ACC Championships (Men): Day One

ATLANTA, Georgia, February 27. AN exciting week is in store at the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, as the University of Virginia looks to accomplish the same goal as its counterpart last week. The Cavaliers won both relay events Wednesday night and broke a pair of records to take the lead with 80 points.

Georgia Tech posted runner-up finishes in both events to stand in second place with 66 points, while Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia round out the top five in a three-way tie for third at 60 points apiece.

The Cavaliers came out strong in the opening event of the ACC Championship, as the foursome of Bryan Stahl, PJ Sullivan, Lee Robertson and Scot Robinson combined for a season-best and NCAA "B" time 1:27.11 to take the first place in the 200 medley relay. The title in the event was the fifth all-time and first since 2001 for the Cavaliers.

In addition, the top seven relay teams set "B" cuts with season-best times in the 200 medley relay. Florida State's quartet of Ian Powell, Matt Shead, Corey Swanson and Scott Baker finished second with a time of 1:27.62, while Georgia Tech's squad of Matthew Tang, Mickey Malul, Onur Uras and Mauricio Sousa touched in at 1:27.68 for third.

In the 800 freestyle relay, Georgia Tech's Noah Copeland gave the Yellow Jackets an advantage swimming the leadoff but Virginia would battle back to close the gap. Darren Ankosko, swimming the third leg, pushed ahead of the field to give the Cavaliers the lead with anchor Matthew McLean touching in with an automatic qualifying mark of 6:22.93 for the thrilling victory. The time was a season best for Virginia and shattered the conference record that had stood since 1993 by North Carolina.

The Yellow Jackets followed in second with an NCAA "B" cut 6:31.97, while Virginia Tech (6:34.20) pulled slightly ahead of North Carolina (6:34.66) for third place.

Special thanks to the ACC for contributing this report.

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