Virginia Duo of Leah Smith and Brendan Casey Win ACC Swimmer of the Week Honors

Virginia’s Leah Smith and Brendan Casey have been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Swimmers of the Week, and North Carolina’s Elissa Dawson and Jack Nyquist have been selected as the ACC Divers of the Week.

Senior Leah Smith aided No. 5 Virginia to a pair of ACC road victories this past weekend. Against No. 22 Duke, the senior broke three Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion pool records: the 1,000 free in 9:34.77, the 500 free in 4:43.28 and breaking from her normal program, the 400 IM in 4:14.44. Smith then went on to win the first two individual events against North Carolina in the 1,000 free (9:38.38) and 200 free (1:46.53). She then went on to win the 500 free in 4:46.35 and anchored the winning 400 free relay to close out the weekend.

Redshirt sophomore Brendan Casey won three events on the weekend, helping No. 13 UVA to road wins over Duke and North Carolina. Against Duke, Casey won the 200 back in a new Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion pool record-time of 1:46.00, while also winning the 400 IM in 3:55.87. He followed that up by winning the 200 back against North Carolina in 1:46.10, while finishing second in the 100 back in 49.49.

Tar Heel senior Jack Nyquist swept the diving events as Carolina faced No. 13 Virginia. He won the one-meter dive with an NCAA zone qualifying score of 356.85, nearly 25 points ahead of the second place finisher. The Georgia native had a second NCAA zone qualifying score in the three-meter dive, winning the event with 394.73 points.

Dawson topped the women’s field in both the one-meter and three-meter dives as North Carolina faced No. 5 Virginia. The junior recorded an NCAA zone qualifying score of 309.68 in the one-meter, and then posted another in the three-meter with her score of 354.08 points.