2018 ACC Men’s Champs: Day 4 Finals 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 final session of the 2018 ACC championships will feature the fastest heat of the 1650, the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, and the 400 free relay.

NC State swimmers Anton Ipsen and Justin Ress will be swimming in lane four in the 1650 and the 100 free.  The latter race is sure to be a thrill after Ress dipped under 42 this morning, but Ress will have to fend off teammate and defending champion Ryan Held if he’s going to touch the wall first.

Robert Whitacre of Notre Dame holds the top seed in the 200 back, but Coleman Stewart, who’s been having a stellar meet, will be right next to him.  It’s a similar story in the 200 fly, where defending champ Andreas Vazaios will be in lane 5 after Louisville’s Nicolas Albiero touched just ahead of him this morning.

The only championship final not featuring a Wolfpack swimmer will be the 200 breast, where Georgia Tech’s Moises Loschi leads a very tight field.

Finally, we’ll see the 400 free relay.  Whatever quarter the Wolfpack sends out — probably Ress, Held, Jacob Molacek and either Giovanni Izzo or the aforementioned Stewart — will be swimming more against the meet record time of 2:48.14 than against the other teams.

That’s not to say that final relay will be unimportant, as it could very well determine placing further down in the team standings.  We’ll be trying to keep you updated on the team standings after each event throughout the evening.

1650 Free

NCAA A Cut: 14:40.75
NCAA B Cut: 15:30.39
2017 Invite Time: 14:56.84
Conference Record: Marcelo Acosta, Louisville, 14:33.68 (2017)
Meet Record: Marcelo Acosta, Louisville, 14:33.68 (2017)
Defending Champion: Marcelo Acosta, Louisville

Top Five from Early Heats:

1. Eric Knowles, NC State, 14:54.56
2. Lane Stone, Virginia Tech, 14:55.50
3. Michael Craddock, Virginia Tech, 15:03.76
4. Matt Johnson, Duke, 15:03.80
5. Richard Mannix, Notre Dame, 15:04.96

Top Three Overall:

1. Anton Ipsen, NC State, 14:31.21
2. Zach Yeadon, Notre Dame, 14:34.60
3. Marcelo Acosta, Louisville, 14:41.21

Anton Ipsen rolled out to a strong lead and had almost a half pool lead by the 1000 mark.  At that point, Marcelo Acosta was in a solid 2nd place, with Zach Yeadon in 3rd.  Ipsen continued to look strong through the swim, and finished with a new conference and meet record of 14:31.

Yeadon reeled Acosta on the back half, and appeared to be closing on Ipsen the last few laps, before touching 2nd in 14:34.60.  Acosta finished 3rd in 14:41.21.

That’s a new conference and meet record for Ipsen.  Ipsen and Yeadon now rank #1 and #2 in the country at the moment, but that’s likely to change at the B1G championship later this evening.

200 BACKSTROKE

NCAA A Cut: 1:39.66
NCAA B Cut: 1:46.39
2017 Invite Time: 1:41.74
Conference Record: Hennessey Stuart, NC State, 1:38.56 (2016)
Meet Record: Grigory Tarasevich, Louisville, 1:39.05 (2017)
Defending Champion: Grigory Tarasevich, Louisville

1. Coleman Stewart, NC State 1:39.56
2. Robert Whitacre, Notre Dame, 1:40.31
3. Hennessey Stuart, NC State, 1:40.82

It was a bearded Hennessey Stuart who blasted out to an early lead, but Coleman Stewart outsplit his teammate by almost two seconds over the second half of the race to win in a NCAA ‘A’ cut time of 1:39.56, giving him a sweep of the backstroke events this week.  Notre Dame’s Robert Whitacre hung in 3rd for most of the race, but outsplit Stuart 25.06 to 25.92 over the final 50 to take 2nd in 1:40.82.  UVA’s Robby Giller was other man under last year’s NCAA invite time, finishing in 4th in 1:41.11.

Team Scores:

1. North Carolina State University 1194.5
2. Louisville, University of 926.5
3. Notre Dame, University of 766
4. Virginia, University of 751
5. Florida State University 675.5
6. VA Tech 619.5
7. Duke University 521
8. North Carolina, University of, 481
9. Georgia Institute of Technolog 344
10. Pittsburgh, University of 236
11. Boston College 102
12. University of Miami (Florida) 94

100 FREE

NCAA A Cut: 42:11
NCAA B Cut: 44.29
2017 Invite Time: 42.76
Conference Record: Simonas Billis, NC State, 41.18 (2016)
Meet Record: Ryan Held, NC State, 41.61 (2017)
Defending Champion: Ryan Held, NC State

1. Ryan Held, NC State, 41.41
2. Justin Ress, NC State, 41.86
3. Jacob Molacek, NC State, 41.89

It was a Wolfpack sweep of the top four, with Ryan Held, Justin Ress, and Jacob Molacek all under 42 seconds, and Giovanni Izzo taking 4th in 42.69.  That’s a scary 400 free relay, both for tonight and at NCAA, especially when you consider that Held is sporting a full beard.  Despite the hair, Held was still two-tenths faster than he was last year and set a new meet record with his time of 41.41.  Ress was a little off his time from this morning, touching in 41.86, while Molacek dipped under the 42-second mark with a 41.89.

Scoring Update:

1. North Carolina State University 1323.5
2. Louisville, University of 950.5
3. Notre Dame, University of 818
4. Virginia, University of 809
5. Florida State University 736.5
6. VA Tech 622.5
7. Duke University 549
8. North Carolina, University of, 481
9. Georgia Institute of Technolog 351
10. Pittsburgh, University of 236
11. Boston College 102
12. University of Miami (Florida) 94

200 BREAST

NCAA A Cut: 1:52.94
NCAA B Cut: 1:59.79
2017 Invite Time: 1:54.54
Conference Record: Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech, 1:52.39 (2017)
Meet Record: Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech, 1:52.39 (2017)
Defending Champion: Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech

1. Evgenii Somov, Louisville, 1:53.05
2. Caio Pumputis, Georgia Tech, 1:53.45
3. Carlos Claverie, Louisville, 1:53.62

Louisville freshman Evgenii Somov swept the breaststroke events this week as he ran down Caio Pumputis over the last 50 yards of the race.  Carlos Claverie kept things close, but couldn’t get pass either freshman, ultimately touching in 3rd in 1:53.62.

Virginia freshman Matthew Otto took 4th in 1:53.92, also well under last year’s NCAA invite time.

With two men in the A-final, Virginia has now moved into 3rd place in the team standings, passing Notre Dame.  Georgia Tech has been closing the gap on UNC, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be able to make up that 100 point deficit in the final two events.

1. North Carolina State University 1343.5
2. Louisville, University of 1022.5
3. Virginia, University of 879
4. Notre Dame, University of 846
5. Florida State University 755.5
6. VA Tech 636.5
7. Duke University 571
8. North Carolina, University of, 518
9. Georgia Institute of Technolog 407
10. Pittsburgh, University of 260
11. Boston College 102
12. University of Miami (Florida) 94

200 FLY

NCAA A Cut: 1:41.44
NCAA B Cut: 1:47.99
2017 Invite Time: 1:43.09
Conference Record: Andreas Vazaios, NC State, 1:40.77 (2017)
Meet Record: Christian McCurdy (2016) & Andreas Vazaios (2017) NC State, 1:41.42
Defending Champion: Andreas Vazaios, NC State

1. Nicolas Albiero, Louisville, 1:41.08
2. Andreas Vazaios, NC State / Ted Schubert, Virginia, 1:41.35

While NC State and Virginia have been getting lots of attention, Louisville’s been putting up a number of great swims as well.

Freshman Nicolas Albiero grabbed his first conference title tonight, taking down the reigning champion and former meet record holder, Andreas Vazaios, while racing side-by-side.  Albiero’s time of 1:41.08 puts him about three-tenths off of Vazaio’s overall conference record of 1:40.77.

Vazaios was himself just under his meet record, touching in 1:41.35, the exact same time as Virginia’s Ted Schubert, who’s had a great meet himself.

Zach (Harting) and Zach (Fong) were also under last year’s NCAA invite time, touching in 1:41.54 and 1:42.37, respectively.

Here are the team scores heading into the final event:

1. North Carolina State University   1393
2. Louisville, University of 1116.5
3. Virginia, University of 931.5
4. Notre Dame, University of 891
5. Florida State University 772.5
6. VA Tech 654.5
7. Duke University 573
8. North Carolina, University of, 524
9. Georgia Institute of Technolog 458
10. Pittsburgh, University of 284
11. Boston College 105
12. University of Miami (Florida) 94

With a gap of more of than 64 points between most of the teams, if our math is right, the only way these standings could change would be if UVA or Duke were to get DQ’d in the 400 free relay, and the teams immediately after them earned enough points to close the gap.

400 Free Relay

NCAA A Cut: 2:52.10
NCAA B Cut: 2:53.23
Conference Record: NC State, 2:46.81 (2016)
Meet Record: NC State, 2:48.14 (2017)
Defending Champion: NC State

1. NC State, 2:45.69
2. Florida State, 2:50.63
3. Louisville, 2:51.09

Ryan Held built a body length lead after the first 100, and Justin Ress (40.87), Jacob Molacek (41.71) and Colemen Stewart (41.66) all outsplit anyone on any other team.  Not only was their time of 2:45.69 a new conference and meet record, but that’s the 2nd-fastest 400 freerelay of all time, and an American Record to boot.

Florida State proved that they have the best sprint chops in the conference outside of NC State with a 2:50.63 2nd place finish.  Louisville anchor Zach Harting ran down Virginia’s Bryce Keblish over the last 50 to give the Cardinals a narrow 4th place finish.

Final Scores:

1. North Carolina State Universit 1457
2. Louisville, University of 1170.5
3. Virginia, University of 983.5
4. Notre Dame, University of 941
5. Florida State University 828.5
6. VA Tech 688.5
7. Duke University 621
8. North Carolina, University of, 568
9. Georgia Institute of Technolog 504
10. Pittsburgh, University of 324
11. Boston College 137
12. University of Miami (Florida) 94