An exciting day of swimming wrapped up Friday night at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, and NC State is sitting at the top of the standings heading into the final day of the 2015 ACC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championship.
The Wolfpack men, who have a league-leading 24 conference titles, will take the lead into Saturday looking for the first championship for the program since 1992.
“[There are] still a lot of events on the board,” said NC State coach Braden Holloway. “The teams we’re going against have some big events tomorrow. You add in the platform diving and it’s going to be a fun meet for a lot of these teams trying to get that trophy.
“We just have to get to bed tonight, recover, and then get these guys going in the morning. Keep the pedal to the medal.”
Including the platform diving results from last week, NC State has 896 points and holds a 46 point lead over second place Virginia Tech, which has 850. North Carolina sits in third (821.5), followed by Louisville (771.5) in fourth.
“We’re going to need to come out with the best effort in the history of our program, starting with the 200 back and set up the 100 free,” said Virginia Tech coach Ned Skinner. “We need to try and contend with their strength in the freestyle. It’s anyone’s game still. We’re just going to have to come out with our best.”
Friday saw a huge performance from Louisville. Swimming in their first ACC Championship, the Cardinals won their first ACC men’s gold earlier in the night. By the end of the evening, four of the six events had gone Louisville’s way.
“It’s an honor [to be part of the ACC] and it’s a credit to our staff and institution how we put everything together,” said Louisville coach Arthur Albiero. “These guys swam their tails off and I’m really proud of my team. We battled today after leaving a few things on the table yesterday. We came back roaring with a great morning and even improved off that, putting together some great swims this evening.
“We’re honored to be a part of the conference and the competition level is just fantastic.”
The final day of the meet will get underway Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries of the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, and 200 butterfly. The finals of those four events, plus the final heat of 1650 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay final will get started at 6 p.m.
Fans are encouraged to follow @ACCSwimDive and #ACCMSD for updates throughout the championship.
400 medley relay makes it a four of a kind for the Cards
The momentum continued for Louisville in the 400 medley relay, Friday night’s finale. Cardinals Grigory Tarasevich (46.21), Thomas Dahlia (51.77), Pedro Coutinho (45.70), and Trevor Carroll (42.38) combined for a time of 3:06.06 and the fourth gold medal for Louisville on the day.
The Cardinals led through all three transitions, but Carroll had to hold off a hard-charging Simonas Bilis. Bilis, who started the anchor 1.61 seconds back, almost chased down Carroll with a 41.30 split but came up short.
NC State (3:06.59) and North Carolina (3:08.80) finished in second and third, respectively, and all three teams finished with NCAA A cuts.
The deck is full of Cards
For the third time on Friday night, a Louisville Cardinal took home a gold medal.
This time it was sophomore Grigory Tarasevich who was victorious in the 100 backstroke, posting a winning time of 46.21 to out-touch the field.
The Cardinals, who are competing in their first ACC Championship, currently sit in fourth and are 21 points back of second place.
“I’m really proud to be a part of team that’s in such an important year entering the ACC and ready to make an impact,” said Tarasevich. “It’s a huge part of history for our program and we’ll try to do our best moving forward.”
NC State took the other two spots on the podium with sophomore Andreas Schiellerup (46.37) in second and freshman Hennessey Stuart (46.42) in third.
Dahlia victorious in 100 breastroke
Thomas Dahlia made it two Louisville gold medals on Friday night. The senior earned 32 points for the Cardinals and the top spot on the podium in the 100 breaststroke in 52.36.
NC State’s Derek Hren (53.10) grabbed silver, while senior Addison Bray made gave Louisville two of the top three finishers.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Dahlia about putting two Cardinals on the podium. “I’m so happy for Addison Bray because he’s a senior too. I’m just grateful to be here.”
Duke’s Peter Kropp, who posted a meet record in the morning prelims to enter the finals as the top qualifier, touched the wall in second place but was disqualified for a downward butterfly kick.
Three Man Wolfpack
The NC State trio of Simonas Bilis, Ryan Held, and David Williams made noise by sweeping the podium in the 200 freestyle. Bilis touched in in 1:33.62, an NCAA A cut, to win his fourth gold medal of the championship.
“It feels amazing,” said Bilis about the sweep. “I love those boys. I’m a senior so it’s great to end on a good note. I’m happy.”
Held claimed second in 1:34.15, followed by Williams in third in 1:34.18 as the Wolfpack earned 87 points in the championship final.
The performance nearly doubled NC State’s lead in the team race from 63.5 points over North Carolina following the 100 butterfly to 121 points over second place Virginia Tech after the 200 freestyle.
Outside smoke from Coutinho
Louisville’s Pedro Coutinho was seeded eighth and found himself in Lane 9 for the championship final of the 100 butterfly.
45.92 seconds later, the junior became the first Cardinal male swimmer to win ACC gold. Coutinho sat in third at the 50-yard mark, and overtook Florida State’s Connor Knight and Georgia Tech’s Andrew Kosic down the stretch to win the title.
“This morning I stumbled a little in the blocks,” explained Coutinho. “I was really nervous this morning and I knew that if I get off to a good start tonight, I’d be good. I got it [the start] right and gained the motivation to get going.
“Towards the 50 mark I turned around and I saw everyone with me so I said ‘I’m with them, I got this’. Outside smoke, man. They didn’t see me! I got them!”
Knight finished in second in 46.07, followed by North Carolina’s Sam Lewis in third in 46.14.
McCurdy and Owen open Friday’s finals with a bang
NC State and Virginia Tech stood atop the standings entering Thursday night’s action. It didn’t take long for the two teams to go head-to-head.
Hokie sophomore Robert Owen and Wolfpack junior Christian McCurdy battled the entire 400 individual medley, with Owen (3:41.79) touching first for the gold. McCurdy (3:41.92), the defending champion in the event, claimed silver. Both swimmers finished in NCAA A cut times.
“I just wanted to have a fast race and I knew he [McCurdy] would give me one for my money,” said Owen.
With the victory, Owen became the first Virginia Tech swimmer to win the 400 individual medley in program history.
“We’re in a battle right now, and I just want to score as many points as I could for this team,” added Owen.
Louisville junior Nolan Tesone earned the bronze and All-ACC honors in 3:43.61.
Prelims
The third day of the 2015 ACC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championship has opened with a full slate of preliminaries.
Robert Owen (3:43.80) of Virginia Tech posted the fastest time in the 400 individual medley, topping last year’s champion, Christian McCurdy (3:44.59) of NC State.
North Carolina’s Sam Lewis (45.93) was the fastest qualifier in the 100 butterfly, ahead of Florida State’s Connor Knight (46.11) and Georgia Tech’s Andrew Kosic (46.36).
Wolfpack swimmers took the top two spots in the 200 freestyle, with Ryan Held (1:33.75) and Simonas Bilis (1:33.98) leading the way. Both NC State and Louisville have three swimmers in the championship final, while Virginia Tech had two qualify.
Peter Kropp, who set the current league record (52.02) in the 100 breaststroke in November, touched in an NCAA A cut time of 52.17 to claim the top seed and set an ACC Championship record. Louisville’s Thomas Dahlia (52.33) also came in under the old meet mark.
Friday night’s 100 backstroke will play a huge part in the team race. North Carolina, led by Nic Graesser (46.19), grabbed the top three spots. NC State swimmers will be seeded fourth and fifth, and three Louisville swimmers round out the championship final.
Duke
The Duke men broke one conference and three school records and qualified eight swimmers for individual finals events Friday at the 2015 ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship, hosted by Georgia Tech at the Yellow Jackets’ Aquatic Center.
“We had a great morning session,” said head coach Dan Colella. “It was exciting to have eight people make it back tonight. And with those that didn’t make it back, we still had a number of lifetime bests. It was a really great session.”
A year after earning All-ACC honors in the 400-yard individual medley, sophomore Michael Miller once again solidified a spot in the event championship final, his second in as many days. Looking smooth in the preliminaries, he broke his own program record with a 3:45.53 performance for the fourth-fastest time of the morning session. Miller surpassed the NCAA provisional standard a second time in the evening final, touching at 3:47.03 to come in sixth overall.
Junior David Armstrong advanced to his first final as an individual, representing the Blue Devils in the 100 butterfly bonus final. The transfer student, who helped the 200 medley relay gain NCAA automatic qualification on the first night of the meet, turned in a 47.74 clocking to take fifth in the heat and 21st overall. That mark was good for an NCAA provisional cut and the third-fastest in program history.
In the 200 freestyle, sophomore Bradley Cline made his way back to the evening session for the second consecutive year. The San Francisco, Calif., native went 1:37.90 during preliminaries for a season-best and NCAA ‘B’ cut. Cline’s finals time of 1:38.25 placed him eighth in the bonus final and 24th overall.
After setting the conference record in the 100 breaststroke and securing a trip to the 2015 NCAA Championship during the regular season, sophomore Peter Kropp broke the ACC Championship meet record and paced the field in preliminaries with a mark of 52.17. Kropp, who took fourth in the championship final as a freshman last season, was second to the wall Friday evening (52.71) before being disqualified.
Fellow sophomore Dylan Payne posted a career-best 54.23 in the 100 breaststroke preliminaries to rank fifth all-time at Duke before taking seventh in the consolation final (54.65).
The Blue Devils had three swimmers back for the final individual event of the night, the 100 backstroke. Sophomore James Peek eclipsed the previous program record of 48.17 in preliminaries with a time of 47.94, earning a place in the consolation final. He came back to touch at 48.79 in finals for a 16th-place finish overall. Sophomores Kaz Takabayashi (48.63) and Joey Maginnis (49.08) both notched career-bests in preliminaries and went on to place 21st and 24th, respectively.
Another highlight for Duke came at the conclusion of the evening session, as Takabayashi, Kropp, Armstrong and Peek combined to take down the school record in the 400 medley relay with a 3:11.71 showing. The relay placed ninth overall to give the Blue Devils 313 total points at the end of Friday’s events. That ranked the squad ninth in the team standings with one full day of action remaining.
“The evening turned out to be not as great as this morning,” Colella said. “We were a bit flat and some of the performances weren’t quite as fast as this morning. We had a meeting prior to the relay and I was actually very proud of the way they were able to rally and put together some great splits and break the school record. It was a great way to finish the session. I think we should be ready to go tomorrow morning.”
Florida State
Florida State senior Connor Knight highlighted the third day of the 2015 ACC Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center by winning the silver medal in the 100 fly on Friday.
“That is a good swim for Connor,” FSU head coach Frank Bradley said. “He puts in the work and he believes in the process. His focus is for NCAA’s but he went out and took a risk and did well.”
Knight went into the final as the second seed after swimming a smooth race in prelims, leading from start to finish in his heat with a time of 46.11. At night, Knight was positioned in the middle of the pool and went out for the early lead, splitting 21.24.
Arguably, Knight had the best turns and underwater breakouts in the field, however he did not see Pedro Coutinho of Louisville move ahead of him in lane nine on the back half of the race.
Knight used his speed underwater to gain ground off the final wall, but Coutinho held him off winning the race at 45.92. Knight posted his season best at 46.07.
“There was no way I could see him coming from the outside,” Knight said. “I thought I had it, but that’s still a good swim for me and I am happy with it. I trust Frank (Bradley) and I know I put the work in and I’m confident for the 200 tomorrow.”
Also swimming in a championship final was sophomore Jason Coombs. He lowered his FSU record with him morning swim, posting a 52.97 for a personal best for the third overall seed.
In finals, Coombs turned in a 53.17 originally for fifth place, however a disqualification caused Coombs to move up to fourth.
“It was good to see him get the job done in the morning,” Bradley said. “He’s capable of going faster. He has a few things he needs to adjust but that’s a good swim for him. That should set him up to have a good 200 tomorrow.”
Four other Seminoles competed at finals as junior Kyle Doxtater started the night by taking sixth place in the C final of the 400 IM with a time of 3:54.30. Doxtater was 17th in prelims after he went his career best time in the race of 3:52.15.
Junior Cole Hensley improved to 20th place from 24th in prelims, posting a career best time of 47.73 after a strong final turn. Hensley grabbed the last spot in finals after clocking a 48.01 in the morning.
In his last ACC meet, senior Kevin Rogers won the C final leading wire-to-wire, placing 17th overall with a 1:36.81. Following Rogers was freshman Anthony Lyons in the B final, who moved up three spots, taking 12th place with a new personal best time of 1:36.75.
Senior Josh Friedel closed out the individuals for the evening by finishing in fifth place from the outside lane two, turning in a time of 48.05 for 13th place overall.
“For the most part those guys improved their place in finals,” Bradley said. “That’s what you’ve got to do at these meets. If you’re seeded at the bottom of your heat, there is nowhere to go but up. They took care of that.”
The Seminoles finished off the session with a sixth place finish in the 400 medley relay with the team of Friedel, Coombs, Knight and sophomore Jason McCormick.
Friedel matched his time he posted in the 100, swimming a 48.06. Following Coombs’ leg, Knight made up some ground by splitting 45.77 pulling the Seminoles into fourth place. McCormick brought the race home with a 43.03 for an overall time of 3:11.17.
“It was a solid relay,” Bradley said. “We were right there on our splits, but tomorrow is another day and we’ve got work to do. It’s the same mentality as today. We need to take risks and not play it safe. We did that to some extent today, but we need to turn it up a notch.”
After three days and with 3-meter diving factored into the team scores, FSU is in a solid sixth place with a total of 419, sitting 11 points ahead of Georgia Tech and 15 in front of Virginia.
Louisville
The University of Louisville men’s swimming team jumped into third place after winning three individual golds in addition to running away with the 400-medley relay in the Day 3 finals of the 2015 ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships Friday night at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
North Carolina State maintained its lead with 896, North Carolina is second with 771.5 with the Cardinals nipping at their heels with a 760.6. Virginia Tech is fourth with 751, followed by Notre Dame (463), Florida State (419), Georgia Tech (408), Virginia (404), Duke (313), Pitt (232), Boston College (144) and Miami (105).
“It was a history changing night,” said UofL head coach Arthur Albiero. “As a staff we challenged the guys to just perform with pride and passion. Our seniors are setting the tone. We will enjoy this special night for a bit before we turn our focus to tomorrow’s session. We need a frenzy!”
In the first event of the evening, Nolan Tesone won a bronze medal and set a school record in the 400-IM with a time of 3:43.61.
In the next event, Pedro Coutinho won the 100-fly in a school record 45.92 from lane nine. The junior became the first Cardinal male swimmer to win ACC gold. Coutinho sat in third at the 50-yard mark, and overtook Florida State’s Connor Knight and Georgia Tech’s Andrew Kosic down the stretch to win the title.
“This morning I stumbled a little in the blocks,” explained Coutinho. “I was really nervous this morning and I knew that if I get off to a good start tonight, I’d be good. I got it [the start] right and gained the motivation to get going. Towards the 50 mark I turned around and I saw everyone with me so I said ‘I’m with them, I got this’. Outside smoke, man. They didn’t see me! I got them!”
In 100-fly B-final, David Boland posted a time of 47.61 for 15th place.
In the 200 free, Matthias Lindenbauer touched 5th in 1:34.66, Trevor Carroll was 6th in 1:35.20 and Rudy Edelen was 7th in 1:35.38
Thomas Dahlia took the gold in the 100-Breast, posting a time of 52.36. Addison Bray was third in 53.16.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Dahlia about putting two Cardinals on the podium. “I’m so happy for Addison Bray because he’s a senior too. I’m just grateful to be here.”
The Cards struck gold for the third time when Grigory Tarasevich hit the wall first in the 100-backstroke in 46.21. Also in the A-final, Aaron Greene touched 6th in 46.82 and Aaron Young was seventh, boarding a 46.94.
“I’m really proud to be a part of team that’s in such an important year entering the ACC and ready to make an impact,” said Tarasevich. “It’s a huge part of history for our program and we’ll try to do our best moving forward.”
The momentum continued for Louisville in the 400 medley relay, Friday night’s finale. Cardinals Grigory Tarasevich (46.21), Thomas Dahlia (51.77), Pedro Coutinho (45.70), and Trevor Carroll (42.38) combined for a pool record time of 3:06.06 and the fourth gold medal for Louisville on the day.
The Cardinals led through all three transitions, but Carroll had to hold off a hard-charging Simonas Bilis, who started the anchor 1.61 seconds back, almost chased down Carroll with a 41.30 split but came up short.
NC State (3:06.59) and North Carolina (3:08.80) finished in second and third, respectively, and all three teams finished with NCAA A cuts.
The final day of the meet will get underway Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries of the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, and 200 butterfly. The finals of those four events, plus the final heat of 1650 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay final will get started at 6 p.m.
“It’s an honor to be part of the ACC and it’s a credit to our staff and institution how we put everything together,” said Louisville coach Arthur Albiero. “These guys swam their tails off and I’m really proud of my team. We battled today after leaving a few things on the table yesterday. We came back roaring with a great morning and even improved off that, putting together some great swims this evening. We’re honored to be a part of the conference and the competition level is just fantastic.”
North Carolina
The University of North Carolina men’s swimming and diving team established a school record in the 400-yard medley relay and achieved its fourth NCAA automatic qualifying cut in relay events at the ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships Friday night at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center.
Coach Rich DeSelm’s Tar Heels had another outstanding day and the team standings are close heading into the final day of competition. NC State leads with 896 points, followed by Virginia Tech with 850 points, North Carolina with 821.5 points and Louisville with 771.5 points. Those four teams have distanced themselves from the remainder of the field at this point of the meet.
“We head into the final day of the ACC Championships in a three-way battle for what appears to be second place,” said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. “Like last night, we finished this evening with a tremendous record-setting relay. The 400-yard medley relay not only set a new UNC record but it became our fourth relay in this meet to meet an automatic NCAA qualifying time and it did so after a night session that did not go as well as we wanted.”
“Coach (Mike) Litzinger and I and the whole staff are proud of this team and we know our competitors will bring their best swimming tomorrow morning in the prelims,” said DeSelm. “Kurt Wohlrab broke his own school record as well in the 100-yard breaststroke today and the trio of Nic Graesser, Sam Lewis and Ben Colley put a lot of work in tonight, swimming multiple events. It was a day of heavy lifting for all of those gentlemen.”
The Tar Heels finished off the night with a third-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay and in the process broke or tied a school record in a relay event for the fourth time in the event. UNC’s time of 3:08.80 took down the school record of 3:09.65 set in 2014. The same four swimmers who swam on that record-setting relay last year were on it again tonight as the junior quartet of Nic Graesser (46.30), Kurt Wohlrab (53.36), Sam Lewis (46.10) and Logan Heck (43.04) took home the bronze in the event.
The Tar Heels started the night with a fifth-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley by freshman Henry Campbell as he clocked a career best 3:46.99 in the event, moving him into fourth place on the all-time UNC depth chart. “Henry Campbell’s 400 IM was a six-second drop from a year ago,” said DeSelm. “He’s a tremendous racer and should be set up well for his mile tomorrow.”
UNC senior Brian Bollerman was 11th in the 400 IM with a career best time of 3:48.24, while senior Patrick Myers placed 15th and senior Tyler Hill took 19th in the event.
Carolina had two championship finalists in the 100-yard butterfly. Junior Sam Lewis took a bronze medal in the event with a time of 46.14. His preliminary time of 45.93 was a career best for the Atlanta junior. Junior Ben Colley tied for seventh in the event. Colley’s prelim time of 46.42 was his career best time. Seniors Nick Lowe and Dom Glavich also scored in the event with Lowe’s prelim time of 46.89 being his career best while also moving him into fifth place in Carolina history in the event.
Carolina’s top finisher in the 200-yard freestyle was junior co-captain Mitch DeForest who placed 15th. His time of 1:36.95 in the prelims was his career best. A trio of Tar Heels scored in the “C” consolation finals with Philip Perdue placing 19th, Lucas Popp 20th and Josh Beals 21st. Perdue went a career best 1:37.41 while Popp had a personal best time of 1:37.64 and Beals also had a career best at 1:37.91.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, UNC junior Kurt Wohlrab grabbed sixth place with a school record time of 53.24 seconds. He broke is own school mark in the event. He went 53.42 seconds a year ago. Dom Glavich had his career best in the prelims at 54.07 as he placed 14th overall. His time makes him the second fastest Tar Heel ever in the event. Senior David Speese took 20th place and his time was just .08 off his personal best.
Carolina had three finalists in the 100-yard backstroke with Nic Graesser, Sam Lewis and Ben Colley taking the fourth, fifth and eighth places, respectively. Graesser’s prelim time of 46.19 was significantly under his career best of 46.64 and Lewis went 49.46 in the prelims to take a chunk of time off his previous career best (47.09). Colley’s prelim time of 46.46 was almost a full second under his previous career best of 47.39 seconds. Graesser, Lewis and Colley now rank 2-3-4 in the event in UNC history behind Tommy Wyher.
Carolina continues to benefit in the team standings from the strong work of its diving contingent. The divers competed a week ago in conjunction with the women’s meet. So far, the one- and three-meter events have been added into the team totals with platform diving added in Saturday night. All four UNC divers – senior Ryan Fox, junior Ozzie Moyer, sophomore Jack Nyquist and freshman Sean Burston – scored on all three boards for UNC during the Championships. Altogether in the three events, UNC divers produced 194 team points, second only to Virginia Tech. Carolina had the highest team total on the two springboard events combined.
“We are excited for tomorrow,” said DeSelm. “It’s going to be a great morning and and a tremendous evening and we are looking forward to it.”
N.C. State
Continuing to hold its lead through three days of competition, the NC State men’s swimming team swept the podium in the 200 free and earned four top-three finishes in three other events Friday evening at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Men’s Swimming Championship.
In addition to its day three success, the Pack notched two more school records inside the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
NC State holds more than a 100-point lead with 896 heading into the final day of the conference championship. UNC-Chapel Hill sits in second with 771.5 while Louisville rounds out the top three of the overall standings with 760.5.
Wolfpack Relays
The team of Andreas Schiellerup, Derek Hren, Soren Dahl and Simonas Bilis took the silver in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:06.59, which was enough for a NCAA qualifying mark.
After sitting in third through the third leg of the race, sprint specialist Bilis narrowed Louisville’s lead of two body lengths to just .53 seconds to improve its standing in the event and outrace the third-place team of UNC-Chapel Hill. His 100 freestyle time of 41.30 marks the fastest split time in the country.
Individual Medley
Christian McCurdy finished second in the ‘A’ final of the 400 individual medley with a time of 3:41.92, while Anton Ipsen finished fourth in 3:45.91. McCurdy’s time was enough for a NCAA ‘A’ standard time as well as a school record.
Fly Into The Sky
John Newell claimed the top spot in the ‘B’ final of the 100 butterfly with a time of 46.67 to earn a NCAA ‘B’ cut.
Freestyle Watch
NC State swept the podium in the 200 freestyle, as Bilis, Held and Williams each finished .56 seconds apart. Bills touched the wall at 1:33.62 to notch another NCAA ‘A’ cut and school record, while Held and Williams followed with times of 1:34.15 and 1:34.18, respectively.
Bilis’ performance now marks the fourth-fastest time in the country, while Held and William’s times mark the second and third-fastest times in program history.
Breaststroke
Hren claimed the silver in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 53.10, which was enough for a season-best mark.
Back It Up
Schiellerup and Hennessey Stuart took second and third in the ‘A’ final of the 100 backstroke with times of 46.37 and 46.42, in respective order.
Stephen Coetzer won the ‘B’ final with a season-best swim of 47.30 to earn a NCAA ‘B’ standard time.
Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame men's swim team entered day three of the ACC Championships looking to make up ground from their eighth-place standing from the day before. The Irish were ready and willing, finishing the night in fifth place with 479 points.
"Today we made a great push in the team race; it was what we needed to see," Irish head coach Matt Tallman says. "We saw a bit of a spark, and we'll need to see more of the same or better tomorrow to keep where we're at."
First up for the Irish was the day's longest event, the 400 IM. In the prelims, sophomore Tom Anderson had the top time with his 3:48.67 mark, followed by John Nappi (3:51.43), Matthew DeBlasio (3:51.79) and Kevin Bradley (3:53.88). In the evening finals, Anderson placed seventh (3:47.45), with Nappi (14th, 3:50.39), DeBlasio (16th, 3:54.38) and Bradley (17th, 3:46.52) following suit.
In the 100 fly, Justin Plaschka swam a 47.51 in the prelims, earning a spot in the evening B final. Jonathan Williamson (47.48) and Bogac Ayhan (50.04) also made appearances in the C final. Plaschka's final time of 46.98 was a mere .06 of a second off of Frank Dyer's school record time of 46.92, making the 100 fly quite an exciting race.
In the 200 free it was an almost all-sophomore affair, with Trent Jackson (1:36.54), Reed Fujan (1:37.00) and Joe Petrone (1:38.92) all vying for a spot in the finals as well as freshman Benjamin Jany (1:38.36). Jackson and Fujan advanced into the B final, with Jackson winning the heat and finishing ninth overall (1:36.24). Fujan came in 16th, 1:38.10.
In the 100 breast, the usual Irish rotation of Zachary Stephens, Cameron Miller, Patrick Olson and Andrew Jensen all swam in the morning, with Stephens, Miller and Olson advancing to the finals. Stephens placed 10th (53.80), with Miller (13th, 54.50) and Olson (19th, 54.43) not far behind.
In the 100 back, Ayhan - swimming his second event of the day - touched the wall in 47.72 in the morning, advancing to the evening B final where he placed 12th (47.59). Robert Whitacre touched in at 48.13 in the morning, earning a spot in the C final, where he finished 19th (48.42). In the last event of the evening, the Irish lineup of Ayhan, Miller, Plaschka and Stephens came in eighth in the 400 medley relay (3:11.31), earning the team 44 points.
Pittsburgh
After a slow start for Pitt on the first two days of the ACC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships, the Panthers turned up the heat in the pool, breaking three school records and returning seven swimmers for finals races on the third day of competition.
The records were set by sophomore Zach Lierley (Mount Pleasant, S.C./Waldo) (400 IM), senior Kourosh Ahani (Richmond Hill, Ontario/Thornhill Secondary) (100 fly) and junior David Sweeney (Acworth, Ga./North Paulding) (200 free). All three previously held the program mark and lowered their own records with exceptional swims throughout the day.
Joining the trio in Friday night’s finals were juniors Martin Vogel (Johannesburg, South Africa/Cambridge International Distance College) (400 IM), Avery Warrington (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park) (200 Free) and Connor O’Prey (Ridley Park, Pa./Haverford) (100 breast) and senior Luke Nosbisch (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) (100 breast).
The three record-setters along with Warrington outperformed many of their counterparts in the pool during the night swims, as each of them took second place in their respective finals.
Less than eight hours after an average performance in the 400 IM prelims that was still good enough to get Lierley safely into the C Finals, the sophomore opened up the night by taking down his own school record in the event. He led for the better part of the second half of the race following a stellar backstroke and ultimately took second (18th overall) with a record-breaking time of 3:47.69. Lierley’s previous program record of 3:48.44 was set at last year’s ACC Championships. Vogel also qualified for the C Final by swimming a season-best 3:52.18 in the prelims, which was the 18th fastest time of the morning. He finished seventh (23rd overall) in his final with a time of 3:55.32.
Ahani also lowered his own school mark in the 100-yd butterfly B Final after swimming a season-best 46.97 seconds in the prelims, despite battling a stomach virus. At the 50-yd turn, Ahani led the final by a split second and finished as the runner-up (10th overall) with a time of 46.71 seconds. The performance was 0.03 seconds faster than the school record he set two years ago at the BIG EAST Championships.
In the 200-yd freestyle, three Pitt swimmers set lifetime bests and two more recorded season bests, including Sweeney and Warrington, who both qualified for the finals on Friday night. Sweeney’s prelims time of 1:36.25 was a school record and edged out his former mark of 1:36.27 from last year’s ACC Championships. Although he was a hair slower in the B Finals (1:36.43), his time was still good enough for second (10th overall) in the race.
Warrington set two personal records on the day in the 200 free as well. In the morning prelims, he came from behind to win his heat in in 1:37.60 and swam the C Finals even faster, also taking second (18th overall) in 1:37.39. In Warrington’s morning race, he was fifth entering the final 50-yd stretch and a late surge propelled him to first.
Pitt produced two C finalists in the 100-yd breaststroke with O’Prey and Nosbisch both qualifying. O’Prey, who entered the day having yet to break 55 seconds in the event, did so twice on Friday. His personal best time of 54.69 seconds came in the prelims and he followed that up with a sixth place (22nd overall) finish in the C Final in 54.75 seconds. Nosbisch clocked in at 55.05 seconds in the prelims and was seventh (23rd overall) in the finals in 55.46.
The Panthers closed out the night with a season-best 3:15.52 in the 400 medley relay. Senior Joey Notarianni (Lakewood, Colo./Mullen) led off the race followed by O’Prey, Ahani and Sweeney.
At this time last week, the 3-meter diving finals was contested adding 22 points to the Panthers’ final Friday total thanks to sophomore Dominic Giordano’s eighth place finish and Tony Galante also scoring points.
Pitt remained in 10th with 232 points. Sitting in first place with one day to go is seventh-ranked NC State with 896 points. They lead second-place and No. 15 North Carolina (771.5) by 124.5 points. Rounding out the top four are No. 10 Louisville (760.5) and Virginia Tech (760.5). The fifth place team is nearly 300 points back of fourth.
Virginia
The No. 25 Virginia men’s swimming and diving team finished action on the third day of the ACC Championships Friday (Feb. 27) at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
The Cavaliers sit in seventh place with 463 points. NC State leads with 896, followed by Virginia Tech (850), North Carolina (821.5) and Louisville (771.5). Notre Dame is fifth (479) and Florida State is sixth (467), while Georgia Tech is eighth (437), followed by Duke (313), Pitt (282), Boston College (144) and Miami (105).
“Tonight was probably our best session of the meet,” UVa head coach Augie Busch said. “This is a very young team we have here and tonight they took a big step toward learning exactly what it means to fight hard in competition. Tomorrow can be a good day for us and I'm looking forward to watching our men finish the meet strong.”
The 400 medley relay team of sophomore Zach Bunner (Marietta, Ga.), junior Yannick Kaeser (Mumpf, Switzerland), sophomore Austin Quinn (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and freshman Nicholas Magana (Scottsdale, Ariz.) placed seventh in 3:11.30.
In the 100 breast, Kaeser made the championship final and finished seventh in the 53.29.
Quinn won the consolation final (ninth overall) in a time of 3:46, the sixth-fastest time on UVa’s all-time top-10 list. Freshman Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) placed 20th overall in 3:52.53.
Bunner finished second in the 100 back consolation final (10th overall) in 47.38. Bunner’s prelim time of 47.28 ranks sixth on UVa’s all-time top-10 list. In the bonus final, freshman Henrik Pohlmann (Beavercreek, Ohio) out-touched the field to win and place 17th overall in 48.39.
In the 200 free, freshman Luke Georgiadis (Jacksonville, Fla.) finished 22nd overall in 1:38.09.
In a time trial, sophomore Matt Lockman (Charlottesville, Va.) completed a 50 free in 19.96, ranking sixth on UVa’s all-time top-10 list.
Virginia Tech
The Virginia Tech swimming & diving team finished the third day of the ACC Men’s Championships in second place behind a gold medal from Robert Owen and seven top-ten finishes at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center on Friday.
Tech has 850 team points after three days of competition, trailing NC State (896) by 46 points. They are ahead of UNC (821.5) and Louisville (771.5).
“I can’t say enough about Robert Owen as an ACC champion,” head coach Ned Skinner said. “That’s a national junior team swimmer out of high school, and he’s now coming into his own as an elite NCAA swimmer and a factor for United States swimming in general. Owen Burns also is not only an incredible swimmer but a magnificent captain, and he truly is the epitome of what this men’s team is all about and what we want to be tomorrow.”
Owen got things started for the H2Okies in the evening finals, winning Tech’s second gold medal of the championships in a thrilling battle with second-place finisher Christian McCurdy that was dead even through the final 100 yards before Owen stretched to take gold by 0.13 seconds with an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 3:41.78. After breaking the school record in the morning prelims, Owen’s evening swim broke that record by two seconds in the finals.
Zach Switzer had a great morning swim to earn himself an A-final appearance in the 400 IM where he took eighth with a time of 3:51.45.
In the 100 fly, Morgan Latimer took fourth in the B-final for a 12th-place overall finish. Behind him, Harrison Pierce took 23rd with a time of 48.37.
Owen Burns finished just short of the podium in the 200 free when he earned fourth-place after clocking a time of 1:34.54. Lucas Bureau took the eighth spot with a time of 1:35.50. Michal Szuba took fifth in the B-final for 13th overall with a time of 1:36.78. Adam Stacklin was one behind him for 14th with 1:37.22.
Brandon Fiala took fifth in the 100 breast with a time of 53.23 to set a new school record. After winning the B-final, Harrison Cefalo finished ninth overall with a time of 53.78. C.J. Fiala picked up 21st with a time of 54.74.
Tech had three in the B-final for the 100 back where Morgan Latimer took 11th after hitting the wall in 47.42. Higgins was behind him in 13th after 47.65, and Owen took 15th with a time of 48.55.
Both the 3-meter and the platform diving scores have been added into Friday’s team scores. In the 3-meter last week, Logan Stevens won the silver medal, Jared Butts took ninth, Thomas Shinholser took 10th and Mauro Castro-Silva took 12th. In the platform, Tech earned an incredible 99 team points after finishing all dour divers in the top eight. Shinholser won the bronze, Stevens took fourth, Castro-Silva took sixth and Butts took eighth.
