King, Boyle, And Cotter Missing From ACC Champs Pre-Scratch Psych Sheets (FULL PSYCHS)

2023 ACC Championships

• Tuesday, February 14 to Saturday, February 18, 2023
• Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
• Defending Champions: Virginia (3x)
• Full Event Schedule
• Championship Central
• Pre-Scratch Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Streaming

FULL PSYCH SHEETS

The pre-scratch psych sheets for the 2023 ACC Championships have been released, and for the most part, they tell us a whole lot of nothing—most of the versatile swimmers with lineups up for speculation are over-entered in races that they won’t end up swimming.

Arguably the most significant piece of information from these psych sheets is the absence of Matt King and Connor Boyle, two of Virginia’s top swimmers. Both King and Boyle have not competed for UVA since midseason invites, with Boyle being injured on a 1-4 week return timeline (as of January 17) and King being out with a family matter. At 2022 ACCs, King and Boyle combined 108 out of UVA’s 768 individual points to help their team finish fourth place. In addition, both swimmers were on UVA’s 200 free relay that won the ACC title and broke the American record.

King is arguably UVA’s most valuable relay swimmer—he consistently throws down 18/40-point freestyle splits that are usually the fastest on his team, and he’s also capable of swimming a 19-point 50 fly for the 200 medley relay. Boyle is also critical for freestyle relays, having split 18.63/41.81 on UVA’s freestyle relays at ACCs last year.

Another notable absence from the psych sheets is NC State freshman Michael Cotter, who also hasn’t swum since midseason invites. He was one of NC State’s top additions, coming in as the #3-ranked recruit in the high school class of 2023. Fellow NC State freshman Quintin McCarty, the #2-ranked recruit in the high school class of 2022, is also missing from these psychs—he has been out of competition with an injury.

Unfortunately, not many questions will be answered about the hyper-versatile Virginia women, who are entered in every event that they could possibly swim. Alex Walsh leads the way with entries in eight different events, which includes the 500 free and 200 IM on day two, the 400 IM and 200 free on day three, the 200 back and 100 breast on day four, and the 200 fly and 200 breast on day five. Kate Douglass is entered in six events, being listed to swim the 50 free and 200 IM on day two, the 100 fly on day three, the 100 breast on day four, and the 200 breast and 100 free on day five. Gretchen Walsh has five events to choose from, being entered in the 50 free on day two, the 100 fly on day three, the 100 back on day four, and the 200 back and 100 free on day five.

In other words, we aren’t going to get any answers about what UVA’s top three swimmers will actually swim until the meet starts. The only particularly intriguing entry is Gretchen Walsh‘s in the 200 back, as she’s never raced the event at a championship meet before. She’s entered as the second seed with the 1:51.42 she swam at a dual meet, and if she follows the typical UVA trend of not swimming NCAAs lineups at ACCs, we could see her racing the 200 back over the 100 free (which she is the defending NCAA champ in) as the events fall on the same day. In addition, if Douglass opts to swim the 100 breast (which she did at midseason invites), it will be her first time racing the event at a championship meet.

Newly-arrived UVA freshman Aimee Canny is entered in the 50 free, 200 IM, 200 free, and 100 free, meaning that she will has to choose between the 50 free and 200 IM on day one. After her 1:42.78 swam at the Cavalier Invite last week, she is the top seed in the 200 free.

Katharine Berkoff, last year’s top scorer for NC State, is entered in the 50 free, 1o0 back, 200 back, and 100 free, but given that she swam the 100 free at ACCs and NCAAs  last year, it seems likely that she will drop the 200 back.

Berkoff’s teammate and defending ACC and NCAA 100 back champ Kacper Stowkoski has an interesting lineup, as in addition to his signature 100 and 200 back events, he is also entered in the 100 fly and 500 free as possible third events. While he has always raced the 100 back and 200 back at conferences every year, he hasn’t competed in the 100 fly at conferences since 2019, while he has never raced the 500 free at a championship meet before. That being said, he did race the 500 free for the first time in his career at a dual meet against Kentucky this season, which may indicate that he wants to experiment with the event more.

Youssef Ramadan, last year’s ACC Championship men’s swimmer of the meet, has a pretty straight forward lineup. He’s entered in the 50 free, 100 fly, and 100 free, which are the same events he swam last year.