2023 ACCs Day 4 Ups/Mids/Downs: Wolfpack Women Make Push With Nine A-Finalists

2023 ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, February 14 to Saturday, February 18, 2023
• Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Virginia (3x)
  • Men: NC State (1x)
• Full Event Schedule
• Championship Central
• Pre-Scratch Psych Sheets
• Women’s Fan Guide
• Men’s Fan Guide
• Live Results
• Live Streaming
• Day 3 Prelims Recap

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.

TEAM SCORES THRU DAY 3

Women

1. Virginia – 879
2. Louisville – 665.5
3. NC State – 611
4. UNC – 431
5. Virginia Tech – 360
6. Duke – 347
7. Florida State – 293
8. Notre Dame – 248
9. Miami – 215
10. Georgia Tech – 197
11. Pitt – 169.5
12. Boston College – 100

Men

1. NC State – 898.5
2. Louisville – 522.5
3. Virginia Tech – 504.5
4. Notre Dame – 448.5
5. Virginia – 428
6. UNC – 360
7. Florida State – 353
8. Pitt – 271
9. Georgia Tech – 241.5
10. Duke – 166
11. Miami – 150
12. Boston College – 80

One day after the UVA women earned nine A-final spots, the NC State women matched that feat, led by Katharine Berkoff‘s top time in the 100 back. The Wolfpack headed into today down 55.5 points against Louisville in the race for 2nd, but they are now projected to outscore the Cardinals by a whopping 155 points today, and they should be solidly in 2nd place by the end of the finals session. Note, however, that these projections don’t include platform diving, which is also being contested today, or the 400 medley relay.

Louisville got one top seed, thanks to Abby Hay in the 200 fly, but only managed a total of four other finalists in today’s session, and they are tied with Duke at a projected 105 individual swimming points today.

The UVA women earned a total of seven finals swims, including five in A-finals, with Alex Walsh posting the top time of the morning in the 100 breast. UNC is projected to score the 3rd-most swimming points of the day, with four A-finalists, and ten women total earning second swims.

DAY 4 UPS/MIDS/DOWNS – WOMEN

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

SCORED PRELIMS — WOMEN

1. NC State – 260
2. Virginia – 167
3. UNC – 135
4. Louisville/Duke – 105
5. (tie)
6. Notre Dame – 85.5
7. Florida State – 76
8. Georgia Tech – 47.5
9. Virginia Tech – 44
10. Miami – 43
11. Pitt – 16
12. Boston College – 2

SCORED PRELIM + ACTUAL — WOMEN

1. Virginia – 1046
2. NC State – 871
3. Louisville – 770.5
4. UNC – 566
5. Duke – 452
6. Virginia Tech – 404
7. Florida State – 369
8. Notre Dame – 333.5
9. Miami – 258
10. Georgia Tech – 244.5
11. Pitt – 185.5
12. Boston College – 102

The NC State men also had a big morning, putting a total of six men into A-finals, including three into the top eight of the 200 fly. They got two top seeds from Noah Bowers (200 fly) and Giovanni Izzo (100 back). The Wolfpack men are on essentially on cruise control from this point on in the meet, and the question is just how large will their margin of victory be?

Even after a DQ and a swim-off loss that cost them potentially an A-finalist in the 100 breast, the Virginia men came away from the session with the 2nd-most projected points for the day after NC State. Noah Nichols led the way for the Cavaliers this morning with the #1 seed in the 100 breast as he tied the conference record in the event. Virginia is on track to pass Notre Dame in the standings, and could even push Louisville and Virginia Tech a little bit in the battle for 2nd.

We’ve got another battle shaping up in the race for 6th place, where UNC, Pitt, and Florida State should all be within a handful of points of each other by the end of the day.

DAY 4 UPS/MIDS/DOWNS – MEN

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

SCORED PRELIMS — MEN

1. NC State – 213
2. Virginia – 183
3. Virginia Tech – 136
4. Louisville – 132
5. Pitt – 123
6. Notre Dame – 95
7. Florida State – 66
8. Georgia Tech – 59.5
9. UNC – 49
10. Duke – 18.5
11. Boston College – 11

SCORED PRELIM + ACTUAL — MEN

1. NC State – 1111.5
2. Louisville – 654
3. Virginia Tech – 640
4. Virginia – 611
5. Notre Dame – 543.5
6. Florida State – 419
7. UNC – 409
8. Pitt – 394.5
9. Georgia Tech – 301
10. Duke – 184.5
11. Miami – 150
12. Boston College – 91