ACC Championships
- Tuesday, February 15- Saturday February 19, 2022
- Georgia Tech- Atlanta, GA
- Defending Champion: Men- Louisville (1x) Women- Virginia (2x)
- Live Results
- Live Video
- Championships Central
- Psych Sheets
The ACC has dropped its second version of the 2022 ACC Championships, and after a thorough review, we can say confidently that they provide very little clarity on anything.
But, people still like to see them, so we’re providing them anyway.
Almost every top swimmer in the league is over-entered, and there is only one swimmer with a top 10 ranking in the ACC this season who has not entered those events.
That one is Virginia Tech’s standout sophomore Youssef Ramadan. He is entered in the 50 free (#3 seed), 100 fly (#1 seed), and 100 free (#1 seed), which is the exact same schedule he raced last year. That means no 100 back (#8 in the conference) or 200 fly (#6 in the conference).
Those entries were exactly what he was expected to enter, and yet they are still the most significant information to glean from the sheets at this stage.
The most interesting event decisions come from the Virginia women. So far, Kate Douglass is entered in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 IM, 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, and 200 breast, which more-than-anything shows off her versatility. Last year at ACCs, she finished 2nd in the 200 IM, won the 100 fly, and won the 100 free, before swapping the 200 IM for the 50 free at NCAAs. This year, she has a shot at the NCAA record in the 200 breast, be it at ACCs or NCAAs, so we might see that race creep into her schedule on the final day of the meet.
Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo told SwimSwam’s Coleman Hodges last week that he encourages his versatile athletes to swim the races that most excite them, and he believes that the 200 breast record really excites Douglass, so that might be a clue to where she’s headed.
Her teammate Alex Walsh, who is at least as versatile, is entered in 11 events at this year’s ACC Championships. Last year she swam the 200 IM, 100 breast, and 200 back, winning the title in the 200 IM. She swapped the 100 breast and 200 back for the 200 free and 200 breast at NCAAs as Virginia won the title.
Also take note of entries from two big mid-season additions. For Virginia Tech, Nicolas Garcia is entered in the 200 IM, 400 IM, 100 back, and 200 back. He was an Olympic finalist in the 200 back in Tokyo, so he’s a title contender there, even as just the 13th seed.
For the Louisville women, that’s Rye Ulett, who joined her older sister Tristen on the Cardinals’ roster mid-season after a surprise early high school graduation. She’s entered in the 500 free, 200 IM, 400 IM, 100 back, and 200 back, with a top seed of 5th in the 200 back. Her best time makes her a title contender in that race against a good field that includes Katharine Berkoff from NC State, Emma Atkinson from Virginia Tech, and Virginia sophomore Reilly Tiltmann. Tiltmann, the top seed in the race, is a kindred spirit in that she joined the Cavaliers last year mid-season.
In the ACC, each team can score up to 21 athletes, with swimmers and divers each counting as one. There is a maximum of 18 swimmers for each team. Each athlete can swim a maximum of 7 total events, with no more than 3 of those being individual events.
At the conference level, it rarely makes sense, from a points perspective, for an athlete to swim 5 relays and 2 individual events, so most swimmers will compete in 3 individual races.
Teams have until before each prelims session to make scratches.
Didn’t know Pittsburgh had so many swimmers seeded so high and the relays will be big point scorers.
Reilly Tiltmann is a freshman, not a sophomore.
She graduated early and enrolled in January and swam for UVA at last year’s NCAA championships. She therefor just finished her second semester, and thus is second year.
Eligibility-wise and academically she is officially a freshman.
Eligibility wise, she is a sophomore. Her one semester of racing last season did count as a year of eligibility, therefore this is her 2nd year. Virginia lists her as a freshman because she has 3 years of eligibility left after this one, because of the bonus COVID waiver year, but that is not consistent with how they classify the rest of their athletes, nor is it how the rest of the country classifies their athletes, so we refer to her as a sophomore so it is clear that this is her 2nd season of college swimming.
I don’t know anything about her academics. When we refer to classes, we’re referring to eligibility. Most student-athletes that are in their 3rd… Read more »
Reilly lives in the 1st year dorms. UVA doesn’t let 2nd years live in 1st year dorms. Emma Weyant lives in an apartment with Alex Walsh. It’s a bit confusing. Rather than refer to her as a sophomore, why not refer to her as being in her second year of eligibility.
Reilly WANTS to be referred to as a 1st year; maybe you should respect her strong preference. Seems to be analogous to pronoun preferences.
now I get why nobody likes Virignia yall are supes annoying
Maybe uva should get their super weapon math man to come help figure out if the girl is a freshman or sophomore.
This is her 2nd acc/ncaa therefore she is a sophomore.
Why do coaches enter their top swimmers in all of the events they’ve swum this year just to show how awesome their top swimmers are? Tacky. Just enter the freaking meet.
No, you do it to give yourself options. For example my events were the 500, 400 IM and the 1650, but my coach would also put me in the 200 free and 200 fly, just in case. One year I actually didn’t know until the night before if I would swim the 200 free or 400 IM because my coach didn’t know which one would be the better scoring opportunity for the team until that day. Some people are just good enough that they can score well in multiple events. College is about placing for team points, not just individual performances. It’s not tacky, it’s strategic.
NC State looking strong after their dominant win over Florida. I sense an ACC Championship next.
Men’s meet will be the battle – NCSU, L’ville, Va Tech and UVA all contending – have to favor NCSU for the top, but L’ville surprised last year and Va Tech has looked good this year. As always, it will come down to depth, who can place their 10th-18 swimmers/divers into A and B finals for scoring.
Women’s meet less uncertaintly – UVA, then NCSU with L’ville likely 3rd and Va Tech 4th.
UVA with some good sprint free but NOT contending for team title.
i am See 👁👁