abilities in the 100 butterfly as she set a pool record with a time of 55.20 after winning the 50 and 200 freestyle races. The other event winners included Sara Shapiro (Franklin, Tenn.), Claire Dickey (Roanoke, Va.) and Allison Luttermoser (Mechanicsburg, Va.) in the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 200 IM, respectively. Sarah Milton (Plano, Texas) also won the 3-meter diving event.

"I was really happy for our women today," Skinner said. "The men have been coming around for the last month or so, really at Nike Cup when they won, whereas the women, it seems like it's been a little bit more of a process. To see Jordan McHorney, Allison Luttermoser and Sarah Milton emerge and make themselves such that they are players at the ACC level, and for us to make it to the NCAAs is what this program depends on."

Next up for Tech is the final weekend of meets before the ACC Championships in late February. The men will host Washington and Lee on Friday night at 7 p.m. and then on Saturday will travel to Radford with the women for an all day affair that will also include VMI and Davidson.