2017 Women’s ACC Championships: Day 4 Finals Live Recap

2017 ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships

• Monday, February 13 – Thursday, February 16
• Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA (Eastern Standard Time)
• Prelims 10AM / Finals 6PM
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• List of Events
• Live on ACC Network Extra 6 – 8:30PM

The final day of the ACC Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships is scheduled tonight, with the NC State Wolfpack and the Virginia Wahoos in a tight duel for the team title. NC State leads over 9-time consecutive ACC Champions UVA by 26.5 points. Virginia will need a special night of swimming to clench double-digit consecutive conference championships, especially with the dominance NC State showed in the preliminaries of the 200 back and 100 free. Barring a disqualification–which Virginia knows all to well about–NC State looks like a lock for the 400 free relay title. Virginia will be able to make up some ground in the 1650 free, 200 breast, and 200 fly, but it will require a heroic feat to end the four-day meet as the victors.

The last day of competition will include the distance freestyle and the longer stroke races, as well as women’s and men’s finals diving. The complete list of events is: 1650 free, women’s platform, women’s 200 backstroke, women’s 100 freestyle, women’s 200 breaststroke, women’s 200 butterfly, men’s platform, and the women’s 400 freestyle relay.

Women’s 1650 Freestyle

1. Leah Smith, UVA, 15:31.49
2. Jessica Hespeler, Virginia Tech, 16:05.26
3. Rachel Muller, NC State, 16:06.01

Olympian Leah Smith won the race, and it wasn’t even close. She had more than a 30-second lead over second place Hespeler from Virginia. The biggest storyline, however, is that NC State placed 3 in the top 7, while UVA only placed 2. NC State actually touched third with Muller and fourth with Hannah Moore (16:09.48).

This means one less event for UVA to stage its comeback after being DQed from the first relay of the meet.

Women’s Platform Diving

1. Molly Carlson, FSU, 284.05
2. Freida Lim, Clemson, 276.25
3. Elissa Dawson, UNC, 272.25

Clemson, who only has a diving program after suspending its swim program, placed two in the top four.

Women’s 200 Backstroke

1. Alexia Zevnik, NCSU, 149.61
2. Hellen Moffitt, UNC, 1:51.64
3. Elise Haan, NCSU, 152.82

This marked Senior Zevnik’s third individual title of the meet, and another ACC meet record time. With three swimmers in the top six, NC State was also able to stretch its lead over UVA by more than 130 points.

Virginia Tech’s Klaudia Nazieblo touched in fourth (1:53.07), and Notre Dame’s Alice Treuth came in fifth (1:53.66).

Women’s 100 Freestyle

1. Mallory Comerford, Louisville, 46.75
2. Courtney Caldwell, NCSU, 47.89
3. Ky-lee Perry, NCSU, 47.97

Mallory Comerford continues to have a monster meet, going sub-47 seconds for the first time in her career. Her time is a new ACC conference and ACC meet record.

The second storyline is that NC State now has a stranglehold on the meet. They have almost a 200 point lead over Virginia, and look ready to take the 400 free relay.

Notably, North Carolina touched in fourth and fifth with Caroline Baldwin (48.23) and Sarah Hitchens (48.36), respectively.

Women’s 200 Breaststroke

1. Andrea Cottrell, Louisville, 2:06.90
2. Laura Simon, UVA, 2:07.24
3. Kayla Brumbaum, NCSU, 2:07.53

Andrea Cottrell made it two individual event titles in a row for Louisville, bringing them within 50 points of second-place Virginia. NC State’s Brumbaum had the fastest 150, but faded to third as Cottrell came home in 33.14 and Simon in 33.51.

Two teams who have been fairly quiet during this meet, Pittsburgh and Florida State, placed one of their own in the top five. Pitt’s Rathsack came in fourth (2:09.06) and FSU’s Loh Yen Ling got fifth (2:13.00).

Women’s 200 Butterfly

1. Kaitlyn Jones, UVA, 1:53.21
2. Klaudia Nazieblo, Virginia Tech, 1:54.80
3. Jennifer Marrkand, UVA, 1:55.29

Virginia refuses to go down without a fight, claiming two of the top three spots in the 200 fly. Senior Kaitlyn Jones won the event by more than 5 seconds, and was the only swimmer to come home under 30 seconds (29.34). UVA junior Jennifer Marrkand finished in third. Virginia Tech’s Klaudia Nazieblo kept the podium in the State of Virginia.

The top five was rounded out by Louisville freshman Grace Oglesby (1:55.31) and UNC senior Sarah Koucheki (1:55.52).

Men’s Platform Diving

1. David Dinsmore, Miami, 517.65
2. Dylan Grisell, FSU, 391.95
3. Dominic Giordano, Pittsburgh, 348.65

Miami redshirt freshman David Dinsmore laid the hammer in the men’s platform, winning by over 120 points. Dinsmore’s score set a pool record and came within 7 points of Olympian Nick McCrory’s ACC record.

400 Freestyle Relay

1. NC State, 3:10.31
2. Louisville, 3:12.12
3. North Carolina, 3:13.49

NC State’s sprint depth was on full display in the 400 free relay, with all four swimmers dipping under 48 seconds, and officially giving the Wolfpack the ACC Championship crown. The most impressive leg was Alexia Zevnik, who led off in a 47.38.

Louisville’s Mallory Comerford only swam faster as the meet progressed. Her final swim of the meet was a jaw-dropping 46.68 split from a rolling start. Freshman Casey Fanz also dipped under 48 seconds for Louisville (47.72).

UVA (3:15.38) and Notre Dame (3:16.13) rounded out the top five.

Final Scores:

  1. North Carolina State University 1183.5   2. Virginia, University of        1100.5
  3. Louisville, University of        1027    4. North Carolina, University of,    980
  5. VA Tech                           739    6. Duke University                 725.5
  7. Notre Dame, University of       654.5    8. Florida State University        625.5
  9. Pittsburgh, University of         428   10. Georgia Institute of Technology    391
 11. University of Miami (Florida)   361.5   12. Boston College                    152
 13. Clemson University Diving Team    144