For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of three finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, places 9 through 16 the B final and places 17 through 24 the C final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.
With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups,” “Mids” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, “Mid” to swimmers in the B final and “Down” to swimmers in the C final.
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
- Championship Central: Here
- Detailed Timeline: Here
- Psych Sheets: Here
- Live Results
With 19 scoring swims, Virginia was suffocating on day 3 prelims, and have set themselves up to run away with the ACC points lead tonight.
Virginia widely leads all programs in A finalists (12) and total scoring swims (19), while already holding a 27.5-point lead over NC State. Virginia has won all three relays so far, and should have a great shot to win the 400 medley relay tonight. Virginia won the 200 medley by a tenth over NC State, but have the top qualifiers in the 100 fly (Kate Douglass or Morgan Hill) and 100 breast (Alexis Wenger), along with the #2 qualifier in 100 back (Caroline Gmelich) and the top two seeds in the 100 frees (Douglass/Hill).
It was also a great morning for Louisville, which almost matched NC State. Louisville actually has more total scoring swims (17 to 16), but two less B finalists.
The other standout: UNC, which earned 13 scoring swims and a whopping 5 A finalists. The Tar Heels should be primed to challenge Notre Dame tonight – UNC currently trails by 25, but has one more A finalist and two more Bs.
There is no women’s diving event tonight, so the only addition to these Ups/Mids/Downs will be the 400 medley relay.
Note: these figures include the five events from this morning’s prelims. Tonight will add a 400 medley relay, but no diving events.
| Team | Total | 100 Fly | 400 IM | 200 Free | 100 Breast | 100 Back | Score After Day 2 |
| Virginia | 12/5/2 | 4/1/0 | 2/1/0 | 3/1/1 | 1/0/0 | 2/2/1 | 524.5 (1st) |
| NC State | 7/8/1 | 0/0/0 | 3/1/0 | 0/3/0 | 2/2/1 | 2/2/0 | 497 (2nd) |
| Louisville | 7/6/4 | 1/3/0 | 1/2/1 | 2/1/1 | 3/0/1 | 0/0/1 | 404 (3rd) |
| UNC | 5/3/5 | 0/1/3 | 0/1/1 | 1/0/1 | 2/1/0 | 2/0/0 | 325 (5th) |
| Duke | 4/5/3 | 1/1/1 | 1/1/1 | 1/1/0 | 0/2/0 | 1/0/1 | 250 (7th) |
| Notre Dame | 4/1/6 | 1/0/3 | 1/0/0 | 1/1/0 | 0/0/2 | 1/0/1 | 350 (4th) |
| Florida State | 0/5/5 | 0/1/1 | 0/1/1 | 0/0/1 | 0/1/0 | 0/2/2 | 253.5 (6th) |
| Virginia Tech | 1/2/6 | 1/1/0 | 0/0/1 | 0/0/2 | 0/1/2 | 0/0/1 | 182 (9th) |
| Pitt | 0/2/4 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/2 | 0/1/1 | 0/0/1 | 0/1/0 | 145 (11th) |
| Georgia Tech | 0/2/4 | 0/0/0 | 0/1/1 | 0/0/1 | 0/0/1 | 0/1/1 | 190 (8th) |
| Miami | 0/1/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/1/0 | 0/0/0 | 175 (10th) |
| Boston College | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 104 (12th) |
And UVA’s 12 “ups” are premium ups. Lots of top-3 seeds.
Barring a DQ or two (which is always a possibility in the ACC), it looks like Virginia women are going to win this one.
I said this last night and even more so today — the UVA freshman class has lived up to the hype. Just from the “ranked” recruits — today it was Dogulass/Cuomo 1/3 in fly; Nelson #1 in 4IM; and Donohoe while not as strong as her 500, will be scoring in the 200. And add Collins (another freshman) going 1:46.5 for 10th in 2free.