2016 ACC MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When: Wednesday, Feb. 24 – Saturday, Feb. 27; Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
- Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC
- Defending Champion: NC State (results)
- Streaming: watchESPN
- Championship Central
- Live Results
- Fan Guide
With all the diving points now added in, NC State is still firmly in the lead with 928 points and looks to be a lock to win its second-consecutive conference championship. Louisville has 792.5 points, and with seven swimmers in A-finals tonight, they should be able to hold off Virginia Tech (688) and UNC (659.5).
Tonight’s finals will begin with the fastest heat of the 1650, where NC State’s Anton Ipsen comes in with the fastest seed time. Three other Wolfpack swimmers had the fastest times in their respective events this morning. Hennessey Stuart was the only swimmer below 1:40 in the 200 back, clocking in with a 1:39.76, and Simonas Bilis blasted a 41.77 in preliminaries. In the 200 fly, Christian McCurdy recorded a time this morning that over a second faster than anyone else (1:43.03), but the remaining swimmers will all within 0.6 seconds of each other. Virginia Tech’s Brandon Fiala will have lane four in the 200 breast A-final, and will be looking for his second win of the meet.
Keep refreshing this page for live event-by-event updates from Greensboro as they happen.
1650 Free – Finals
- Anton Ipsen, NC State – 14:44.95
- Adam Linker, NC State – 14:51.47
- Samuel Magnan, Virginia – 15:06.45
As expected, NC State’s Anton Ispen defended his title in the 1650 freestyle, swimming a 14:44.96, a NCAA automatic qualifying time. Teammate Adam Linker made it a 1-2 Wolfpack sweep, as he touched in 14:51.47. They were the only two swimmers under 15 minutes. Third place went to Virginia freshman Samuel Magnan (15:06.45), swimming in the same, final, heat as Ipsen and Linker. Duke sophomore Matthew Johnson had the fastest time out of the earlier heats, and his time of 15:08.84 was good enough for fourth place overall.
NC State has extended its lead, while Virginia Tech closed to within 68 points of Louisville, who did not earn any points in this event.
200 Back – Finals
- Grigory Tarasevich, Louisville – 1:39.28
- Hennessey Stuart, NC State – 1:39.58
- Justin Ress, NC State – 1:40.57
Louisville’s Grigory Tarasevich lowered his own pool, meet, and conference records after a thrilling race with NC State’s Hennessey Stuart. Tarasevich seemed to have a minor problem with the backstroke starting wedge immediately prior to the race’s start, but stayed close to Stuart through the first 50. The two men then had the same exact split for the second 50, before Tarasevich pulled ahead of Stuart by .03 at the 150 mark.
The crowd was standing for the final 50, as the two swimmers matched each other almost stroke-for-stroke going into the final lunge for the wall. In the end, Tarasevich touched just ahead of Stuart, winning 1:39.28 to 1:39.58.
NC State’s Justin Ress finished third in 1:40.57, followed by North Carolina’s Nicholas Graesser (1:40.83) and Virginia Tech’s Robert Owen (1:41.23). All three of those times were faster than what it took to get a NCAA invite in this event last year.
100 Free – Finals
- Ryan Held, NC State – 41.69
- Simonas Bilis, NC State – 42.16
- Soeren Dahl, NC State – 42.85
NC State sophomore Ryan Held told us yesterday that he wanted to go 41 in the 100 freestyle. He got his wish tonight. Held, who won the 50 free Thursday night, was just behind teammate Simonas Bilis at the halfway mark, 19.75 to 19.96. Held stayed underwater a bit longer on the turns, pulled ahead of Bilis, and put it away over the final few yards, touching in 41.69. Bilis finished second in 42.16, after swimming 41.77 this morning.
The Wolfpack had four swimmers in this final, and took four of the top five spots. Soeren Dahl took third in 42.85, and Joe Bonk touched in 43.00 for fifth. In between those two was Georgia Tech’s Youssef Hammoud (42.92).
NC State continues to build on its dominating lead, and now has 1230 points. Louisville is safely in second place with 904.5, while Virginia Tech is currently in third with 784, and UNC sits in fourth with 746.5.
200 Breast – Finals
- Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech – 1:52.87
- Yannick Kaeser, Virginia – 1:53.41
- Carlos Claverie, Louisville – 1:53.77
Brandon Fiala earned his second win of the meet, setting a new pool and meet record in 1:52.87. Fiala looked particularly powerful on the start, staying underwater well over halfway down the pool, and only taking four strokes to the first wall. He continued to build his lead over the first 100, and was ahead by a little over half a second at the halfway mark.
Virginia’s Yannick Kaeser and Louisville’s Carlos Claverie both closed the gap on Fiala by a few tenths on the third 50, but Fiala had the fastest split of the three men over the final lap to hold for the win. Kaeser ended up in second place with a 1:53.41, and Claverie finished third in 1:53.77.
200 Fly – Finals
- Christian McCurdy, NC State – 1:41.42
- Zach Harting, Louisville – 1:42.95
- Ben Colley, North Carolina – 1:43.55
Christian McCurdy gave NC State its third win on the evening after leading from start to finish. McCurdy had the fastest split in the field on each 50, appeared to nailed each of his turns, and stayed underwater for about half the pool on each length. The result was a time of 1:41.42, a new pool, meet, and conference record.
Louisville freshman Zach Harting moved into second place during the second 50 and stayed there the rest of the race, finishing in 1:42.95. Third place went to Ben Colley for the second year in a row, as he touched in 1:43.55.
Going into the final relay, NC State and Louisville are locked into first and second places, respectively. UNC holds a narrow, 1.5 point, lead over Virginia Tech, meaning that the battle for third place will come down to the final relay.
400 Free Relay – Finals
- NC State – 2:48.52
- Notre Dame – 2:52.18
- North Carolina – 2:53.12
Suprising no one, NC State jumped out to an early lead and continued to build it throughout the race, with the foursome of Bilis, Held, Bonk, and Dahl finishing in 2:48.52, a new meet record. Notre Dame took second out of lane one, touching in 2:52.18. North Carolina took third in 2:53.12, and their finish ahead of Virginia Tech put them into third place overall for the meet.
Final Results
- NC State – 1402
- Louisville – 1067.5
- North Carolina – 897.5
- Virginia Tech – 892
- Georgia Tech – 776
- Virginia – 737
- Notre Dame – 678
- Duke – 643
- Florida State – 606
- Pittsburgh – 345
- Boston College – 192
- Miami – 92
Maybe….their recruiting class seems to be getting better and better with the transfers they are getting that I read about on here. Why are they getting these transfers? I wondered. Good school and they must have money to give losing all those seniors
Auburn swim fan you’re spot on and UNC won’t compete in near future for acc title without a coaching change (90% swim community knows this) but do you think athletic departments care that much about swimming to make a change? Doubt it
UNC gets brought up as underachievers a lot. Why? Why more than say FSU, etc? Because almost all the college powerhouse swim coaches agree UNC should be a yearly top 10. The school, location, recruiting pool (although they aren’t getting any swimmers from MAC which is something else all together to talk about) all point to that kind of success.
But again, doubt the athletic department cares
PorkChop very eloquently put. You said exactly what I was trying to get out. It’s frustrating for any swim program that has this happen. If he was coaching a high profile sport he would have been fired 5 years ago. I believe NC State’s rise and dominance will help bring about changes in swimming to show that with the right people in charge it is not difficult to make a swim program top. When the coaches took over State 5 years ago they were a joke now look at them. It’s not luck either as they have consistently produced over all areas of the sport for 2/3 years now. I hope AD’s around the country (looking at you Auburn to)… Read more »
All Credit to NC State wonning. They have trueley shown dominance over the past few year and its’ only a mater of time until they win a national champioship. So proud of my alma mater. GO Pack!
That’s the point…he had no improvement from his freshmen to sophomore year and he may miss NCAA’s this year. He’s sitting 22nd with Pac12s still to go. I think it comes down to the coaching. If he had the style of coaching that State have he would be 4.13 this year. And he is just an example of the rest of the team. Beals was third at ACCs as a freshmen this year he went 4.30 and wasn’t close. They nee to figure something out its been about 6-8 years out of DeSelms decade they have swam like this. Look at the girls meet. State beat them for the first time in 20 or so years and it will be… Read more »
Wouldn’t say Cambell didn’t produce but not sure if he went faster this year than last year in anything but always ncaas. Kind of the theme for UNC freestyle. Little to no improvement?
VTFan: Compare this year to last and he didn’t do as well. 4.16 last year as a freshman simulate in the 4IM and Mile. It’s excusable to have regression as a senior maybe….4 years of the same thing but look at Held from State had a good year last year as a freshman but much improved this year. Campbell under the right coaching should have had a great year but compared to last year it was mediocre.
VT goes from winning ACCs two years ago to getting 4th and only having one top 150 recruit for next year while UNC, NC State and UVA both have multiple in the top 50. Seems odd.
2 swimmers winning individual titles? I think they are in a good spot
On another note UNC needs to get a different head coach. Their performances collectively have been terrible. Look at all their swimmers they barely drop from in season times which they haven’t suited at for a few years. The only swimmers who somewhat produced this meet were the seniors and I would argue it was Sam Lewis, Nic Grasser and Ben Colley. The rest of the team go backwards come championship time of season. Look at State, Louisville and other teams they do significantly better at these big meets when it comes to an improvement aspect. DeSelm has run his course. If they want to ever be in a league with State he has to go. And from what I… Read more »
So Henry Campell didn’t produce??
Agree with you on UNC Head Coach. Unfortunately the UNC administration hired a Frank Comfort Jr. in Deselm after Comforts retirement. Coach Comfort never got the job done either (for decades) and that’s where Deselm was trained.