2026 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships
- Dates:
- Diving: Sunday, February 15–Tuesday, February 17
- Swimming: Tuesday, February 17–Saturday, February 21
- Location: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- Defending champions: UVA women (6x); Cal men (1x)
- Live Video: ESPN+ ($)
- Schedule of Events (PDF)
- Championship Central
- Pre-Scratch Psych Sheet
- Live Results
- Live Recaps
- Teams: Boston College, Cal, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami (women swimming & diving/men diving), NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, SMU, Stanford, Virginia, Virginia Tech
1650 Heat Sheets
Saturday Prelims Heat Sheets
While most lineups are ascribed by “all that’s left” on the final day of the ACC Championships, there were still a few significant choices to be made. Many of those choices revolved around the top seeds in the women’s 1650 freestyle.
The top seed in the mile, freshman Claire Weinstein from Cal, opted to swim the 100 free instead. She’s just the 10th seed in the 100 free. She will also likely swim on Cal’s 400 free relay at the end of the session.
That choice avoided a battle with her former Sandpipers of Nevada teammate Katie Grimes from Virginia. Grimes chose to swim the 1650, where she’s now the top seed and favorite, over the 200 back, where she would have been the 7th seed.
Another Cal freshman Ella Cosgrove chose to drop the mile. She would have been the 6th seed in the mile after Weinstein’s scratch but is instead swimming the 200 back as the 32nd seed. She’s seeded with a 1:55.99 that is a dual meet time, so she should move up from that, especially after really good performances in the 200 and 500 freestyles earlier in the meet.
Other Top 10 Scratches
- Virginia’s Claire Curzan chose the 200 backstroke over the 100 free after winning the 100 back and becoming the #2 performer in history on Friday. This will be her first 200 of the meet – she also finished as the runner-up in the 100 fly on Thursday.
- Cal’s Mia West dropped the 100 free as the #6 seed. She was out of individual entries but will likely play a key role in Cal’s 400 free relay.
- Stanford freshman Ethan Ekk dropped the 200 back as the 7th seed to focus on the 1650 free as the #2 seed. half of the fastest heat of the mile on Saturday are freshman, with two more being sophomores.
Correct decision for Weinstein. As of now her 1650 entry time for NCAAs is 15:52.28. By not swimming it tomorrow there’s a good chance she’ll drop out of the top 8 and avoid the late swim at NCAAs. She will be better rested for the 800 free relay that night.
Extremely strategic if true
Basically, it comes off as a quit. Sorry. “K. Grimes” can swim a lot of things, and in this scene can depend on what the “team” needs, as she has talked about publicly. Afterwards, it might change. DeSorbo says they train around 50% LC anyway during the season that we don’t see. They’re not idiots and one reason that UVA’s a destination. Claire shoulda gone for her event. She gonna heat Gretchen for a spot on 100 free? Avoidance from what’s going on But hey, I know this is tough talk but I think she’s a star. Just a bad look it what I’m saying. Looks like a duck.
Breaking news: UVA is training right through this meet https://youtu.be/wkKYYEGKqGI?si=lYeXiDjJZ_bSqfki
They say this every year, yet most of their swimmers don’t improve from ACCs to NCAAs….
After the Stanford relay DQ, this is the right move. No longer need to hammer Weinstein with the 1650 this weekend. At NCAA, for sure she’s swimming it.
A bit of a surrender don’t you think? She and O’Dell are great swimmers, but shall we hear the “development” criticisms that Desordo gets as to Grimes for them? Mia West on the other hand looks like a legit star. Meanhile, UVA is dropping PBs and record swims unshaved and unresested. And the team is younger than most think.
Grimes still gets a lot of grief after outswimming her sandpipers sisters in the 4 im (Bella) and 5 free (claire)
To be fair, Sims is playing catch up. The two years at UF almost killed her career.
Curtis, moesch, grimes, Hartman, Hayes, mintenko, umstead are all underclassmen. This team has a bright future
Very interesting!
It seems that K. Grimes is not in consideration for the W 4 x 200 FR-R at the NCAA DI Women’s Championships:
A Canny-M. Mintenko-B. Hartman-A. Moesch
C. Gormsen won’t be in any condition to swim the W 4 x 200 FR-R after the W 1650 FR at the NCAA DI Women’s Championships.
Turning the attention back to the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships, Stanford University is in for a beatdown in the W 1650 FR courtesy of K. Grimes and C. Gormsen.
Interesting move trading a sure top 3 finish for fighting for an A final spot. I guess Claire’s college swimming future lies more in the 100 than the mile.
i mean cal can let her idgaf an event now …
Yep. And a nice chance to see a 100 Free straight up from her, suited and rested. Not a lot of chances for that. (yeah, yeah, yeah, nobody is ever rested – but they are)
Oh I did not expect that