The Virginia Tech Hokies have gotten off to a busy start this season, having already participated in the Florida Gulf Coast Classic and then swept home dual meets with Penn State. Now in the pool for the third weekend in a row, the team welcomes Duke, West Virginia and William &\u00a0Mary to Christiansburg\u00a0for a two-day quad meet. Elsewhere, defending ACC champions Virginia (women’s) and NC State (men’s) open up their respective campaigns.<\/p>\n
A strong veteran core has gotten the Hokies off to a quick start this season.\u00a0Robert Owen<\/strong> (back\/IM) and\u00a0Brandon Fiala\u00a0<\/strong>(breast\/IM), both ACC champions a season ago, have performed well in the first two meets, as have versatile sophomore\u00a0Norbert Szabo<\/strong>, sophomore distance man\u00a0Nathan Pawlowicz<\/strong> and freshman sprinter\u00a0Ian Ho<\/strong>. On the women’s side,\u00a0Klaudia Nazieblo<\/strong>,\u00a0Jessica Hespeler<\/strong> and\u00a0Fiona Donnelly<\/strong> have been the leaders of the early-season campaign.<\/p>\n “We are pleased with our performances knowing that we\u2019re in ‘Roctober,’ meaning that we\u2019re in a heavy training phase,” Hokies head coach Ned Skinner<\/strong> said.\u00a0“I think the senior leadership is outstanding, which is trickling down to the rest of the team. When you have great leadership, it\u2019s making all the difference.”<\/p>\n The Blue Devils, meanwhile, will be making their season debut after Hurricane Matthew forced the cancellation of their season-opening tri-meet in Tallahassee. Duke will led by juniors\u00a0Leah Goldman\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Isa Paez<\/strong>\u2014both NCAA qualifiers their first two years\u2014as well as senior sprinter\u00a0Maddie Rusch<\/strong>. For the men, breaststroker\u00a0Peter Kropp<\/strong> and Olympic Trials semifinalist\u00a0Michael Miller\u00a0<\/strong>both figure to score big points.<\/p>\n “Having to cancel the FSU meet, everybody\u2019s been chomping at the bit to start competing, but we had most of our athletes returning, those that were at NCAAs,” Duke head coach\u00a0Dan Colella <\/strong>said. “It\u2019s a group that has grown considerably, even in the offseason. The attitude and culture seems to be even at a higher level than it was last year. Then you inject the new freshman class and you\u2019ve got some ingredients for some successful swimming and diving this year.”<\/p>\n Also competing in Christiansburg\u00a0will be West Virginia, which just wrapped up first place in the Big-12 vs. Big East weekend, and William & Mary, which cruised over Georgetown and Johns Hopkins in its season opener Oct. 7.<\/p>\n The Tar Heels opened up their season at home against Georgia, and things will not be getting much easier when the team ventures five hours on I-40 to Knoxville this weekend to face Tennessee in the Volunteers’ first dual meet of the season. After inspired performances at both the ACC and NCAA Championships a season ago, UNC lost a huge senior class to graduation but returns standouts\u00a0Hellen Moffitt\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Caroline Baldwin\u00a0<\/strong>on the women’s side.<\/p>\n South African breaststroker\u00a0Craig Emslie<\/strong> and Australian freestyler\u00a0Jordan Merrilees<\/strong> were both big boosts for the Tar Heels against Georgia two weeks ago, and their diving program remains a force, with\u00a0Elissa Dawson<\/strong> and\u00a0Jack Nyquist<\/strong> leading the way.<\/p>\n But Tennessee will be tough to beat, especially at home, as the women finished 13th at the NCAA Championships last year and the men seventh. NCAA runner-up breaststroker\u00a0Peter John Stevens\u00a0<\/strong>returns, as do versatile\u00a0Sam McHugh<\/strong> and long distance man\u00a0David Heron<\/strong>. For the Tennessee women, it will be interesting to see how big an impact stud freshman\u00a0Meghan Small<\/strong> has right away.\u00a0Kira Toussiant\u00a0<\/strong>returns after finaling in the 100 back at NCAAs last year and leading the Lady Vol relays all season.<\/p>\n The Cavaliers are back in action for the first time this season, and that means the beginning of\u00a0Leah Smith’s<\/strong> senior campaign. Smith, the NCAA champion in both the 500 and 1650 each of the past two years, will be competing for the first time since returning from the Rio Olympics with a relay gold medal and an individual bronze.<\/p>\n But Smith is not the only piece of this Cavalier women’s team worth watching. Even after the graduation of\u00a0Courtney Bartholomew<\/strong>, Virginia will be favored to earn a tenth-straight ACC title and a fourth in four seasons for head coach\u00a0Augie Busch<\/strong>. Virginia also brings back\u00a0Laura Simon<\/strong>, an NCAA finalist in the 100 breast, as well as the IMer\/flyer\u00a0Kaitlyn Jones<\/strong>, freestyler\u00a0Megan Maroney<\/strong> and sprinter\u00a0Ellen Thomas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Cavalier men lose their star, breaststroker\u00a0Yannick Kaeser<\/strong>, but they return\u00a0Zach Kong<\/strong> after he qualified for NCAAs as a freshman.<\/p>\n The Pitt Panthers, meanwhile, will head down to Charlottesville after opening up their season in a tri-meet with Boston College and Georgia Tech. The Pitt women swept those two teams, while their men fell to GT and beat BC.\u00a0Amanda Richey<\/strong>,\u00a0Valerie Daigneault\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Kinga Cichowska<\/strong> all stood out on the women’s side in Chestnut Hill two weeks ago, and seniors\u00a0Enrique Machado\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Zach Lierley\u00a0<\/strong>each won events as well. Pitt head coach\u00a0John Hargis<\/strong> is in his first season coaching the program.<\/p>\n The high-powered NC State men open their season this weekend as they play host to\u00a0Whitney Hite’s\u00a0<\/strong>Wisconsin Badgers. The Wolfpack have won two consecutive ACC championships and finished fourth at the NCAA level a season ago, and they should pick up where they left off even with the loss of sprinter\u00a0Simonas Bilis\u00a0<\/strong>to graduation.<\/p>\n Having three returning Olympians helps.\u00a0Ryan Held<\/strong> will be competing this weekend for the first time since swimming the third leg of the U.S. gold medal-winning 400 free relay in Rio. Two of his teammates,\u00a0Soren Dahl\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Anton Ipsen<\/strong>, represented Denmark in Rio. With breaststroker\u00a0Derek Hren<\/strong>, distance swimmer\u00a0Adam Linker<\/strong>, backstrokers\u00a0Andreas Schiellerup<\/strong> and\u00a0Hennessey Stuart\u00a0<\/strong>and solid veteran sprinter\u00a0Joe Bonk<\/strong>, this team will again be really, really good.<\/p>\n NC State’s women could face a challenge from the Badgers, but sprint points add up quickly in a college dual meet, and NC State will have a lot of those. Senior\u00a0Alexia Zevnik\u00a0<\/strong>led the Wolfpack to a ninth-place finish at NCAAs last year, and she will have\u00a0Courtney Caldwell<\/strong>,\u00a0Krista Duffield\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Natalie Labonge\u00a0<\/strong>on her side.<\/p>\n The Badger women, meanwhile, will be strongest in the mid-distance and distance freestyles, which are highlighted by Olympian\u00a0Cierra Runge\u00a0<\/strong>and senior\u00a0Danielle Valley<\/strong>. Seniors will likewise be key for the Wisconsin men while in Raleigh as big performances from\u00a0Matt Hutchins<\/strong>,\u00a0Brett Pinfold<\/strong> and\u00a0Harrison Tran<\/strong> will be critical.<\/p>\n The Virginia Tech Hokies have gotten off to a busy start this season, having already participated in the Florida Gulf Coast Classic and then swept home dual meets with Penn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":129860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[58787,31284,29818,28985,27174,37859,25105,31156,40968,32130,24698,25522,32061,46532,28007,27155,43540,28508,59046,35618,40874,37326,37423,58926,41540,27622,41320,30846,644,49773,43293,59048,36353,41041,25511,27278,25513,24824,47993,59047,34371,24831,29626,47377,25963,40477,42883,28009,31148,31283,32355,28004,31144,40188,58923,25966,43294],"class_list":["post-225600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college","tag-2016-17-acc-conference-swimming-and-diving-coverage","tag-adam-linker","tag-alexia-zevnik","tag-amanda-richey","tag-andreas-schiellerup","tag-anton-ipsen","tag-augie-busch","tag-brandon-fiala","tag-brett-pinfold","tag-caroline-baldwin","tag-cierra-runge","tag-courtney-bartholomew","tag-courtney-caldwell","tag-craig-emslie","tag-david-heron","tag-derek-hren","tag-elissa-dawson","tag-ellen-thomas","tag-enrique-machado","tag-fiona-donnelly","tag-harrison-tran","tag-hellen-moffitt","tag-hennessey-stuart","tag-ian-ho","tag-isa-paez","tag-jack-nyquist","tag-jessica-hespeler","tag-joe-bonk","tag-john-hargis","tag-jordan-merrilees","tag-kinga-cichowska","tag-kira-toussiant","tag-klaudia-nazieblo","tag-krista-duffield","tag-laura-simon","tag-leah-goldman","tag-leah-smith","tag-maddie-rusch","tag-matt-hutchins","tag-megan-maroney","tag-meghan-small","tag-michael-miller","tag-natalie-labonge","tag-nathan-pawlowicz","tag-ned-skinner","tag-norbert-szabo","tag-olympic-trials","tag-peter-john-stevens","tag-peter-kropp","tag-robert-owen","tag-ryan-held","tag-sam-mchugh","tag-simonas-bilis","tag-soren-dahl","tag-valerie-daigneault","tag-whitney-hite","tag-zach-lierley"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nNorth Carolina at Tennessee, Friday 4 p.m. & Saturday 10 a.m.<\/h3>\n
Pittsburgh at Virginia, Friday 1 p.m.<\/h3>\n
Wisconsin at NC State, Friday 4 p.m. & Saturday 10 a.m.<\/h3>\n
Other Meets<\/h3>\n
\n