2020 Women’s ACC Champs: Kate Douglass Has Adjusted Fly Stroke Count (Video)

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

Reported by Robert Gibbs.

WOMEN’S 100 FLY – FINALS

• ACC meet record: 50.06 – Kelsi Worrell, 2016
• ACC record: 49.43, Kelsi Worrell, 2017
• 2019 ACC Champion: Morgan Hill (UVA) – 51.01

1. Kate Douglass, Virginia – 50.83
2. Morgan Hill, Virginia – 51.12
3. Grace Oglesby, Louisville – 51.74

University of Virginia freshman Kate Douglass picked up her 2nd individual win, and 4th victory overall, to kick off day 3. Her time of 50.83 is about half-a-second shy of her mid-season 50.30 that remains her lifetime best.

A 1-2-5-6 finish for Virginia, plus a B-final win from Caroline Gmelich, led to a 129-point event for Virginia, who entered the day with a lead over NC State. The Wolfpack, meanwhile, didn’t score any points in the race, which just-about seals this meet for the Cavaliers, barring disaster over the last 3 sessions of the meet.

The defending champion Morgan Hill of Virginia took 2nd in 51.12, about a tenth slower than she went last year, while Louisville’s Grace Oglesby also slid a spot, from 2nd at last year’s meet to 3rd this season.

Alyssa Marsh, after her 22.0 split in the 50 fly on Duke’s 200 medley relay earlier in the meet, took 4th in the 100 fly with a time of 51.82. She’s already earned her NCAA invite via a 51.0 mid-season swim.

None of the 8 A-finalists swam a best time in the evening session.

WOMEN’S 200 IM – FINALS

• ACC meet record: 1:53.90  – Kate Douglass, 2020
• ACC record: 1:52.84 – Kate Douglass, 2019
• 2019 ACC Champion: Julia Poole (NCS) – 1:55.13

1. Kate Douglass (Virginia) – 1:51.36
2. Julia Poole (NC State) – 1:54.86
3. Abby Richter (Virginia) – 1:55.22

There wasn’t a ton of doubt that Kate Douglass was going to win. The real question was, just how fast would she go? Sure enough, Douglass demolished the field, going out in 23.81 and never looking back, winning by exactly 3.5s in an ACC record time of 1:51.36. That took down her own meet record of 1:53.90 from this morning, her conference record of 1:52.84, from the Minnesota Invite, Missy Franklin’s pool record, and moves her up to #4 all-time.

Behind her NC State’s Julia Poole was dueling with a pair of Virginia swimmers, Abby Ritcher and Ella Nelson, with Poole touching 2nd in 1:54.86, while Richter passed Nelson on the free leg to take 3rd 1:55.22 to 1:55.43.