Virginia Tech Sweeps Duke, Miami

After a pair of wins over Kentucky on Friday, the Virginia Tech H2Okie teams showed no fatigue in competing on consecutive days and came out dominant to finish the weekend undefeated, compiling three wins against ACC competition on Saturday at War Memorial Pool. The H2Okie women defeated Duke, 174-126, and Miami, 208-86, while the men posted a 180-112 victory over the Blue Devils. The victories were the first conference wins of the season for Tech, as the men posted 12 top finishes and the women added seven.

“We came out with a complete effort today,” said Tech’s head coach Ned Skinner. “The thing that has been most satisfying for the coaching staff is seeing so many different kids emerge. We’ve really worked on our consistency throughout the fall and we’re showing our depth as we move forward. On any given event, we can step up and get a win or top finish from someone else, which makes our program so strong and is something we’ve really been pleased with.”

Tech opened the day with back-to-back wins in the 200 medley relay races. The women garnered the top two spots, while the men finished first and third. The Tech men remain unbeaten this season in the medley relay, posting their fifth-consecutive top finish. The women would also end the day with a victory in the 200 free relay, touching in at 1:35.27, in their first time competing in the relay event this season. The men took a close second to Duke in the 200 free relay.

Blake Trabuchi-Downey earned his third victory of the two-day competition, taking first in the men’s 1650 freestyle, posting a H2Okies’ season-best time of 15:58.39. Griffin Lutterbein placed second for the men, while Erika Hajnal topped the women in the mile with a runner-up finish in 16:43.01.

Tech then swept the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke events. Kelly deMarrais led the women in the 200 free in 1:50.55 and Chip Hughes led the men in 1:42.47. In the 100 back, Steffi Drechsel placed first in 56.72, while Stephen Hawkins complemented a first-place finish on the men’s side in 50.51. The H2Okies looked fresh and powerful even after competing on Friday, as the men earned the top-three spots in both events, while the women placed 1-2-3 in the 100 back.

The men also documented a tight 1-2-3 finish in the 100 freestyle, as Hawkins took first in 46.93, while Hughes and Richard Ulatowski touched in at 46.95 and 46.97, respectively. Ryne Francis took first in the 200 back for the second-straight day in 1:51.53, while teammate Tom Sheranek added a second-place finish. Drechsel and deMarrais also contributed respective second-place finishes in the 100 free and 200 back events.

The H2Okie men also added titles in the 500 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 and 200 breaststroke events, displaying an all-around team effort throughout the day. Griffin Lutterbein earned the fastest time in the men’s 500 free with a finish in 4:42.42, beating out Trey Stewart, while Lauren Ritter paced the women with a second-place performance in the 500 free. Karl Botha (50.73) and Charlie Higgins (50.88) took first and second, respectively, in the 100 fly, and Abby Barney recorded a women’s season-best time in the 100 fly in 57.09. Jonathan Huss earned his fifth-consecutive title in the men’s 100 breaststroke with the top finish in 57.09, and later recorded a victory in the 200 breaststroke in 2:08.05.

Hajnal remained sharp in her events, earning a victory in the 200 butterfly for the second-consecutive day, touching in at 2:03.18, and then added a season-best finish in the 400 IM, securing the top spot in 4:20.93. Karl Botha helped Tech complete the sweep in the 200 fly, taking first in 1:52.70, while Philip LaRosa contributed a first-place finish in the men’s 400 IM, clocking in at 4:03.40. Stewart and LaRosa also placed second and third, respectively, in the 200 fly.

Kaleigh Gomes and Emily Ferguson turned in speedy first and second-place performances, respectively, in the 50 sprint free, as Gomes’ winning time of 23.76 marks her season-best time and touches in as the second-fastest finish for a H2Okie swimmer this season. Ulatowski added a runner-up finish in the men’s 50 free, sprinting to a finish in 21.24.

The Blue Devils’ Nick McCrory and Abby Johnston led the way in both diving events. Logan Shinholser guided Tech with third-place performances in both events, securing 332.32 points in the one-meter and 360.60 points in the three-meter. Likewise, Sarah Milton took third in the women’s events, finishing with 279.67 points in the one-meter and 290.25 points in the three-meter.

Duke set new pool records in the women’s 1650 freestyle (16:28.82) and the women’s three-meter event (355.95 points).

“We’ve had a tough stretch of meets in a row, right from the beginning to a double-meet this weekend, and the team has handled it pretty well and gotten better because of it,” said associate head coach Braden Holloway. “Now we have some fine-tuning to take care of before we go to the Volunteer Invite.”

The H2Okies will have next week off from competition, as they will prepare for the Volunteer Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn., on Nov. 19-21.



On Saturday afternoon the Duke swimming and diving programs emerged from Virginia Tech’s War Memorial Pool with somewhat of a bitter taste left in their mouths. As expected, the Duke women defeated Miami (184-104); however, neither the men nor the women were able to knock off the Hokies. The men fell by a score of 112-180 and the women came up short, 126-174. The men are now 3-2 on the season while the women move to 4-3.

After both squads surrendered meet-opening losses in the 200 medley relay to Virginia Tech, Ashley Twichell did her best to urge the Blue Devils on with a first-place finish in the 1650 freestyle with an NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 16:28.82. Twichell’s split of 9:56.79 over the first 1000 yards of the race was her best time in the event this season. On the men’s side, Nathan French took third place in the 1650 freestyle and it seemed as if the Blue Devils had made a full recovery.

However, in the 200 free neither the men nor the women were able to place a swimmer higher than fifth. And then in the 100 backstroke, Meghan Dwyer was Duke’s top finisher, touching the wall in fourth place. A total of seven swimming events passed before the women recorded another first-place finish, coming from freshman Cara Vogel in the 200 backstroke. In the meanwhile, freshman Emily Barber took second place in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes which kept the Duke women ahead of the Hurricanes. A late surge from the Blue Devils led by a Twichell win in the 500 free and a first-place finish by Shannon Beall in the 100 butterfly proved not enough to seize the lead from the Hokies.

The storyline was similar for the men. Freshman Ben Hwang took first place in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.14 and David Carlson claimed second in the 100 breaststroke. But beyond those two, the Blue Devils proved to be a bit thin.

Duke’s divers pulled more than their weight this weekend and continued to display their dominance in the ACC. Nick McCrory remained undefeated for the season on both the one- and three-meter boards, while his counterpart Abby Johnston responded with two wins of her own. Cody Kolodziejzyk and Julie Brummond each took second place on both the one- and three-meter boards for the Blue Devils.

Duke has a break from competition next weekend as they prepare for the upcoming Gamecock Invitational.



The University of Miami swimming team claimed 16 top five performances, including three individual wins, and registered several season-best marks on Saturday as part of a tri-meet with Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) schools Virginia Tech and Duke at War Memorial Pool in Blacksburg, Va.  Once again, the Hurricanes were without the services of All-American divers Reuben Ross and Brittany Viola in the diving events.
 
Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Christie Shefchunas, the Hurricanes continue to increase speed and potential every time they enter the pool.  Though falling to Virginia Tech (L, 208-86) and Duke (L, 184-104) on Saturday, Miami has several student-athletes beginning to show their ability as top-level swimmers recruited by Shefchunas.
 
The 2009-10 University of Miami swimming team is considered by Shefchunas to be one of the strongest in her tenure in Coral Gables, Fla.
 
Junior Annika Saarnak collected a victory-seizing time of 51.16 in the 100-yard freestyle, and followed that up with a second place performance in the 200 freestyle, finishing at 1:51.97.  Redshirt sophomore Lauren Jacoby came in fourth in the 200 free with a mark of 1:54.37.
 
Freshman Sofia Johansson, a native of Ramlösa, Sweden, took one of her two victories on the day, the first coming in the 100-yard breaststroke, recording a time of 1:03.72—a season-best for the Hurricanes.  Fellow freshman Christine Anderson was third in the 100 breast as she finished in 1:06.46, respectively.
 
“Annika [Saarnak] and Sofia [Johansson] kept with their winning ways on Saturday,” said Shefchunas.  “This was a big day for us.  It gave us an opportunity to race against some of the best in the ACC.  We started out a little weak, but we got better as the meet went along.”
 
Kayla Smith had a sixth place finish in the 50-yard freestyle, posting a time of 25.02, while teammate Hagar Elgendy finished the race at 25.31.
 
UM went “3-4-5” in the 200 backstroke as junior Deidre Novotny led the charge for the ‘Canes with a third place performance of 2:04.88, a season-best performance for the Hurricanes and Novotny.  Behind her was freshman Hannah Kling (2:04.88) and sophomore Roxanne Meyer (2:05.60).  The time for Kling, a Miami native, was a season-best mark for her, personally.
 
The Hurricanes’ Johansson staked her second win of the day when she toughed the wall at 2:19.09 in the 200-yard breaststroke, setting a new season-best time in the event for Miami.  Anderson collected a top five time for the ‘Canes as well, coming in at 2:24.76.
 
“This is such a young team, and they're still learning and still gaining confidence,” expressed Shefchunas.  “I think they learned a lot at this meet.  One of the main things they learned is that when they come together, they can gain strength and confidence from each other.  They really started coming together during the meet, and when they did that, we got better individually and as a team.”
 
Junior freestyle specialist Ryann Labreche added to UM’s top five performances, picking up a fifth place time of 5:06.83 in the 500-yard freestyle, while Saarnak took a third place finish in the 100-yard butterfly.  Saarnak completed the event with a time of 56.46, and teammate Novotny placed fifth at 57.77.
 
Novotny wasn’t finished on the day, however, as she placed third in the 400-yard individual medley, securing a time of 4:31.20 in order to set a new season-best mark in the event for the Hurricanes.  Not to be outdone was teammate Anderson who finished fourth in the 400 IM, touching the wall at 4:32.17.  Meyer was seventh (4:34.51).
 
The last event of the day was the 200-yard freestyle relay, and Miami took fourth place in the race turning in a performance of 1:37.94.  Saarnak swam leadoff for the ‘Canes, as it then went Jacoby (second), Kling (third) and Kayla Smith (anchor).  The time for the Hurricanes was yet another season-best mark—one of six on the day in both individual and team events.
 
“We keep learning; we keep gaining confidence; and we keep moving forward,” praised Shefchunas.  “It’s nice to see that Miami has two of the best in the ACC with Annika and Sofia.  I'm excited about the rest of the season.”
 
The season continues for Shefchunas and the Hurricanes next month when they travel to the well-respected Ohio State Invitational in Columbus Ohio, scheduled to run Dec. 4-6.