Virginia Tech raced out to leads in all its dual meets in the Virginia Tech Duals taking place this weekend in Christiansburg.
Scores
Men
William and Mary 111.00 53.00 West Virginia University
Virginia Tech 132.00 32.00 William and Mary
Virginia Tech 140.00 27.00 West Virginia University
Duke University 116.00 48.00 William and Mary
Duke University 138.00 29.00 West Virginia University
Virginia Tech 96.50 70.50 Duke University
Women
William and Mary 90.00 71.00 West Virginia University
Virginia Tech 138.00 26.00 William and Mary
Virginia Tech 139.00 28.00 West Virginia University
Duke University 127.00 37.00 William and Mary
Duke University 129.00 38.00 West Virginia University
Virginia Tech 86.00 81.00 Duke University
Virginia Tech Press Release
CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – The Virginia Tech swimming and diving team leads Duke, West Virginia and William and Mary in all of its duals after the first day of quad meet action at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center on Friday. Scores of all of the dual meets can be found below.
Starting off the evening, the H2Okie divers saw senior Ben Schiesl place second in the men’s one meter and sophomore Ashlynn Peters, the reigning ACC Women’s Diver of the Week in the three meter.
Tech thrived in the relay events all night as the H2Okie men and women both placed first in the 200 free relay to kick off the meets. Three H2Okie relay teams claimed the top three sports in the 400 medley relay led by the team of senior Fiona Donnelly, junior Kelly Henry, junior Klaudia Nazieblo and senior Jessica Hespeler with a time of 3:42.49.
Senior Robert Owen took first in the 200 backstroke and 200 with IM with times of 1:46.28 and 1:49.06, respectively. Both times met the NCAA B-cut. Classmate Brandon Fiala immediately followed Owen in the 200 IM with a time of 1:49.15.
The H2Okie men dominated the 500 free where freshman Hassler Carroll won his first collegiate event with a 4:30.63. Sophomore Norbert Szabo placed second with a 4:31.80 and sophomore Nathan Pawlowicz’s 4:33.32 was the third-best time. Later in the evening, the top two spots in the men’s 200 fly were occupied by Szabo with a 1:50.85 and junior Christopher Wang with a 1:50.86.
Donnelly continues to excel in the 200 backstroke where she turned in an NCAA B-cut time of 1:58.99 on Friday. Freshman Chloe Hicks placed fifth in the event with a 2:02.14. Nazieblo also had a B-cut time of 1:57.62 in the 200 fly while Hespeler also turned in an impressive time of 4:48.69 in the 500 free.
The final day of quad meet action will begin tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. The meet also marks the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Meet in honor of Margaret Soulen Gilbert, the program’s first NCAA scorer and a member of the Virginia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame.
West Virginia Press Release
The West Virginia University swimming and diving team completed the first day of a two-day quad meet on Friday, in Blacksburg, Virginia, against Virginia Tech, Duke and William & Mary at Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
On Friday, the Mountaineers opened competition posting three top-five finishes and 13 top-10 finishes. The WVU men trail 53-111 to William & Mary, 27-140 to Virginia Tech and 38-130 to Duke. The Mountaineer women trail William & Mary, 71-90, 139-28 to Virginia Tech and 38-129 to Duke.
The Hokies continue hosting the final day of competition on Saturday with races beginning at 11 a.m. ET. Live stats can be found on the swimming and diving schedule page on WVUsports.com. Fans can also follow the meet live by downloading Meet Mobile to their phones.
“Our youth and lack of depth showed up tonight,” said coach Vic Riggs. “The (disqualification) DQ on the men's 200 freeestyle relay got us behind and we are playing catch up, but once we got into the meet we had some very impressive swims. Morgan Bullock's 200 IM and Emma's (Skelley) 500 freestyle got our women going. Maggie (Miller) and Amelie (Currat) had very strong 200 backs. Emma Harris and Loren (Williams) had solid 100 breaststrokes and Julia (Miranda) a very nice 100 free. Our relays were faster as well.
“For the men it took us a bit longer to get going, but James (Koval) had a solid 500 freestyle, Drew Riebel led our breaststroke, Trayton (Saldin) had a very solid night in both his 500 freestyle and 200 backstroke. Merwane (El Merini) and Jack Frazier had solid 100 frees. Nathan, Gabe (Swardson) and Ryan (Kelly) had very strong in the 200 butterfly. We finished the night with our A relays going faster as well. We need to improve on some areas tomorrow to give ourselves a chance to get a couple of wins.”
West Virginia’s three top-five finishes came from senior Emma Skelley, sophomore Merwane El Merini and the women’s 400 medley relay team. Skelley placed third in the women’s 500 freestyle, touching the wall in 4:56.21. El Merini placed fourth in the men’s 100 freestyle with a time of 46.00. In the women’s 400 medley relay, a team of junior Amelie Currat, sophomore Emma Harris, freshmen Julia Miranda and Morgan Bullock touched the wall in 3:51.52
The 200 freestyle relay got things started for WVU. In the women’s relay, WVU finished eighth with a team of Bullock, junior Celia Martinez, Miranda and Currat, touching the wall in 1:37.89.
The Mountaineer men also placed eighth in the 200 freestyle relay. The team consisting of freshman Luke Hene, senior Austin Green, sophomore Jake Armstrong and junior Chris McMahon touched in 1:28.31.
In the women’s 200 individual medley, Bullock placed eighth with a time of 2:08.11.
Junior James Koval touched the wall in 11th place in the men’s 500 freestyle with a time of 4:40.45.
Junior Drew Riebel and sophomore Jake Armstrong posted top-10 finishes in the men’s 100 breaststroke. Reibel touched the wall in ninth place with a time of 58.42 and Armstrong finished 10th with a time of 58.59.
In the men’s 200 backstroke, freshman Trayton Saladin placed eighth with a time of 1:52.73.
Currat tied for seventh in the women’s 200 backstroke in 2:03.59 and sophomore Maggie Miller finished 10th with a time of 2:03.88.
Sophomore Morgan Carr placed eighth in the women’s 200 butterfly, touching the wall in 2:05.96. For the men, freshman Gabe Swardson placed seventh in the 200 butterfly in 1:51.66.
WVU’s El Merini, Armstrong, Swardson and sophomore Drew Damich placed ninth in the men’s 400 medley relay with a time of 3:27:27.
Duke Press Release
CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – A number of individual performances highlighted the Duke swimming and diving teams’ first day of competition in a season-opening, two-day quad meet hosted by Virginia Tech.
Through one day of action, the Blue Devil men and women lead both West Virginia and William & Mary but trail the Hokies. The Virginia Tech women hold a narrow 86-81 advantage heading into day two, while the Hokie men lead Duke by a 96.5-70.5 margin.
“Everybody was excited to be finally starting the season,” said head coach Dan Colella. “It was a little bit of a letdown not competing a couple of weeks ago. For our first session of this meet, I thought we did a really solid job. We had a lot of great racing going on. From the upperclassmen, we had a lot of in-season best times. We’re going to get a good meal tonight, get some sleep and we’re going to be a lot better tomorrow.”
Junior Leah Goldman got the Blue Devils started in the individual events, coming from behind to claim the 200-yard IM in 2:01.39, which was under the NCAA provisional standard. Classmate Verity Abel was second in the women’s 500 freestyle field, clocking 4:53.28 in her first swim of the season, before seniors Ashleigh Shanley and Peter Kropp swept the 100 breaststroke events. Kropp earned an NCAA ‘B’ cut at 54.63 while Shanley touched at 1:03.05.
Sophomores Mickayla Hinkle (2:01.33) and Maddie Hess (2:01.34) finished second and third, respectively, to pick up points in the 200 backstroke, while Max St. George was second in the same event on the men’s side at 1:48.84. Duke also featured a strong showing in the 100 freestyle, with senior Maddie Rusch winning the women’s race (50.36). Freshman Alyssa Marsh was just behind her in second (50.73), and sophomore Yusuke Legard took second on the men’s side (45.73).
Two more upperclassmen led the way in the 200 butterfly, as junior Isabella Paez dipped under the NCAA provisional standard to place second (1:59.43) and senior Michael Miller was third (1:51.38).
The Blue Devils received a boost in diving, with freshman Nathaniel Hernandez notching a win in his collegiate debut. He turned in an impressive showing to best the field in the men’s 1-meter springboard competition with a score of 333.
In the final event of the evening, the quartet of St. George, Kropp, senior Dylan Payne and Legard touched first in the 400 medley relay (3:16.74), while fellow Blue Devils Bradley Cline, Michael Seaberg, Miller and Miles Williams followed suit in second (3:19.04).
