ACC Weekly Recap: NC State Takes Down Virginia in Heavyweight Matchup

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Florida State and NC State each celebrated its respective senior days over the weekend as the Wolfpack from NC State took down conference heavyweight Virginia on Saturday in a meet between two of the top teams in the conference.

Below are recaps from the top meets from the weekend.

Virginia vs. NC State

Men: NCST, 167; UVA, 127
Women: NCST, 185; UVA, 100
Results

RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams made a statement in their final home meet of the 2018-19 season as they swept Virginia Saturday afternoon at the Casey Aquatic Center.

In a pair of top-15 matchups, the Wolfpack came out on top on both sides. The No. 6 Wolfpack women defeated fifth-ranked Virginia, who won the 2018 ACC team title, by a 167-127 score, and the No. 5 NC State men took a 185-100 win over the Cavaliers. With the sweep, both of NC State’s squads remained unbeaten in dual action this season, and the Pack has swept the Cavaliers in each of the teams’ last two meetings in Raleigh.

The Pack came out in its usual fast form and set new pool records in nine events. Reigning ACC Women’s Swimmer of the Week Kylee Alons continued off of last weekend’s strong performances by also setting a new program record in the 200-yard butterfly.

QUOTING THE COACHES:

NC State Head coach Braden Holloway

“I thought we performed well today. This is only our second home meet, and our team likes to perform in our own house. Today, knowing that this was only our second home meet, they still have the buzz of wanting to perform here. They have a lot of fight. Our team likes to compete. It doesn’t matter who it is. Virginia brought the best out in us. We’ve been going back and forth with some good competition with them, and our team wanted to get up and go today. We can only control what we do, but it’s nice momentum to take us into next weekend’s meet with Texas and Arizona. For us, this gives us momentum going into that meet to test ourselves yet again.”

NC State Head diving coach Yahya Radman

“Today was a really good day. I respect Virginia very much. I love what Drew (Livingston) has done with that program, and his team really brought a good, competitive edge. A huge shout out to Holt (Gray), who did an awesome job when we needed him. James (Brady) had a very nice outing on the one-meter, and Stewart (Spanbauer) qualified for Zones on both boards, which brings our men’s total to all three of them going to Zones. On the women’s side, Hailey Fisher also had a really nice meet, which puts our total at three men and three women for Zones. We’ll just keep on working.”

Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo

“I’m proud of our teams’ performances today against a very strong NC State,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “Hats off to the Wolfpack for bringing their A game. This weekend was great prep for the upcoming championship season. Our female divers were dominate and we had some exceptional races. Our squads are looking forward to defending their ACC title on the women’s side and improving upon our (men’s) third-place finish from last year’s ACC championships.”

Freshman Kylee Alons once again led the Wolfpack women in scoring, boosted by a sweep of the butterfly events on Saturday. Alons took ownership of the top 200-yard butterfly time in program history, winning in 1:57.03 to start her outing. She also picked up a top finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 52.93.

Eric Knowles dominated the distance races, taking first place in both the 1000-yard and the 500-yard freestyle events. Knowles swam the Pack’s fastest 1000-yard freestyle team of the season to pick up the dominating win in 9:02.15, and he went on to place first in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:23.48.

Ky-lee Perry swept the sprint freestyle events for the third dual this season. After resetting her own pool record in the 50-yard freestyle last weekend, Perry yet again bested her own time in the event with a 22.10. She also clocked a pool record of 48.34 in the 100-yard freestyle.

Senior Andreas Vazaios once again picked up multiple individual wins. He led the Pack men to the podium sweep of the 200-yard butterfly, placing first in 1:44.36 as all three of NC State’s men finished under the NCAA B cut. Vazaios also won the 200-yard backstroke with a mark of 1:45.66, once again leading the Wolfpack to the podium sweep.

The Pack saw its women set a new pool record in the 100-yard backstroke for the second meet in a row as Elise Haan took the win in 52.86. Freshman Emma Muzzy, whose 100-yard backstroke pool record from last weekend was edged by Haan on Saturday, rewrote her name into the record books, this time in the 200-yard backstroke. She won that event with a pool record of 1:54.38.

Sophie Hansson also added a pool record to the meet in the 100-yard breaststroke (59.77) as she won that event and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:10.53) on Saturday.

NC State’s men also swept the podium in the 100-yard backstroke, the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle. Coleman Stewart, who entered the meet with the ACC’s fastest 100-yard backstroke time, won the event in 46.29. Senior Cobe Garcia earned his first individual event win of the season with a 20.03 50-yard freestyle time, and Justin Ress picked up a win in the 100-yard freestyle in 43.72.

Virginia Sophomore Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) paced the swim team, finishing first in three events. Madden opened the day with the top time in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:50.61 before winning the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:46.29 and the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:44.21.

Sophomore Keefer Barnum (Louisville, Ky.) led the pool in the 100-yard breaststroke, recording a time of 54.52, while sophomore Matthew Otto (Newark, Del.) swam a time of 1:57.99 to finish first in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Virginia vs. North Carolina

Men: UVA, 187; UNC, 112
Women: UVA, 172; UNC, 126
Results

Chapel Hill, N.C. – The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams defeated North Carolina on Friday (Jan. 25) in a dual meet at the Koury Natatorium in Chapel Hill, N.C.

No. 5 Virginia women’s team topped the Tar Heels 172-126, while the No. 14 Cavalier men defeated North Carolina 187-112.

“North Carolina has long been a swimming and diving rival for our program and it’s always an exciting environment to thrive in,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “The team stepped up and raced well on the road. Getting two victories was the goal and we looked strong accomplishing that.

“Hats off to our seniors as this is their last weekend of collegiate dual meets. Now we have a quick turnaround, heading to NC State tomorrow, which will be another tough battle that we are excited to stroll into.”

Virginia opened the meet with a sweep in the 400-yard medley relay as sophomore Marcella Maguire (Ridgefield, Conn.), freshman Kaki Christensen (Darien, Conn.), junior Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.) and senior Eryn Eddy (Loveland, Conn.) finished first in the women’s race with a time of 3:37.42, while the men’s team of junior Joe Clark (Worcester Park, Great Britain), sophomore Keefer Barnum (Louisville, Ky.), senior Zach Fong (Moorestown, N.J.) and sophomore Samuel Schilling (Excelsior, Minn.) placed first with a time of 3:13.72.

In the men’s competition, the Cavaliers captured the top-three times in two events. Fong led the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:48.84, while freshman Casey Storch (Great Falls, Va.) finished second with a time of 1:49.20 and junior Ted Schubert (Ashland, Va.) finished third with a time of 1:49.44. In the 500-yard freestyle, senior Dan Golczewski (Bel Air, Md.) paced the event, swimming a time of 4:25.93 as senior Sam Magnan (Bethlehem, Pa.) placed second with a time of 4:28.65 and sophomore Samuel Schilling (Excelsior, Minn.) finished third with a time of 4:30.58.

Additionally, the men’s team recorded wins from junior Ryan Baker (Arlington, Va.), who finished first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:38.13), before following with the top swim in the 100-yard freestyle (44.44). Magnan paced the 1000-yard freestyle (9:13.91), as redshirt senior Brendan Casey won in the 200-yard backstroke (1:46.66), Fong won the 100-yard butterfly (47.96) and junior Jacob Wells (Henrico, Va.) won the 200-yard individual medley (1:50.45).

On the women’s side, freshman Alexis Wenger (Detroit, Mich.) captured the seventh-best time in program history with her win in the 200-yard breaststroke at a time of 2:11.59. She also captured a career-best time for first place in the 100-yard breaststroke, recording a time of 1:00.98.

Sophomore Emma Seiberlich (Audubon, Pa.) captured a pair of victories, winning the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:54.19 after opening the day with the 1000-yard freestyle’s fastest time at 10:01.47. Hill topped both the 50 and 200-yard freestyle, swimming a time of 22.40 and 1:46.30, respectively.

Eddy finished first in the 100-yard freestyle (50.13), while sophomore Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) finished first in the 200-yard backstroke (1:56.39) and freshman Jessica Nava (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) finished first in the 100-yard butterfly (54.68).

Junior diver Sydney Dusel (Naperville, Ill.) topped the 1m board, with a score of 308.33, while freshman Walker Creedon (Cary, N.C.) won the men’s 1m board with a career-best score of 310.20. Senior Bryce Shelton (Vienna, Va.) won the men’s 3m board with a score of 380.40.

The team concluded the night with the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Baker, freshman Justin Grender (Cincinnati, Ohio), Schilling and sophomore Cooper Wozencraft (Houston, Texas) swimming a time of 1:20.98 to finish first in the event.

“Virginia’s got a great team,” head coach Rich DeSelm said. “They’re well-coached and they’ve got talent across the board. They did what they needed to do, but I was more focused on our team. Even though we didn’t win the meet, today was awesome. We accomplished a lot of goals and I think the team can stand tall and be proud of how they went about things.”

North Carolina freshmen Grace Countie (53.65) and Sophie Lindner (54.25) paired up to finish first and second in the women’s 100 back while sophomore Alvin Jiang immediately followed their performances with a 100 back title of his own in the men’s race, clocking the top time of 47.85.

Sophomore Valdas Abaliksta and freshman Sterling Smith followed their teammates’ lead in the men’s 100 breast. Abaliksta touched the wall in 54.11 for the first of his two individual wins and Smith recorded a time of 54.46 — a whole second faster than the third-place finisher. Abaliksta would also go on to finish first in the men’s 200 breast with a time of 1:59.71.

Three more Tar Heels would take individual titles in the pool. Junior Bryanna Cameron finished first in the women’s 200 fly (1:58.43) and sophomore Eli Coan made an impressive run from lane one to take the men’s 50 free in 20.58. Additionally, sophomore Caroline Hauder won the women’s 200 IM with a time of 2:00.40.

“Keeping the team energy is very important,” DeSelm said. “Swimming success goes in cycles. We’re not as competitive as we have been with NC State and Virginia in past years, but there’s no give up in this team. Every meet is a learning opportunity and a chance to find a way to be better, to find a way to help your team members be better. I think we did that today.”

Denver vs. Georgia Tech

Men: GT, 216; DEN, 133
Women: GT, 196; DEN, 155

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech swimming and diving continued its strong performance from the first day to finish the sweep and defeat Denver in the final dual meet of the season on Saturday at McAuley Aquatic Center on Saturday afternoon.

The 19th-ranked men’s team defeated the Pioneers 216-133, while the women’s team won their matchup 196-155.

“This weekend was a great meet for us,” head coach Courtney Shealy Hart said. “Not only was it great to celebrate our seniors and get solid wins for both teams, but we are also still progressing and on our way to being where we need to be for championships season. I’m proud of all of our seniors for stepping up today and for all that they’ve done during their time here. But we’re not done yet. Ending dual season like this only gives us confidence as we continue to work toward our end goal of successful ACCs and NCAAs.”

Florida Atlantic vs. Florida State

Men: FSU, 191; FAU, 100
Women: FSU, 193; FAU, 197

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida State swimming and diving teams sent its 14 seniors out with a day to remember as both squads defeated Florida Atlantic at the Morcom Aquatics Center to close out the 2018-19 regular season.

The women defeated the Owls 193-97, while the men won 191-100. The ladies finished the year 11-1, 3-0 ACC, which is the best regular season record since the 2012-13 season, while the No. 22 men improved to 4-5, 1-1 ACC with the victory.

“This is an amazing group of seniors,” FSU head coach Neal Studd said. “They’ve been great and it boils down to the fact that they’re great people and they have great leadership. We have four great captains and (they give) everything you want from your seniors. I am really excited to see how they finish off their year, but they’ve been remarkable.”

Remaining ACC meet scores:

Louisville vs. Kentucky
- Men: UK, 157.5; LOU, 142.5
- Women: UK, 175; LOU, 125
Boston vs. Boston College
- Men: BOS, 148.5; BC, 142.5
- Women: BOS, 152; BC, 148
Shamrock Invitational
- Results
- Men:
  - Ohio State, 1397
  - Notre Dame, 826.5
  - Iowa, 780.5
  - Missouri State, 407
- Women:
  - Notre Dame, 1191.5
  - Akron, 960.5
  - Ohio State, 873.5
  - Iowa, 434.5
  - Missouri State, 17

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