Virginia Jumps Out To Huge Lead at ACCs; Stephanie Peacock Out Sick

GREENSBORO, North Carolina, February 21. VIRGINIA dominated day two of the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships based primarily on a nearly perfect preliminary session made good this evening. Meanwhile, the specter of NCAA record holder Stephanie Peacock not being at the meet continued to be a fog over the competition until news came out that she was ill, and had to miss the meet.

N.C. State's Hannah Freyman (22.92), Marifrances Henley (22.13), Allison Hendren (22.40) and Riki Bonnema (22.15) kicked off the second night of swimming with a swift 1:29.60 to win the 200 free relay. That time just missed the meet record of 1:29.21 turned in by Virginia two years ago. Florida State shook off a day-one relay DQ with a second-place time as Tiffany Oliver (22.21), Kaitlyn Dressel (22.01), Katie Cook (22.77) and Haley Powell (22.77) touched just behind the Wolfpack with a 1:29.76. Virginia's Lauren Perdue (22.69), Rachel Naurath (22.27), Emily Lloyd (22.29) and Emily Dicus (22.57) also cleared 1:30 with a third-place time of 1:29.82 in what proved to be an exciting finish.

Florida State's Ariel Rittenhouse emerged from an extremely competitive three-meter diving break with 369.55 points for the win. She became the first Seminole to win the event at ACCs since 1995 when Erin Gillooly took home the gold. Virginia Tech's Kalyea Arnett provided some huge points for her squad with a second-place 364.90, while Miami went 3-4-7 with Carrie Dragland (364.95), Lindsay Lester (348.65) and Kara McCormack (332.80) also scoring in the A final. Virginia Tech's Logan Kline finished sixth with 342.00 for another 13 points to the Hokie team tally.

Virginia dominated the 500-yard freestyle as the Cavaliers went 1-2-3-5-8 to amass a huge haul of team points. Kelly Offutt surged to victory with a 4:39.05, ahead of teammate Rachel Naurath, who clocked a second-place 4:41.66. Alison Haulsee earned third in 4:41.81, while Hannah Borgersen (4:43.76) and Hillary Petersen (4:49.37) took fifth and eighth for UVA. Florida State's Madison Jacobi was the top swimmer outside of the Cavaliers with a fourth-place 4:41.85.

Mysteriously, NCAA record holder Stephanie Peacock, who won the 500-yard free last year in 4:36.48, withdrew from the meet prior to last night with former North Carolina coach Frank Comfort citing illness. Peacock has already been on fire this year for North Carolina, downing NCAA record in the 1650 free at the Ohio State Invite in December.

Virginia kept steamrolling in the 200-yard IM, realizing the potential of having 12 of its 13 swimmers all make it back from their events during this morning's preliminary session. UVA crushed the competition in the event with a 1-2-3-4-6 finish. Ellen Williamson won the title in 1:57.00, while Shaun Casey (1:57.56), Sarah White (1:58.03) and Haley Durmer (1:58.16) rounded out the top four. Courtney Bartholomew also scored in the A final for UVA with a sixth-place 1:58.51. North Carolina's Cari Blalock was the top non-UVA swimmer with a fifth-place 1:58.49.

Florida State earned its second win of the night as Tiffany Oliver beat Olympian Lauren Perdue of Virginia to the wall in the 50-yard free, 22.17 to 22.29. Duke's Lauren Weaver placed third in 22.34, while N.C. State's Riki Bonnema finished fourth in 22.43 after helping the Wolfpack to the 200-yard free relay title to start the evening.

Team Scores
Virginia 309
Florida State 177
N.C. State 166
Virginia Tech 166
Miami 159
North Carolina 113
Duke 107
Georgia Tech 79
Boston College 62
Clemson 8

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