Kylee Alons Thinks 100 Fly Split in 400 MR Was Her Best Race at ACCs (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
• Saturday Finals Heat Sheet

NC State sophomore Kylee Alons had a very successful 2020 ACC Championships. Individually, Alons won the 50 freestyle, took 2nd in the 100 free, and nabbed 3rd in the 100 backstroke.

Though Alons raced only sprint free and back individually at ACCs, she believes her best performance came in the 400 medley relay on Friday night. Swimming the butterfly leg, Alons split a 50.34, holding off 100 fly champion Kate Douglass from Virginia who was only narrowly faster with a 50.29 split. Other than Louisville’s Grace Oglesby who split a 51.10, nobody else in the field clocked a 100 fly split faster than 52 seconds.

Reported by Robert Gibbs.

Thursday

WOMEN’S 50 FREE – FINALS

• ACC meet record: 21.54 – Caitlin Cooper, 2018
• ACC record: 21.48 – Caroline Baldwin, 2017
• 2019 ACC Champion: Morgan Hill (UVA) – 21.68

1. Kylee Alons (NC State) – 21.63
2. Morgan Hill (Virginia) – 21.76
3. Ky-lee Perry (NC State) – 21.78

This turned out to be the same top three finishers as last year, albeit in a complete different order. NC State sophomore Kylee Alons took the win today in 21.63 after finishing 3rd last year in 21.81.

For the second year in a row, UVA’s Morgan Hill and NC State’s Ky-lee Perry touched at almost exactly the same time. Once again, it was Hill who just got her hand on the wall first, out-touching Perry 21.76 to 21.78 tonight. Last year, Hill out-touched Perry 21.68 to 21.69 for the win.

Louisville earned some big points here, as Casey Fanz matched her prelims time of 21.89 for 4th, Christiana Regenauer took 5th in 22.10, and Arina Openysheva touched 7th in 22.26. Virginia Tech’s Joelle Verbeb shaved off a bit of time to take 6th in 22.20. Duke senior Alyssa Marsh appeared to have the lead early, but seemed to have an issue coming off the turn, ending up 8th in 22.30.

UVA freshman Lexi Cuomo knocked almost half a second off of her prelims time to win the B-final in 22.00.

Friday

WOMEN’S 100 BACK – FINALS

• ACC meet record: 50.74 – Courtney Bartholomew, 2016
• ACC record: 50.01 – Courtney Bartholomew, 2014
• 2019 ACC Champion: Elise Haan (NCS) – 51.43

1. Katharine Berkoff (NC State) – 51.64
2. Caroline Gmelich (Virginia) – 51.88
3. Kylee Alons (NC State) – 52.17

NC State freshman Katharine Berkoff earned her first individual ACC title with a 51.64 tonight. That was a bit off her 51.21 from this morning, but still enough to beat Virginia junior Caroline Gmelich, who took 2nd with a 51.88. Gmelich had a solid evening, taking 9th in the 100 fly with a new personal best time of 52.46 before tying her personal best in this event

The Wolfpack went 1-3 in the event, as Kylee Alons picked up 3rd with a 52.17, shaving another 0.16s off her personal best time of 52.33 from this morning.

WOMEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY – TIMED FINALS

• ACC meet record: 3:28.25 – Virginia, 2016
• ACC record: 3:26.42 – Virginia, 2015

1. NC State, 3:27.22
2. Virginia, 3:28.17
3. Louisville, 3:31.11

Berkoff got NC State off to a fast start, swimming three-tenths faster than she individually, and staking NC State to nearly a one-second lead immediately. Hansson extended the Wolfpack’s lead with a 57.9 breast split, putting the matter essentially out of reach. Alons essentially matched 100 fly champion Douglass on the fly leg, 50.34 to 50.29. Hill did her best to close the gap, anchoring in 46.82, but Ky-lee Perry‘s 47.63 was more than enough, as NC State won in 3:27.22, setting a new meet record.

Virginia touched 2nd in 3:28.17, and Louisville was also under the NCAA ‘A’ cut with a 3:31.11.

UNC, Florida, and Notre Dame were all under the NCAA ‘B’ cut of 3:33.78.

Saturday

WOMEN’S 100 FREE – FINALS

• ACC meet record: 46.57 – Mallory Comerford, 2019
• ACC record: 46.20 – Mallory Comerford, 2018
• 2019 ACC champion: Mallory Comerford (Louisville) – 46.57

1. Morgan Hill (Virginia) – 47.47
2. Kylee Alons (NC State) – 47.73
3. Casey Fanz (Louisville) – 47.97

There was arguably no clear favorite coming into tonight in this event, and heading into the final wall, it looked like the winner could be one of several different woman. But UVA senior Morgan Hill, last year’s runner up, come off that last wall strong and stormed home to take the win in 47.47, just 0.01s off her lifetime best from last year’s final.

NC State sophomore Kylee Alons broke the 48 second barrier for the first time to take 2nd in 47.73, while Louisville senior Casey Fanz essentially matched her time from this from morning to take 3rd in 47.97. Louisville also got a 6th place finish from Arina Openysheva (48.37).

UNC got 4th and 8th place finishes from Caroline Hauder (48.18) and Emma Cole (48.78). That’s a new lifetime best for Hauder, shaving a little over 0.2s off her previous best from this morning.

Duke’s Alyssa Marsh took 5th in 48.29, while UVA freshman Lexi Cuomo shaved another couple tenths off her previous personal best from this morning to take 7th in 48.46.

NC State Ky-lee Perry, who was 3rd last year, but missed the A-final, won the B-final with a 48.30.

WOMEN’S 400 FREE RELAY – TIMED FINALS

• ACC meet record: 3:09.45 – Virginia, 2018
• ACC record: 3:09.45 – Virginia, 2018
• 2019 ACC champion: Louisville – 3:11.63

1. Virginia – 3:10.57
2. Louisville – 3:11.57
3. NC State – 3:13.00

Virginia wrapped up the ACC champs with a dominant showing in the 400 free relay. The Cavaliers used a pair of freshman for the front half; Kate Douglass got things rolling with a 47.77 leadoff, then handed it over to Lexi Cuomo, who split 47.84. At that point, the upperclassmen took over. Paige Madden, who swept the distance events, split a 48.04 that’s not at all shabby for someone just won the mile in 15:50, then Morgan Hill stormed home with a 46.92 split as UVA won in 3:10.57. That’s about a second off of the meet and conference record the Cavaliers set two years ago, but at the moment, that appears to be the fastest time in the NCAA this season (although that could change soon this evening).

NC State was actually in the lead at the halfway point after getting a 47.97 leadoff by Kylee Alons and a 47.48 2nd leg by Ky-Lee Perry. Sophie Hansson split 48.87 and Julia Poole anchored in 48.68 as the Wolfpack ended up 3rd in 3:13.00.

The Louisville sprint crew has been pushing Virginia and NC State all meet, and they took 2nd in 3:11.57. Arina Openysheva opened it up in 48.42, then Casey Fanz ripped a 47.22, the 2nd-fastest split of the day. Christiana Regenauer went 48.19 on the 3rd leg, and Lainey Visscher brought it home in 47.74 as Louisville touched in 3:11.57.

All three top teams were under the NCAA ‘A’ cut, and UNC was under the ‘B’ cut with a time of 3:14.64.

Final scores are now in, and UVA has won with 1492.5 points, the most in ACC Conference Championships history.

FINAL SCORES

1. Virginia – 1492.5
2. NC State – 1333
3. Louisville – 1105.5
4. North Carolina – 839
5. Notre Dame – 784
6. Duke – 675.5
7. Florida State – 555
8. Virginia Tech – 469
9. Georgia Tech – 407.5
10. Pitt – 359
11. Miami – 298
12. Boston College – 164