2018 ACC Men’s Champs: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap

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

The first full day of the 2018 Men’s ACC Swimming and Diving Championships is underway.  The NC State Wolfpack are favorites in all three individual events, with defending champions Anton Ipsen (500 freestyle), Andreas Vazaios (200 IM), and Ryan Held (50 freestyle).

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

Top 8 finishers:
1. Anton Ipsen, NC State, 4:14.67
2. Eric Knowles, NC State, 4:15.46
3. Sam Magnan, Virginia, 4:15.64
4. Zach Yeadon, Notre Dame, 4:16.27
5. Robby Giller, Virginia, 4:16.95
6. Dan Erlenmeyer, NC State, 4:17.51
7. Gil Kiesler, NC State, 4:17.59
8. Marcelo Acosta, Louisville, 4:18.01

NC State started off red-hot with four swimmers in the top eight, including huge drops from Eric Knowles–whose previous best was 4:21.43 earlier this year, and just 4:23.29 a year ago–and Israeli freshman Gil Kiesler.  However, tonight’s top seed is defending champion and heavy favorite Anton Ipsen, at 4:14.67.  Notably, Virginia continued its momentum from last night with two swimmers of their own in the top eight, led by junior Sam Magnan (4:15.64).

Youth is the other story of the event; four of the top eight finishers are freshmen, led by Knowles and Notre Dame’s Zach Yeadon.

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

Top 8 finishers:
1. Andreas Vazaios, NC State, 1:42.62
2. Norbert Szabo, Virginia Tech, 1:43.72
3. Rob Whitacre, Notre Dame, 1:44.22
4. Daniel Sos, Louisville, 1:44.72
5. Etay Gurevich, Louisville, 1:44.81
6. Carlos Claverie, Louisville, 1:44.89
7. Bryce Keblish, Virginia, 1:45.04
8. Max Polianski, Florida State, 1:45.12

Andreas Vazaios of NC State ran away with the morning heats, putting down a 1:42.62; he’ll be the heavy favorite tonight.  Louisville got big swims from the trio of Daniel Sos, Etay Gurevich, and Carlos Claverie to try to keep pace in the team race.

Overall, with just 2 of the top 11 returning swimmers from a year ago competing again (including Justin Ress scratching in favor of the 50 free), the 200 IM was overall much slower than a year ago; Vazaios was the only swimmer under 1:43.5, while there were four swimmers under that mark in prelims a year ago.

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

Top 8 finishers:
1. Ryan Held, NC State, 18.86
2. Justin Ress, NC State, 18.96
3. Andrej Barna, Louisville, 19.15
4. Will Pisani, Florida State, 19.28
5. Ian Ho, Virginia Tech, 19.38
6. Giovanni Izzo, NC State, 19.39
7. Chad Mylin, Florida State, 19.43
8. Justin Plaschka, Notre Dame, 19.51

The star sprint duo of Ryan Held and Justin Ress both cracked the 19-second barrier this morning for NC State.  While Held is both the conference and meet record holder in the event, Ress has been on an absolute tear for the past year, and could come out on top tonight.  The Wolfpack got a third swimmer into the A-final in Giovanni Izzo; he finished sixth in 19.39. 

Andrej Barna of Louisville cut nearly three tenths off his best time to clock a 19.15, and may serve to be the best challenger to Held or Ress tonight.  Notably, Justin Plaschka of Notre Dame, last year’s runner-up in the event, snuck in eighth at 19.51.

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#STATEment
6 years ago

Great Morning for NC State. Could build a large enough lead after the first day to win it.

WOLF-PACK!

Captain Ahab
6 years ago

Two athletes from UVA finaled 500 yard freestyle. Happy days are here again!

Pvdh
6 years ago

3 sub 19s with Ress, Held, Jackson in prelims ?

Curious
6 years ago

UNC…ouch

Hmmmmm....
Reply to  Curious
6 years ago

DeSelmed.

13 empty swims in just one morning session, including a whopping 0-for-7 in the 50 free.

Swimming Fan
Reply to  Hmmmmm....
6 years ago

So what is it that he does or doesn’t do that leads to the lack of satisfactory results?

SwamSwim
Reply to  Swimming Fan
6 years ago

Where to begin….

PKWater
6 years ago

Great time drop for Magnan from Virginia. That will be an NCAA invited swimmer for them. Giller might also get invited. Lets see if they have anything left for finals.

Brolewy
Reply to  PKWater
6 years ago

Giller no way. It’s going to be 4:15 high this year.

Swimgeek
Reply to  Brolewy
6 years ago

Perhaps true, but He’s got another swim tonight.

ACCFan
Reply to  Brolewy
6 years ago

Good chance for Giller to improve his time since he lapped his Heat. More competition should make him swim faster. Go Hoos!

Swimgeek
Reply to  PKWater
6 years ago

Giller was 4:23 in HS and best of 4:31 this season. 4:16. Boom. So it’s not just DeSorbo and the sprinters.
And on the women’s side 4:39 was a big drop by freshman Paige Madden. And just for a commitment from class of 2019 Maddie Donohoe (already 4:44/9:37/16:00 as a 16-yr-old. UVA is going to be a complete team.

Swimming Fan
Reply to  Swimgeek
6 years ago

Love it. I guess I’ll go out and drop about 15 seconds in my 500 so I can make A Finals. Heck of a swim. Four freshman in the A Final and 3 in the B. Wonder what they are supplementing the baby milk with these days! Freshman Alvin Jiang of NC in the 50 free – out in 9.49, back in 11.42. Must not be drinking the same milk as the freshmen in the 500. How do you die in a 50 free?

Hmmmmm....
Reply to  Swimming Fan
6 years ago

the answer is ‘DeSelm’

Swimming Fan
Reply to  Hmmmmm....
6 years ago

Ouch! Brutal…

WahooWah
Reply to  Swimgeek
6 years ago

Id like to see them make strides in the strokes too – not just Freestyles.

Swimgeek
Reply to  WahooWah
6 years ago

It’s a little hard to do that on day 1 when 2 Of 3 events are free. But Zach Fonf went 1:44.3 tonight in IM – very solid

40 Flat
6 years ago

Is this suppose to say justin ress? Who is Eric Ress

PKWater
Reply to  Morgan Priestley
6 years ago

Great Backstroker, Almost made the French Olympic team if I’m not mistaken.

Ole 99
6 years ago

I should wait until after tonight’s finals, but would be curious to know how rested they have Molacek? His seed in the 100 free is right around the ’17 cut off.

Swimmer A
6 years ago

Justin Ress… look out for him in march.

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Swimmer A
6 years ago

he looks very fast right now

About Morgan Priestley

Morgan Priestley

A Stanford University and Birmingham, Michigan native, Morgan Priestley started writing for SwimSwam in February 2013 on a whim, and is loving that his tendency to follow and over-analyze swim results can finally be put to good use. Morgan swam competitively for 15+ years, primarily excelling in the mid-distance freestyles. While …

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