Virginia Tech Men’s Swimming and Diving Upsets Virginia

AJ Pouch won the 200 breast for the Hokies. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The 24th-ranked Virginia Tech men’s swimming and diving team downed in-state rival No. 15 Virginia, 158-141 on Saturday afternoon at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. Tech’s women battled against Virginia, but the 3rd-ranked ‘Hoos took the decision 186-111.

Team Scores:

Men: Virginia Tech 158, Virginia 141
Women: Virginia 186, Virginia Tech 111
RESULTS

Virginia Tech Swimming and Diving Press Release

Tech opened the meet with back-to-back second place finishes, beginning with the 200 medley relay team of Forest Webb, Simon Shi, Blake Manoff and Thomas Hallock as the quartet finished with a time of 1:28.74.

The Hokies followed up with second and third in the 1650 freestyle with Brennen Doss turning in an NCAA B cut of 15:22.15 followed by Filippo Dal Maso with a 15:37.03.

Tech got its first win in the 200 freestyle with Manoff’s NCAA B time of 1:36.06. Lane Stone added a third-place finish in 1:37.85.

AJ Pouch and Simon Shi went two, three in the 100 breaststroke with 56.11 and 56.18, respectively. Antani Ivanov turned in the top time in the 200 butterfly with 1:46.28. He was followed up by Thomas Hallock’s first-place B cut of 19.92 in the 50 freestyle. Henry Claesson was just behind in second with 20.45.

At the break following the 50 free, the Hokies trailed the Cavaliers by two. Hallock and Claesson again scored for the Hokies, going two, three in the 100 freestyle with times of 44.88 and 45.61.

The Hokies went on a roll, claiming wins in the next four events beginning with Sam Tornqvist in the 200 back (1:45.85). Pouch took the 200 breaststroke (1:59.67) to put the Hokeies up by four. Lane Stone was the top finisher in the 500 freestyle (4:30.19).

Manoff claimed the 100 butterfly with a time of 47.55 as Ivanov finished second with a 48.01. The results pushed the Hokies ahead 130-114 heading into the final two events.

Virginia swept the top-three spots in the 200 IM, but Tech still held the 145-137 advantage with Dylan Eichberg finishing fourth in 1:50.83.

The Hokies secured the win in the 400 free relay with first-place points from Manoff, Hallock, Claesson and Stone in 2:57.66. Tech’s quartet of Noah Desman, Aaron Boyd, Alex Hines and Eichberg also added a third-place finish in 3:05.35.

Tech secured needed points in diving as well. Noah Zawadzki took both the 3-meter and 1-meter events. He scored 395.10 on the three board and posted 368.85 on the one. Freshman Taj Cole added a second-place 322.43 in 1-meter.

The Tech women got off to a strong start in the pool, finishing one, two in the 200 medley relay. Alex Slayton, Joelle Vereb, Kayla Purcell and Anna Landon turned in a time of 1:40.77. The quartet of Margarita Ryan, Jenna Thompson, Julia Bruneau and Sarah Shackelford finished 1:43.17.

Brooke Travis took the top spot in the 1650 freestyle with a 16:31.58, just shy of the NCAA B cut (16:30.59). Loulou Vos added a third-place 16:49.25.

In the 100 backstroke, Emily Meilus came in third in 56.59. Tech followed with the 100 breaststroke where Erin Scott took second (1:01.72) followed by Jenna Thompson in third with a 1:04.34.

Vereb led a two, three finish in the 50 freestyle as she swam a 23.15 followed by Shackelford’s 23.48. Shackelford also added a top-three finish in the 100 freestyle, placing second with a 50.89.

Meilus added another third-place finish with a 2:01.13 in the 200 backstroke, while Baillie Cameron took third in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:20.41.

The Hokies went two, three in the 100 butterfly with Purcell’s 55.29 followed by Vereb’s 55.91. Charlie Burt and Rose Pouch added another two, three finish in the 200 IM with Burt’s 2:09.36 followed by Pouch at 2:09.62.

Tech closed the swim events with the 400 free relay as Vereb, Shackelford, Abby Larson and Purcell finished second (3:23.55) followed by Grace Cutrell, Landon, Vos and Slayton in 3:31.45.

On the boards, Teagan Moravek claimed the top spot in the 1-meter with a score of 307.73. Regan Westwood was second in three meter with 306.23.

Virginia Press Release

The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams split their dual meet against Virginia Tech on Saturday (Jan. 18) at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. The No. 3 Cavalier women defeated Virginia Tech 186-111, while the No. 15 Virginia men’s team fell 158-141 to the No. 24 Hokies.

The Cavalier women won 13 of 16 events with senior Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.), junior Abby Richter (Hendersonville, Nev.), sophomore Alexis Wenger (Detroit, Mich.) and freshman Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y.) capturing a first-place finish in a pair of individual events.

Hill captured the top time in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle at 22.99 and 50.35, respectively. Richter won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:02.68 and the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:03.99, while Wenger placed first the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.72 and the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:16.55. Douglass recorded the fastest time in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:46.29, before capturing the top time in the 100-yard butterfly at 51.85.

Senior diver Sydney Dusel (Naperville, Ill.) recorded a career-best score on the 3m board to win the event with 373.50 points. The score ranks second all-time at UVA, a rank she already held.

The women’s team would also record wins from junior Marcella Maguire (Ridgefield, Conn.) in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55:54, senior Erin Earley (Orange, Conn.) in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:59.05 and freshman Maddie Donohoe (Annandale, Va.) in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:55.43. The women’s team closed out the day with 400-yard freestyle relay team of Hill, freshman Ella Nelson (Nashville, Tenn.), freshman Ella Collins (Austin, Texas) and Douglass recording a time of 3:20.85 for first place at the meet.

The Cavalier men opened their side of the meet with senior Joe Clark (Worcester Park, Great Britain), junior Keefer Barnum (Louisville, Ky.), junior Cooper Wozencraft (Houston, Texas) and senior Ryan Baker (Arlington, Va.) swimming a time of 1:28.23 to win the 200-yard medley relay.

Additionally, the men’s team won five individual events. In the mile, junior Matthew Otto (Newark, Del.) reached the wall with a time of 15:21.38 to place first. Clark was the top swimmer in the 100-yard backstroke, recording a time of 49.27, while Barnum topped the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 54.90. Baker won the 100-yard freestyle, swimming a time of 44.66 and senior Ted Schubert (Ashland, Va.) went 1:48.69 in the 200-yard individual medley for the first-place finish.

“The men and women both had challenging meets today at VT,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “We got off to a sluggish start, shaking off the cobwebs coming off of winter training. Once the women got rolling, they were pretty unstoppable. Kate (Douglass) continues to impress with her versatility, swimming some races for the first time this year. Alexis (Wenger) came through with two wins as well as Morgan (Hill) and Abby (Richter). We’ve got phenomenal depth as we had eight different women win events today. The men had a very tough battle against a well-coached VT team. The meet came down to the last few races and unfortunately, we had a little bad luck and came up short. We had five different guys win events and our depth really came through to keep us in the battle. I believe our men will be looking forward to seeing VT again at ACCs next month.

“I’m excited to get back to Charlottesville and host ACC rivals NC State and North Carolina next weekend.”

Today’s head-to-head matchup against the Hokies did not count as part of the Commonwealth Clash, the matchup between Virginia and Virginia Tech, sponsored by Virginia529. The Commonwealth Clash points for the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will be determined at the ACC Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

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S4ssy

4 years ago

Is no one gonna talk about the 10 DQs that Virginia had? Smells fishy….

Swimfan

4 years ago

Reply to S4ssy

I think your counting is fishy. They didn’t have 10 DQs. Relays get picked up automatically, then VT women had two, UVA women had one called. Nothing fishy, just a great meet between two strong teams.