2019 ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships: Albiero Leads Tight 200 Fly Field

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The final morning of the 2019 ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships featured the heats of the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast and the 200 fly on Saturday morning in Greensboro.

NC State has safely wrapped up its fifth straight ACC men’s swimming and diving title as they put ten in A-Finals tonight. Virginia could put some pressure on Louisville for second as the Cavaliers put eight in A-Finals while Louisville only put four.

Virginia’s Joe Clark, Pittsburgh’s Blaise Vera, Virginia’s Matthew Otto and Louisville’s Nick Albiero are the top seeds in their respective events heading in to Saturday night.

Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 14                      
 
  1. North Carolina State 919.5 10, 4, 2
  2. Louisville           784    4, 6, 4
  3. Virginia             695    8, 6, 1  
  4. Florida State        572.5  3, 6, 2
  5. Virginia Tech        545.5  3, 3, 4
  6. Notre Dame           473    1, 5, 8
  7. Duke                 450    4, 0, 7
  8. Pittsburgh           371    1, 3, 2
  9. Georgia Tech         360    3, 4, 4
 10. North Carolina       282.5  1, 2, 5
 11. Boston College       111    0, 1, 1
 12. Miami                101    2, 0, 0

200 Back

Virginia’s Joe Clark had a massive drop from his entry time as he has the top seed in the 200 back with a 1:40.96. Clark came into the meet with a 1:47.95 entry time but had a 1:41.86 best time from the 2017 ACCs. Clark is ahead of 100 back champion Coleman Stewart of NC State (1:41.13).

Virginia also had sophomore George Wozencraft (1:41.76) come in for fifth seed and NC State had senior Noah Hensley (1:41.30) qualify for finals in fourth. Hensley dropped four seconds off his entry time.

Louisville’s Mitchell Whyte, a freshman, dropped four seconds off his entry time as he is third at 1:41.22.

Florida State’s Griffin Alaniz (1:41.85), Georgia Tech’s Rodrigo Correia (1:41.89) and Virginia Tech’s Samuel Tornqvist (1:42.06) also qualified for the final.

 Event 17  Men 200 Yard Backstroke
==================================================================
   Conference: % 1:38.56  3/26/2016 Hennesey Stuart, NC State
     ACC Meet: & 1:39.05  3/2/2017  Grigory Tarasevich, Louisville
     American: @ 1:35.73  3/26/2016 Ryan Murphy, California
   U. S. Open: * 1:35.73  3/26/2016 Ryan Murphy, California
         NCAA: $ 1:35.73  3/26/2016 Ryan Murphy, California
         Pool: ^ 1:39.28  2/27/2016 Grigory Tarasevich, Louisville
                 1:39.38  A
                 1:41.18  IV18 Invited to 2018 NCAA
                 1:45.04  B
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Clark, Joseph    JR UVA               1:47.95    1:40.96 qIV18  
    r:+0.71  23.71        49.43 (25.72)
        1:15.15 (25.72)     1:40.96 (25.81)
  2 Stewart, Colema  JR NC State          1:40.06    1:41.13 qIV18  
    r:+0.69  24.08        49.36 (25.28)
        1:14.80 (25.44)     1:41.13 (26.33)
  3 Whyte, Mitchell  FR Louisville        1:45.38    1:41.22 qB     
    r:+0.63  23.67        49.58 (25.91)
        1:15.69 (26.11)     1:41.22 (25.53)
  4 Hensley, Noah    SR NC State          1:45.22    1:41.30 qB     
    r:+0.64  23.99        49.76 (25.77)
        1:15.69 (25.93)     1:41.30 (25.61)
  5 Wozencraft, Geo  SO UVA               1:41.62    1:41.76 qB     
    r:+0.68  23.42        49.36 (25.94)
        1:15.02 (25.66)     1:41.76 (26.74)
  6 Alaniz, Griffin  JR FSU               1:43.57    1:41.85 qB     
    r:+0.72  23.71        49.31 (25.60)
        1:15.56 (26.25)     1:41.85 (26.29)
  7 Correia, Rodrig  SR GT                1:40.94    1:41.89 qB     
    r:+0.70  23.49        48.97 (25.48)
        1:15.35 (26.38)     1:41.89 (26.54)
  8 Tornqvist, Samu  SO VT                1:41.93    1:42.06 qB     
    r:+0.71  23.92        49.79 (25.87)
        1:16.07 (26.28)     1:42.06 (25.99)

100 Free

Pittsburgh Blaise Vera (42.04) shocked everybody on deck as he qualified for the top seed on Saturday morning at the ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Greensboro. He dropped over a second off his best time of 43.18 to go 42.04 and lead ahead of NC State’s Justin Ress (42.25) and Duke’s Miles Williams (42.41).

The rest of the A-Final is fairly stacked with 100 fly champ Kanoa Kaleoaloha of Florida State in fourth (42.43), just ahead of fellow Seminole Emir Muratovic (42.46).

NC State had two others in the final with Jacob Molacek (42.56) and Nyls Korstanje (42.65) placing sixth and eighth. Virginia’s Ryan Baker (42.64) is the seventh seed.

 Event 18  Men 100 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
   Conference: % 41.05  3/24/2018 Ryan Held, NC State
     ACC Meet: & 41.41  2/24/2018 Ryan Held, NC State
     American: @ 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
   U. S. Open: * 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         NCAA: $ 39.90  3/24/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
         Pool: ^ 41.31  12/6/2014 Nathan Adrian, California
                 41.88  A
                 42.71  IV18 Invited to 2018 NCAA
                 43.80  B
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Vera, Blaise     SO PITT                43.18      42.04 qIV18  
    r:+0.67  19.67        42.04 (22.37)
  2 Ress, Justin     SR NC State            42.74      42.25 qIV18  
    r:+0.66  20.19        42.25 (22.06)
  3 Williams, Miles  JR Duke                43.40      42.41 qIV18  
    r:+0.66  20.27        42.41 (22.14)
  4 Kaleoaloha, Kan  SR FSU                 42.83      42.43 qIV18  
    r:+0.69  20.42        42.43 (22.01)
  5 Muratovic, Emir  SR FSU                 43.45      42.46 qIV18  
    r:+0.64  20.11        42.46 (22.35)
  6 Molacek, Jacob   SR NC State            42.45      42.56 qIV18  
    r:+1.91  20.55        42.56 (22.01)
  7 Baker, Ryan      JR UVA                 43.46      42.64 qIV18  
    r:+0.61  20.39        42.64 (22.25)
  8 Korstanje, Nyls  FR NC State            42.95      42.65 qIV18  
    r:+0.64  20.42        42.65 (22.23)

200 Breast

Virginia’s Matthew Otto dropped a half second off his best time as he is the top seed in the 200 breast on Saturday morning at the ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Otto swam a 1:53.46 as he was one of three swimmers to break 1:55. Notre Dame freshman Josh Bottelberghe (1:54.54) had a huge drop for the second seed as he came in to the meet with a 1:57.17. Louisville sophomore and 100 breast champion Evgenii Somov (1:54.90) is the third seed.

Georgia Tech’s Caio Pumputis, who won the 200 IM and was second in the 100 breast, had an off morning swim as he is sixth at 1:55.26. He had the second fastest time in Division I entering the meet, but with his swims so far in Greensboro he could win it from lane seven.

Duke’s Jud Howard (1:55.01), Virginia’s Keefer Barnum (1:55.03), Casey Storch (1:55.43) and NC State’s Daniel Graber (1:55.52) also qualified for the final.

 Event 19  Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
==================================================================
   Conference: % 1:52.39  3/2/2017  Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech
     ACC Meet: & 1:52.39  3/2/2017  Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech
     American: @ 1:47.91  3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
   U. S. Open: * 1:47.91  3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
         NCAA: $ 1:47.91  3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
         Pool: ^ 1:52.87  2/27/2016 Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech
                 1:52.94  A
                 1:54.49  IV18 Invited to 2018 NCAA
                 1:58.43  B
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Otto, Matthew    SO UVA               1:57.99    1:53.46 qIV18  
    r:+0.68  25.99        54.69 (28.70)
        1:23.56 (28.87)     1:53.46 (29.90)
  2 Bottelberghe, J  FR ND                1:57.17    1:54.54 qB     
    r:+0.73  26.05        55.34 (29.29)
        1:25.10 (29.76)     1:54.54 (29.44)
  3 Somov, Evgenii   SO Louisville        1:56.42    1:54.90 qB     
    r:+1.87  25.43        54.35 (28.92)
        1:24.16 (29.81)     1:54.90 (30.74)
  4 Howard, Jud      SR Duke              1:59.11    1:55.01 qB     
    r:+0.73  26.85        56.08 (29.23)
        1:25.27 (29.19)     1:55.01 (29.74)
  5 Barnum, Keefer   SO UVA               1:56.99    1:55.03 qB     
    r:+0.68  25.97        55.63 (29.66)
        1:25.00 (29.37)     1:55.03 (30.03)
  6 Pumputis, Caio   SO GT                1:52.38    1:55.26 qB     
    r:+1.96  25.72        54.57 (28.85)
        1:24.32 (29.75)     1:55.26 (30.94)
  7 Storch, Casey    FR UVA               1:57.85    1:55.43 qB     
    r:+0.69  26.03        55.16 (29.13)
        1:24.82 (29.66)     1:55.43 (30.61)
  8 Graber, Daniel   SR NC State          1:57.90    1:55.52 qB     
    r:+0.72  25.96        55.12 (29.16)
        1:24.98 (29.86)     1:55.52 (30.54)

200 Fly

Louisville’s Nicolas Albiero (1:41.56) is the top seed in the 200 fly as the sophomore is looking to defend his ACC title he won a year ago. Albiero will have his hands full with NC State seniors James Bretscher (1:41.69) and Andreas Vazaios (1:41.74) as those three were separated by less than two tenths of a second.

Vazaios is the defending NCAA Champion in the 200 butterfly but is searching for his first win this weekend at ACCs after he was out-touched in the 200 IM on Thursday.

The rest of the field is not too far off the leaders with Virginia senior Zachary Fong (1:41.79) sitting in fourth place. Louisville senior Zach Harting (1:42.00), who will represent Team USA at World Championships later this summer, is the fifth seed. Harting had the fastest seed time of anyone in the top eight so he has a chance to win. He was second in the 200 free last night.

Virginia Tech’s Antani Ivanov (1:42.51), Virginia’s Ted Schubert (1:43.23) and NC State’s Zachary Brown (1:43.39) also qualified for the final.

 Event 20  Men 200 Yard Butterfly
==================================================================
   Conference: % 1:38.60  3/26/2018 Andreas Vazaios, NC State
     ACC Meet: & 1:41.08  2/24/2018 Nicolas Albiero, Louisville
     American: @ 1:37.35  3/25/2017 Jack Conger, Texas
   U. S. Open: * 1:37.35  3/25/2017 Jack Conger, Texas
         NCAA: $ 1:37.35  3/25/2017 Jack Conger, Texas
         Pool: ^ 1:41.08  2/24/2018 Nicolas Albiero, Louisville
                 1:41.02  A
                 1:42.52  IV18 Invited to 2018 NCAA
                 1:46.69  B
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Albiero, Nicola  SO Louisville        1:42.96    1:41.56 qIV18  
    r:+0.65  22.73        48.77 (26.04)
        1:15.11 (26.34)     1:41.56 (26.45)
  2 Bretscher, Jame  SR NC State          1:43.63    1:41.69 qIV18  
    r:+0.69  22.93        48.84 (25.91)
        1:15.11 (26.27)     1:41.69 (26.58)
  3 Vazaios, Andrea  SR NC State          1:41.83    1:41.74 qIV18  
    r:+0.72  23.72        49.66 (25.94)
        1:15.45 (25.79)     1:41.74 (26.29)
  4 Fong, Zachary    SR UVA               1:42.02    1:41.79 qIV18  
    r:+0.65  22.89        48.91 (26.02)
        1:15.90 (26.99)     1:41.79 (25.89)
  5 Harting, Zach    SR Louisville        1:41.08    1:42.00 qIV18  
    r:+0.97  23.09        49.26 (26.17)
        1:15.41 (26.15)     1:42.00 (26.59)
  6 Ivanov, Antani   FR VT                1:42.90    1:42.51 qIV18  
    r:+0.67  23.15        49.48 (26.33)
        1:15.86 (26.38)     1:42.51 (26.65)
  7 Schubert, Frede  JR UVA               1:43.08    1:43.23 qB     
    r:+0.65  23.34        49.54 (26.20)
        1:16.38 (26.84)     1:43.23 (26.85)
  8 Brown, Zachary   FR NC State          1:43.39    1:43.39 qB     
    r:+0.64  23.35        49.61 (26.26)
        1:16.32 (26.71)     1:43.39 (27.07)

Platform Diving

Miami has the top two seeds in platform diving with David Dinsmore (448.20) and Zach Cooper (402.75) on top. The men’s diving events took place last week at the women’s championships and are being added to the men’s scoring totals as if they were happening this week.

 Event 15  Men Platform Diving
==================================================================
   Conference: % 548.90  3/27/2011 Nick McCrory, DUKE-NC
     ACC Meet: & 523.95  2/27/2010 Nick McCrory, Duke
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Dinsmore, David  JR Miami (FL)             NP     448.20 q      
  2 Cooper, Zach     SO Miami (FL)             NP     402.75 q      
  3 Brady, James     JR NC State               NP     354.80 q      
  4 Moretti, Evan    SR Duke               328.50     331.45 q      
  5 Allen, Bryan     SO UNC                    NP     325.00 q      
  6 Zawadzki, Noah   FR VT                     NP     314.85 q      
  7 Hernandez, Nath  JR Duke               380.45     295.75 q      
  8 Casillas, Matt   SR GT                     NP     293.35 q

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