- Dates: Wednesday, February 19th – Saturday, February 22nd; prelims 11AM/Finals 7PM
- Location: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Virginia (6x) (results)
- Live Results: Available here
- Live Video (If available): Available here (Thurs – Sat only)
- Championship Central
Quick Hit (from our Conference Primer preview): Virginia will look towards its 7th straight Atlantic Coast Conference championship this season in a field that only got tougher with the addition of former Big East powers Notre Dame and Pitt. The meet will have free admission in its second year at Greensboro, although parking still has a fee attached. The Cavaliers will have to fight off a rising North Carolina squad among others to try to repeat.
Night 1 Schedule:
200 Medley Relay
800 Free Relay
200 Medley Relay
We’re only one event into the 2014 Women’s ACC Championships, and we already know everyone came ready to swim fast. When it was all said and done, six teams were under the NCAA ‘A’ standard, seven of the top eight took down team records, and two teams swam under the previous ACC record. Ultimately, the heavily-favored Virginia Cavaliers jumped out to an early lead behind the fastest leadoff leg from Courtney Bartholomew (24.30), and Emily Lloyd anchored in a blistering 21.55 to touch in a final time of 1:36.16, more than a second under the previous ACC record (1:37.33, set in 2010).
While we knew Bartholomew would be a huge edge for Virginia in the medleys (she’s the fastest in the country in the 100 back so far this season), the Cavaliers/Wahoos (Cavahoos?) were down-right excellent across the board. Their final three swimmers were all the second fastest in the field, and look to be lifetime bests at this point (if we find otherwise, we’ll update that).
Bartholomew – 24.30
Laura Simon – 26.91
Ellen Williamson – 23.40
Emily Lloyd – 21.55
NC State, with particularly fast splits from their leadoff (Zina Grogg, 24.45) and butterfly (Ashlyn Koletic, 23.07, the fastest in the field) was also under the old record with a final time of 1:37.18. Notre Dame–behind Emma Reaney’s 26.30 breaststroke split–was third in 1:37.61.
Notably…
- UVA, NC State, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Duke, and Florida State were all under the NCAA ‘A’ Standard
- UVA, NC State, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Duke, Florida State, and Pitt were all under their previous team records
- Reaney’s 26.30 is the second fastest breaststroke split overall so far this weekend (only Breeja Larson, at 26.28, was faster)
- Bartholomew’s 24.30 is the second fastest backstroke split overall so far this weekend (only Olivia Smoliga, at 23.78, was faster)
800 Free Relay
Leah Smith established an early lead with her 1:44.14 leadoff leg, and Ellen Williamson held off UNC’s Stephanie Peacock to give Virginia their second event win of the night, breaking another ACC record with a final time of 7:01.39. That snuck under the previous mark of 7:01.56 set last season by a UVA team that included Williamson and Caroline Kenney. After Smith’s lifetime best opening 200, Kenney also dipped under the 1:45 barrier to give the Cavaliers/Wahoos a substantial lead over the archrival Tar Heels. The splits:
Smith – 1:44.14
Kenney – 1:44.81
Kaitlyn Jones – 1:45.95
Williamson – 1:46.49
The Tar Heels got a great leadoff from Danielle Silverling (7:01.39), but lost some ground over the next 400. Peacock was left with a four second deficit, and while she was able to close the gap, UNC settled for second with a final time of 7:03.72. Peacock’s split was unavailable at the time of this posting, but it looked to be in the 1:44 range. Florida State, with a 1:44.63 anchor from Madison Jacobi, vaulted into third, touching in 7:06.56.
