2020 Women’s ACC Championships: Day 1 Relays Live Recap

2020 WOMEN’S ACC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 19th to Saturday, February 22nd | Prelims 10:00 am | Finals 6:00 pm (1650 prelims Saturday at 4:00 pm)
• Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: North Carolina State University (NC State) (1x) (results)
• Streaming: ACC Network
  • Day 2 Finals
  • Day 3 Finals
  • Day 4 Finals
• Championship Central: Here
• Detailed Timeline: Here
• Psych Sheets: Here
• Live Results

The 2020 Women’s ACC Swimming & Diving Championships get underway this evening in Greensboro, NC, with the 200 medley relay, 1m diving finals, and the 800 free relay. On paper, both relays should be a battle between NC State and Virginia, although Florida State and Duke are only seeded about a half second behind NC State in the 200 medley relay.

Men’s diving will also be contested this week, with the 3m event happening tonight as well. Miami freshman Max Flory holds the top seed after putting up a 386.55 in this morning’s prelims, while UVA’s Sydney Dusel scored 292.45 to lead the prelims of the women’s 1m event.

WOMEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY FINALS

• Meet Record: NC State (2019) – 1:34.52
• ACC Record: Virginia (2019) – 1:33.91
• NCAA Record: Stanford (2018) – 1:33.11
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:36.40
• NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 1:37.05
• 2019 Champion: NC State, 1:34.52

1. Virginia, 1:34.27
2. NC State, 1:34.38
3. Louisville, 1:35.87

In what could be a harbinger of things to come for the rest of the meet, the Cavaliers and Wolfpack went toe-to-toe in the opening event of the meet.

Caroline Gmelich put UVA in the lead early with a 23.98 backstroke leg, with Katharine Berkoff just behind at 24.04 (and UNC and Notre Dame just a hair behind those two teams). Sophie Hansson out dueled Alexis Wenger 26.21 to 26.68, giving NC State a 0.4s lead at the halfway point. Katherine Douglass‘s 22.33 fly split put UVA back within a tenth of a second, and Morgan Hill got just past Ky-Lee Perry with a 21.28 anchor leg (versus Perry’s 21.48) to give UVA the win, 1:34.27 to 1:34.38.

Both of those times were under the previous meet record, while UVA was just a few tenths off the ACC record time they set at the Tennessee Invite in November.

Behind the two leaders, Louisville and Duke battled it out for 3rd place. Louisville led by just 0.04s after the breaststroke leg, but Alyssa Marsh scorched a 22.05 fly split (within a tenth of Kelsi Worrell’s 21.96 that’s unofficially the fastest split ever). Casey Fanz, though, had the fastest anchor in the entire field, throwing down a 21.15 that was over a second faster than Duke anchor Sarah Synder‘s 22.25, as Louisville took 3rd, 1:35.87 to 1:35.93.

All four of the top teams were under the NCAA ‘A’ cut, while UNC also finished under the ‘B’ cut with a 1:36.94.

Women’s 1m Diving Finals

• Meet Record: Abby Johnston, Duke (2011) – 361.85
• ACC Record: Jenna Dreyer, Miami (2007) – 379.98

1. Cami Hidalgo (Georgia Tech), 313.10
2. Molly Carlson (Florida State),  300.85
3. Sydney Dusel (Virginia), 296.40

Georgia Tech got a win, sandwiched between UVA two relay wins, as Cami Hidalgo won the first diving event of the meet with a score of 313.10. Notre Dame was the only team to put two divers into the top eight, earning 4th and 6th-place finishes from Kelly Straub and Erin Isola.

WOMEN’S 800 FREE RELAY FINALS

• Meet Record: Virginia (2019) – 6:55.22
• ACC Record: Louisville (2018) – 6:53.75
• NCAA Record: Stanford (2017) – 6:45.91
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 7:00.86
• NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 7:05.88
• 2019 Champion: Virginia, 6:55.22

1. Virginia, 6:55.66
2. NC State, 6:59.73
3. Louisville, 7:03.24

There wasn’t nearly as much drama in this relay, as at least two seconds separated each of the top five teams.

Arina Openysheva staked Louisville to the early lead with a 1:43.91 leadoff, a lifetime best for the junior by over a second. UVA’s Kyla Valls (1:44.54) and Notre Dame’s Abby Dolan (1:44.60) were the only other two sub-1:45 leadoff legs.

Paige Madden put UVA in the lead by well over a second with a speed 1:42.66 split on the 2nd leg, then Margaret Nelson (1:44.56) and Megan Moroney (1:43.90) nailed down the back half as the Cavaliers won by over four seconds. Their time of 6:55.66 was just a few tenths off the meet record of 6:55.22 that UVA established last year.

NC State got a trio of 1:45s from Kathleen Moore (1:45.41 leadoff), Katharine Berkoff (1:45.34) and Julia Poole (1:45.57), and Kylee Alons had the 2nd-fastest split in the field with a 1:43.41. While the Wolfpack never seriously threatened the Cavaliers’ lead, their time of 6:59.73 did secure 2nd place by over three second and was under the NCAA ‘A’ cut.

Louisville ended up being the only other team under even the NCAA ‘B’ cut, as Openysheva, Alena Kraus (1:45.37), Sophie Cattermole (1:47.21) and Diana Dunn (1:46.75) combined for a 7:03.24.

Men’s 3m Diving Finals

• Meet Record: Nick McCrory, Duke (2014) – 531.00
• ACC Record: Nick McCrory, Duke (2014) – 531.00

1. James Brady (NC State), 392.65
2. Brodie Scapens (Miami), 388.95
3. Max Flory (Miami), 387.25

NC State senior James Brady earned the win here with a score of 392.65, while Miami and UNC each put two divers in the top eight. In terms of likely team battles, both FSU and UVA had two divers in the top 11, while Louisville, who should battling for a 2nd place finish in the team race next week, didn’t have any divers finish higher than 13th.

Women’s Scores Through Day 1

1. UVA – 166
2. Notre Dame – 165
3. UNC – 135
4. Louisville – 133
5. Duke – 130
6. NC State – 125
7. FSU – 122
8. Virginia Tech – 113
9. Georgia Tech – 109
10. Miami – 105
11. Boston College – 70
12. Pitt – 59

Men’s Scores Through Day 1 (Diving Only)

1. Miami/UNC – 55
2. (tie)
3. FSU/NC State – 45
4. Virginia – 42
5. Duke – 32
6. Virginia Tech – 31
7. Louisville – 27
8. Notre Dame – 15
9. Pitt – 11
10. Georgia Tech – 4