2018 ACC MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When:Â Wednesday, February 21st to Saturday, February 24th | Prelims 10:00am | Finals 6:00pm
- Where:Â Greensboro Aquatics Center, Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion:Â NC State Wolfpack (results) fix
- Psych Sheet:Â here
- Live Results:Â here
- Streaming:Â WatchESPNÂ (subscription required)
- Championship Central:Â here
Day 3 of the 2018 ACC Men’s Championship will feature five individual races. Â After two days of competition, NC State is in the lead, and they are the presumptive favorites to win the meet. Â How exactly that they do that is a little unclear, as several of their top swimmers are entered in multiple events today.
Louisville will be shooting for 2nd place, which means they’ll need swimmers seeded in the top eight in the 400 IM and 200 free to hold seeds, and some of the guys who are seeded just a bit down to jump into an A-final.
This morning will also go a long way in determining if Virginia, which has been looking revitalized under new head Coach Todd DeSorbo, will be able to claw its way up into a top three finish, or if Florida State or Notre Dame will be able to hold them off.
100 Fly
NCAA A Cut: 45.49
NCAA B Cut: 48.29
2017 Invite Time: 46.10
Conference Record: Ryan Held, NC State, 44.79 (2017)
Meet Record:Â Ryan Held, NC State, 44.79 (2017)
Defending Champion:Ryan Held, NC State
Top 8 Finishers
- Ryan Held, NC State, 45.28
- Coleman Stewart, NC State, 45.30
- Nicolas Albiero, Louisville, 45.89
- James Bretscher, NC State, 45.93
- Bryce Keblish, Virginia, 46.02
- Zach Harting, Louisville, 46.08
- Zach Fong, Virginia, 46.16
- Giovanni Izzo, NC State, 46.26
Only three schools will have representatives in tonight’s A-final: NC State, Louisville, and Virginia.
NC State’s Ryan Held led the way with a 45.28 effort in the final heat. Â Teammate Coleman Stewart has been having a great meet, with a 20.65 backstroke leadoff on the medley relay, and sub-19 anchor leg on the 200 free relay tonight, and this morning he demonstrated his prowess in a third stroke, finishing just behind Held in 45.30. Â Wolfpack swimmers James Bretscher and Giovanni Izzo will be the other two NC State swimmers in the championship final.
Louisville will be represented by freshman Nicholas Albiero and veteran Zach “Batman” Harting tonight, while Bryce Keblish and Zach Fong will rep the Cavaliers.
400 Individual Medley
NCAA A Cut: 3:39.95
NCAA B Cut: 3:54.49
2017 Invite Time: 3:44.92
Conference Record:Â Gal Nevo, Georgia Tech, 3:38.00 (2009)
Meet Record: Robert Owen, Virginia Tech, 3:38.43 (2017)
Defending Champion: Robert Owen, Virginia Tech, 3:38.43
- Brendan Casey, Virginia, 3:43.22
- Anton Ipsen, NC State, 3:44.26
- Bobby Giller, Virginia, 3:45.29
- Henry Campbell, UNC, 3:45.48
- Etay Gurevich, Louisville, 3:45.91
- Eric Knowles, NC State, 3:46.29
- Jarrett Jones, Louisville, 3:46.34
- Daniel Sos, Louisville, 3:47.91
Virginia’s Brendan Casey dropped a 3:43.22 in the fourth heat to put down the fastest time of the morning.  His teammate, Bobby Giller, raced NC State’s Anton Ipsen in the final heat, with Ipsen clocking a 3:44.26 and Giller a 3:45.29.  UVA nearly had three of the four fastest swims of the morning, as Ted Schubert initially recorded an A-final worthy time of 3:43.82, but was subsequently DQ’d.
Thanks to Schubert’s DQ, Louisville ended up putting three men into tonight’s A-final, led by Etay Gurevich and his 3:45.91.
Veteran Henry Campbell of UNC put up the 4th-fastest time of the morning with a 3:45.48 to give the Tar Heels their first A-finalist of the meet.
200 Freestyle
NCAA A Cut: 1:32.54
NCAA B Cut: 1:37.99
2017 Invite Time: 1:34.20
Conference Record: Soren Dahl, NC State, 1:31.37 (2017)
Meet Record: Scot Robison, Virginia, 1:32.45 (2010)
Defending Champion: Soren Dahl, NC State
- Justin Ress, NC State, 1:33.41
- Andreas Vazaios, NC State, 1:34.25
- Luke Georgidas, Virginia, 1:34.45
- Felipe Ribeiro de Souza, FSU, 1:34.65
- Andrej Barna, Louisville, 1:34.92
- Sam Steele, Louisville, 1:35.02
- Norbert Szabo, Virginia Tech, 1:35.20
- Lane Stone, Virginia Tech, 1:35.48
- Marcelo Acosta, Louisville, 1:35.50
This is the most diverse top eight we’ve seen so far this morning, with five different schools represented and no school having more than two swimmers in tonight’s A-final.
Leading the way is NC State, whose Justin Ress and Andreas Vazaios opted for this event after both scratching the 100 fly. Â There’s a chance that either, or both, could still swim the 100 back today, but that seems unlikely, especially for Vazaios, who is the top seed in the 200 fly tomorrow.
Luke Georgiadis of UVA was seeded 59th with a time of 1:39.65, but threw down a 1:34.25 in the third heat to register the 3rd fastest time of the morning
Florida State got a big help in their quest for a top three team finish, thanks to Felipe Ribeiro de Souza and his 1:34.92.
100 Breaststroke
NCAA A Cut: 51.74
NCAA B Cut: 55.39
2017 Invite Time: 52.62
Conference Record: Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech, 51.30 (2017)
Meet Record: Peter Kropp, Duke, 51.46 (2017)
Defending Champion: Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech
- Michael McBryan, UNC, 52.56
- Keefer Barnum, Virginia, 52.60
- (tie) Carlos Claverie, Louisville, 52.69
- (tie) Evgenii Somov, Louisville, 52.69
- Judd Howard, 52.95
- Valdas Abaliksta, UNC, 53.12
- (tie) Moises Loschi, Georgia Tech, 53.30
- (tie) Steven Shek, Notre Dame, 53.30
Barring scratches, any hope NC State had for a clean sweep of the swimming events has ended after the Wolfpack were locked out of tonight’s A-final, with Jacob Molacek, former national high school record holder in the 100 breast, finishing 9th in 53.42. Â Practically, that doesn’t make a ton of a difference for NC State, as it’s not likely to affect the overall outcome and it looks like most of the Wolfpack’s top swimmers aren’t fully rested.
Instead, it was UNC who took the top seed, and two of the top eight spots, with Michael McBryan setting the pace with a 52.56 and freshman Valdas Abaliksta joining him with a 53.12
Louisville also qualified two men for the top eight, as Carlos Claverie and Evgenii Somov tied with a 52.69.
100 Backstroke
NCAA A Cut: 45.25
NCAA B Cut: 48.49
2017 Invite Time: 46.28
Conference Record: Grigory Tarasevich, Louisville, 45.24 (2016)
Meet Record: Grigory Tarasevich, Louisville, 45.25 (2017)
Defending Champion:Â Grigory Tarasevich, Louisville
- Coleman Stewart, 44.80
- Nicolas Albiero, Louisville, 45.89
- Hennessey Stuart, 46.07
- Joe Clark, Virginia, 46.22
- Alvin Jiang, UNC, 46.33
- Noah Hensley, NC State, 46.41
- Robert Whitacre, Notre Dame, 46.46
- James Bretscher, NC State, 46.49
Coleman Stewart has got to be considered the early leader for breakout star of the meet; after swimming the 2nd-fastest time of the morning in the 100 fly, he dipped below 45 in the 100 back, his primary stroke, with a time that puts him just outside the top ten fastest men ever in the event. Â That time also sets a new conference and meet record, both previously held by Louisville alum Grigory Tarasevich.
Pending results from the other conference championships this morning, that time also makes gives Stewart the fastest time in the NCAA so far this season, eclipsing the 44.99 Grand Canyon’s Mark Nikolaev swam last November.
It was Wolfpack domination this morning, as three other NC State swimmers will join Stewart in tonight’s A-final, including James Bretscher, who also qualified in the 100 fly A-final, as did Louisville’s Nicolas Albiero, who had the 2nd-fastest time of the morning in this event.
NCS.. Nice 100 frees and 400 free relay. That will be tough to beat at NCAA. 139 points in 100 free. But no diving could hurt them in run for NCAA Glory.
So Coleman sets conference and meet records in 100 back? It wasn’t mentioned…?
My question exactly.
Still trying to figure out which hennessey it is… or if they are in fact 2 different people or following the John Oliver theory like the Olsen twins and trying to prove they are in fact the same person moving back and forth at an incredibly high speed. I have to say, they arent helping their case on the latter based on how fast they are moving in the water…
Also, I see it mentioned now… not sure when it was fixed or IF it was fixed, but its there.
I strongly dislike State, but I am glad that the records are no longer held by someone who is known to have failed a drug test… and right around the same time the old record was set. C-YA Grigory!!!
Louisville has 3 more athletes from Russia this year. All freshmen and one went to the Olympics. I’m sorry but I can’t trust the Russian connection. As a club coach, I’d love to see schools recruiting more in state talent before picking up foreign swimmers.
Massive swim by UVA freshman Keefer Barnum in 100 breast — 52.6 (though not too surprising after his 23.6 relay split). That’s a huge boost for their 400MR too. UVA does not have the numbers to compete with NCST and L’ville right now, but I think it’s safe to say they will be back in the ACC conversation sooner than later.
Is Coleman Stewart the guy last year (or the year before..?) who supposedly went 43.9 with a full body suit?
Yep. Looks like it wasn’t too far off!
Now that he is a bonafide top seed, maybe Rowdy can call him Coleman Stewart rather then “Stewart Coleman” on the ESPN stream
Nic Albiero went the same time to the hundredth in the 100 fly and back. That’s cool as hell
What is it about NC State’s training, and not just them but other programs as well like Florida or the Cal women, where they just almost never seem to produce a solid, pure 100 breaststroker, even when excelling inother events?
They produced Kayla Brumbaum last year 58/2:05 and also finished 4th in the 200 Breast at the world champs trials. I’d say they are producing just fine. Maybe not enough talent? And Molacek may not be fully taper for this.
They probably just don’t recruit breaststrokers. In terms of points, breaststrokers are generally the least valuable since they usually don’t swim free. Teams usually want to develop only one or two all around breaststrokers (like Licon his senior year). It’s more useful to have a guy like Ryan Held who contributes to all relays.
Breaststrokers are hard to come by. It’s all about recruiting A lot of the top teams don’t have a star breaststroker this year.
Surprised Ress did not swim 100 back, after making the worlds team in the 50 back. Seems as though he would be more a threat at NCAA’s in 100 back than 200 free.
I would think it is because his seed time is already close enough to the A cut, that it wasn’t necessary to swim it at ACCs. The 200 free was more valuable, points wise.
Besides, what they swim at ACCs is not indicative of what will be swum at NCs in March.
Also….why swim BK when your team has Hennessey (200) & Coleman (50/100) as the conference record holders 😉
44.8 for Stewart, nice. If he can dip towards 44.5 tonight he’s got to be in the conversation for a national title, especially if Shebat doesn’t come back at full force.
great swim. I think he’s beyond the conversation. He’s probably the favorite. Murphy and Connor Oslin are graduated. And while I’m a big Shebat fan, he’s been battling injury and who knows if he’ll be going :44-low again.
Shebat just swam a 45.9 at BIG 12 :/
0.2 slower than seed time from Dec Invitationals
Silent Observer – Not sure where that seed time came from, but it looks like he went 47.27/46.73, with a 46.83 leadoff, at the 2017 Texas Invite.
Exactly. That 45.9 is his fastest of the season and very important b/c it probably puts him into NCs
Careful though…the soccer moms will be quick to jump on the fact that the illustrious Dean Farris dropped a 45.03 this morning as well over in P-town.
I mean can you blame us? Look at those dimples