Virginia Sweeps Duke

The Virginia swimming and diving teams closed the home portion of its 2008-09 schedule Sunday with a win over Duke at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. The Cavalier women earned a 169-126 win over the Blue Devils while the men won by a score of 163-123.

The meet was the final competition at the AFC for eight Virginia seniors: Tony Colella, Megan Evo, Ryan Hurley, Pat Mellors, Haley Parker, Pat Reams, Lee Robertson and Kristen Wallace.

Third-year diver Alex DAmbrosio set a school record on the 3-meter board, earning a score of 371.02. The previous Virginia record was set in 2004 by Andrew Barber (339.52).

The 200 medley relay team of Mei Christensen, Katherine McDonnell, Evo and Wallace put up a win in the first event of the afternoon, posting a time of 1:43.64.

The men's team also claimed the opening event as Colella, Hurley, Peter Geissinger and Zach Kohl teamed up to win the 200 medley relay in 1:32.09.

Both the men and women went 1-2-3 in the 200 free. Jen Narum won the women's race in 1:48.87 followed by Jenna Harris (1:49.32) and Liz Shaw (1:50.27). Taylor Smith paced the men (1:41.07) with teammates Tommy Inwood (1:41.15) and Geissinger (1:41.30) finishing in second and third, respectively.

The women swept their second consecutive event in the 100 back led by a group of first-year swimmers. Lauren Smart led the way with a winning time of 55.74. Jenny Lewis was second (57.15) and Erika Stewart (57.21) finished third.

Colella (51.47) and David Wren (51.53) took the top two spots in the mens 100 back while Virginia went 1-2-3 in the 100 breast. Hurley won the race in 57.62 followed Azar (58.55) and Tim Hayes (58.74).

Robertson won the 50 free (21.15) while Matt McLean won the 100 free (45.82).

The women went 1-2-3 in the 100 free, led by Christensen, who finished in 51.09. Jenna Harris placed second (51.67) and Meredith Perdue third (52.17).

Smart and Shaw tied for first-place honors in the 200 back, each finishing in 2:01.66.

The Virginia men went on to sweep the 200 breast with Hurley clocking a winning time of 2:04.33, with Azar in second (2:05.18) and Doug Eden (2:07.48) in third.

Evo won both the 100 fly (55.59) and 200 fly (2:00.30) while McDonnell claimed the 100 breast (1:04.01) and 200 breast (2:19.02).

In the 500 free, Narum took home first place in a time of 4:51.91 while Darren Ankosko won the mens race, finishing in 4:31.21. In the 200 IM, Christensen clocked a winning time of 2:03.22 while Tommy Inwood placed first for the men in 1:51.97.

Virginia competes in its final dual meet of the season Sunday at Pittsburgh.

Duke Swimming & Diving Falls To Ranked Virginia
The Duke men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams each suffered setbacks Sunday afternoon in a road dual meet at ACC rival Virginia’s Aquatic & Fitness Center. Both UVA squads are nationally ranked, with the Cavalier women tabbed 11th and the men 13th in the Collegeswimming.com poll.
 
The Duke women fell 163-123 to drop to 7-2 (3-1 ACC) while the men were outscored 169-126 and are now 5-2 (1-2 ACC) on the season. Virginia improved to 7-1 on the women’s side and 7-2 on the men’s with the double victory. Both UVA squads are now atop the conference standings heading into the final weekend of dual meet action.
 
Despite the losses, the Blue Devils watched two school records fall, in addition to over 20 season-best times and several lifetime best swims set on the day.

“We knew going into the weekend that anytime you swim against ranked programs like these, your hopes are to swim them tough so that it brings out the best in you,” said head coach Dan Colella. “We definitely had some individuals who stepped up and did a great job today.”

The highlight of the afternoon for the Blue Devils was the school-record setting performance of freshman Nathan French, whose 1650 time of 15:40.34 broke Duke’s 11-year-old record in the event. French was first overall, besting UVA’s top finisher by nearly eight seconds. He also broke the Duke record in the 1000 free on his way, splitting 9:25.51 to break the old school record of 9:29.19 set last season.

It was also a strong day for the Blue Devil divers, as the women went 1-2-3-4 in both the one- and three-meter events and the men took first-place in both as well. Freshman Abby Johnston won both events with a pair of NCAA Zone qualifying marks as she scored 313.57 on the one-meter and 314.32 on the three-meter board. Cody Kolodziejzyk won the men’s one-meter with an NCAA qualifying 320.40 and Shawn Hoffman took first in the three-meter with a 313.88, a season-best.

Duke’s other winners on the day included Ashley Twichell in the 1650 free (16:31.22) and Spencer Booth in the 200 backstroke (1:49.76).

Next up for the Blue Devils will be a pair of ACC dual meets next weekend as Duke travels down the road to face ranked North Carolina on Friday evening, Jan. 30, at 6 p.m., before returning home to host Clemson at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31 at Taishoff Aquatic Pavilion. The meets will round out Duke’s dual meet schedule as Saturday will serve as senior day for the program’s nine seniors.

“We are looking forward to next weekend’s final dual meets,” said Colella. “They should be exciting ones against our rivals UNC and Clemson.”