2018 ACC Men’s Champs: Day 2 Finals Live Recap – NC State Blasts 1:15.34 200 Free Relay

2018 ACC MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 21st to Saturday, February 24th | Prelims 10:00am | Finals 6:00pm
• Where: Greensboro Aquatics Center, Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: NC State Wolfpack (results) fix
• Psych Sheet: here
• Live Results: here
• Streaming: WatchESPN (subscription required)
• Championship Central: here
• Day 2 Prelims Live Recap
• Day 2 Up/Mid/Down Report

The first full night of the 2018 ACC Championships will feature three individual races and one relay event.  NC State and Louisville, unsurprisingly, are projected to score the most points tonight, with a pretty wide gap between those two schools and the rest of the field.

The Wolfpack claimed the top seed in each of this morning’s individual races, with Anton Ipsen, Andreas Vazaios, and Ryan Held throwing down the swiftest times in the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free respectively.  NC State also has the fastest seed time in the 200 free relay, a timed final event, by over a second, and there’s a very strong chance that NC State sweeps all four swimming events tonight.

500 Freestyle

Conference Record: Matt McLean, Virginia, 4:10.00 (2009)
Meet Record: Matt McLean, Virginia, 4:10.00 (2009)
Defending Champion: Anton Ipsen, NC State, 4:11.92

1. Anton Ipsen, NC State, 4:11.21
2. Zach Yeadon, Notre Dame, 4:12.74
3. Marcelo Acosta, Louisville, 4:13.70

It was the Anton Ipsen show tonight, as the NC State senior led from pretty much beginning to end.  Ipsen took the lead at the 100 and never relinquished, looking strong all the way through to end and touching in 4:11.21.

Notre Dame freshman Zach Yeadon stayed in the 2nd position for most of the race and finished in 4:12.74, just off the NCAA ‘A’ cut, but still a very strong time for the freshman.  Louisville’s Marcelo Acosta rounded out the top three with a 4:13.70.  Teammate Zach Harting thew down a 4:14.92 in the B final, a time that would’ve finished 4th in the A final.

200 Individual Medley

Conference Record: Andreas Vazaios, NC State, 1:41.25 (2017)
Meet Record: Andreas Vazaios, NC State, 1:41.25 (2017)
Defending Champion: Andreas Vazaios, NC State, 1:41.25

1. Andreas Vazaios, NC State, 1:42.43
2. Norbert Szabo, Virginia Tech, 1:42.70
3. Daniel Sos, Louisville, 1:43.86

A bearded Andreas Vazaios made it two in a row for the Wolfpack, but Virginia Tech’s Norbert Szabo kept things interesting.  Bryce Keblish actually went out the fastest, opening up with a 21.87 fly leg, but Vazaios quickly surged ahead with a 24.65 backstroke.  By that point, Szabo was just under a second behind Vazaios, and the Hokie outsplit Vazios over the last 100.  Vazaios got a bit more off the final wall, and held off Szabo to win, 1:42.43 to 1:42.70.

Louisville freshman Daniel Sos dropped almost a second from prelims to take 3rd in 1:43.86, as Louisville picked up some big points with three A-finalists.

50 Freestyle

Conference Record: Ryan Held, NC State, 18.68 (2017)
Meet Record: Ryan Held, NC State, 18.68 (2017)
Defending Champion: Ryan Held, NC State, 18.68

1. Ryan Held, NC State, 18.75
2. Justin Ress, NC State, 19.00
3. Andrej Barna, Louisville, 19.16

Ryan Held, also with a beard, earned NC State its third win of the night.  The Olympic gold medalist, a senior, flipped first at the wall, and stormed home to earn the win with a time of 18.75.  Teammate Justin Ress touched just behind him with a 19.00, while Louisville’s Andrej Barna rounded out the top three with a 19.16

200 Free Relay

Conference Record: NC State, 1:15.09 (2016)
Meet Record: NC State, 1:15.63  (2015)
Defending Champion: NC State, 1:16.27

1. NC State, 1:15.34
2. Florida State, 1:16.30
3. Louisville, 1:17.26

Ryan Held staked NC State to the lead with a leadoff time of 18.87, and the Wolfpack never looked back, roaring to new meet record courtesy of Justin Ress (18.41), Jacob Molacek (19.19) and Coleman Stewart (18.87).  Stewart was a bit of a surprising choice, given that Giovanni Izzo had gone 19.37 earlier tonight in the individual 50 free, but going with Stewart certainly seemed to pay off.

As some of commenters have pointed out, that time is just a hair off the American Record time of 1:15.26, set by Stanford back in 2011.

That time by NC State puts them first in the NCAA this season, pending results from other conference meets tonight, and is about fourth-tenths of a second faster than Cal’s 1:15.73 from the Georgia Invite back in December.

Florida State’s 2nd-place finish was highlighted by a 18.67 split by Chad Mylin.  Louisville and Notre Dame also finished under the NCAA ‘A’ cut; Virginia Tech nipped a ‘B’ cut, while Duke and UVA tied with a time of 1:18.46, just off that NCAA provisional standard.

Team Scores Through Day 2:

Diving was contested last week, and the live results page currently shows the team scores without the final diving event, platform diving, factored in, while the team scores on Meet Mobile do already include platform diving.

Without platform diving

1. NC State 523
2. Louisville 417
3. FSU 401.5
4. Notre Dame 377.5
5. VA Tech 346.5
6. Duke 297
7. Virginia 283.5
8. UNC    269
9. Pitt 153
10. Georgia Tech 138
11. Boston College 66
12. Miami 34

Including platform diving (swimming points so far in parenthesis)

1. NC State   524 (459)
2. Florida State 460.5 (265.5)
3. Louisville 441 (417)
4. VA Tech 426.5 (247.5)
5. Notre Dame 393.5 (298.5)
6. Duke 368 (156)
7. Virginia 289.5  (270.5)
8. UNC 284 (165)
9. Georgia Tech 168 (112)
10. Pitt 153 (139)
11. Miami 94 (0)
12. Boston College 66 (66)