NC State, Virginia, VT Name Team Captains For 2020-2021

Three ACC powers have officially named team captains for the 2020-2021 NCAA Swimming & Diving season: NC State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech.

The trio of teams represent 3 of the top 4 finishers from last year’s ACC men’s and women’s championships.

Final 2020 ACC Championships Standings – Men

1. NC State: 1250
2. UVA: 1089
3. Louisville: 1066.5
4. VT: 898
5. Florida St: 812.5
6. ND: 803.5
7. UNC: 630.5
8. Pitt: 520
9. GT: 506
10. Duke: 421
11. Miami: 197
12. BC: 134

Final 2020 ACC Championships Standings – Women

1. UVA: 1492.5
2. NC State: 1333.5
3. Louisville: 1105.5
4. UNC: 839
5. ND: 784
6. Duke: 675.5
7. Florida St: 555
8. VT: 469
9. GT: 407.5
10. Pitt: 358.5
11. Miami: 298
12. BC: 164

NC State

The NC State Wolfpack are the five-time defending ACC champs on the men’s side. They’ve named their six team captains for the coming year, according to the team’s coaching staff:

  • Julia Poole, senior – Last season, Poole was the ACC runner-up in the 200 IM, a year after winning the ACC title as a sophomore. She has an Honorable Mention All-America award via a 14th-place finish in the 200 IM at the 2019 NCAA Championships.
  • Sophie Hansson, junior – a 5-time All-American and 5-time ACC Champion, Hansson enters her junior season as the favorite nationally in the 100 breaststroke. She ended the season in that event ranked #1 in the nation.
  • Shannon Kearney, junior – While not a member of NC State’s ACC Championship team last season, but she still finished her season on a high note with best times in both the 100 back (53.82) and 200 back (1:57.41) at the Bulldog Invitational first chance meet. Both of those times would have scored at the ACC Championships.
  • Eric Knowles, senior – Knowles had a trio of top-6 finishes at last year’s ACC Championship meet, including 4th in the 1650 free (14:47). As a sophomore in 2019, he was the ACC Champion in the 500 free. Before the meet was cancelled, he was qualified to siwm at his 3rd-straight NCAA Championship last season, looking to repeat All-America status (16th place) in the mile.
  • Nyls Korstanje, junior – The team’s 2nd-leading scorer at last year’s ACC Championship meet as a sophomore, Korstanje was the conference champion in both the 50 free (19.25) and 100 free (42.13). He also took 3rd in the 100 fly (45.47). He earned 5 All-America honors in 2019 as a freshman, including individually in both the 50 and 100 freestyles.
  • Luke Sobolewski, senior – A sprinter, Sobolewski played a crucial role in NC State’s conference championship winning 200 medley relay. There, he picked up the butterfly leg and split 20.38 to hold-serve against runners-up Florida State, handing Korstanje a chance to finish the relay with the win.

Virginia

Virginia, the defending ACC women’s champions, named the captains of their women’s team in an Instagram post Friday:

  • Kyla Valls, senior – A key relay cog for UVA, she has 6 All-America awards in her career, all as a relay swimmer, and 2 ACC titles. She ranks in the top 10 all-time at Virginia in the 50 free (22.40), 100 free (48.39), and 200 free (1:44.48)
  • Caroline Gmelich, senior – Gmelich had a breakout season as a sophomore, including a runner-up finish at the ACC Championships in the 100 backstroke. Her 51.88 in that event ranks her 4th all-time at Virginia.
  • Alexis Wenger, junior – Wenger ranked 2nd nationally last season in the 100 breaststroke, behind only NC State captain Sophie Hansson (see above). Her 57.91 in the 100 breaststroke broke the UVA record.
  • Jess Nava, junior – As a sophomore, she finished 6th at the ACC Championships in the 100 fly (52.11) and 4th in the 200 fly (1:54.81).
  • Sam Schilling, senior – Schilling finished 2020 as an ACC runner-up in the men’s 200 free, now ranking 3rd in that event in program history (behind only National Teamer Scot Robison and Olympic gold medalist Matt McLean). In total as a junior, he dropped almost 2 seconds in that event from 1:35.18 to 1:33.42.
  • Matt Otto, senior – Otto ranks in the programs top-10 of all time in 4 different events. That included a 6th-place finish in the 200 breaststroke.
  • Casey Storch, junior – With 75 points at last year’s ACC Championships, Storch is the team’s highest-scoring swimmer from that meet who will return next season. That included a 3rd-place finish in the 400 IM in 3:44.02.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBDYdvaAGTN/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAu8jk5AmtV/

Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech also announced their captains via head coach Sergio Lopez‘s Instagram:

  • Reka Gyorgy, senior – Gyorgy also sat out last season on a redshirt. Previously, though, she was an NCAA scorer in the 400 IM in each of her three seasons with the H2Okies.
  • Molly Sheffield, senior – Sheffield scored at ACCs in the 100 fly as a sophomore, but was a scratch from her events as a junior in 2020.
  • Alex Slayton, junior – Slayton will be a junior captain. She led off Virginia Tech’s 200 medley relay at ACCs in 2020.
  • Regan Westwood, senior – Westwood, a diver, scored at ACCs on 3-meter this past season and on two boards as a freshman in 2018.
  • Tommy Hallock, senior – Hallock was an ACC A finalist in the 50 and 100 frees last season He was an NCAA invitee in 2020 before that meet was canceled.
  • David Herbert, senior – Herbert sat out last season with a redshirt. Before that, he was an ACC scorer in the 50 free as both a sophomore and junior.
  • Keith Myburgh, junior – Myburgh won last year’s ACC B final in the 400 IM as a sophomore.
  • Noah Zawadzki, junior –  Zawadzki, a diver, qualified for NCAAs on all three boards as a freshman in 2019, and had earned invites on all three boards again in 2020.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA55umlBDBy/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA56NAEBDll/

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John
3 years ago

Can Virginia please get someone who knows how to use Photoshop? Those graphics hurt my eyes.

DravenOP
Reply to  John
3 years ago

I think you need new eyes instead.

swimgeek
3 years ago

Very minor correction — Scot Robison from UVA had a helluva career and was ever so close, but was not an Olympian. He finished 7th in the 100 free at OTs.

Swimfan
3 years ago

Breaststroke depth in the ACC is insane.

UVA with 2 girls under 1:00
NC State with 4 girls under 1:00
Louisville with 3 girls under 1:00

Snarky
Reply to  Swimfan
3 years ago

Girls? They don’t have “girls” swimming in college. But they DO have women’s swimming.

swimapologist
Reply to  Snarky
3 years ago

I’ma have to keep that in mind the next time one of these college swimmers get arrested and y’all mad at Swimswam for reporting on the misadventures of “just kids.”

Where do you draw the line between girls and women? Because, Kate Douglass was under the age of 18 when the season started 😉

Swimfan
Reply to  Snarky
3 years ago

Uh la la… mi scusi

Nonrevhoofan
Reply to  Swimfan
3 years ago

UVA has one woman under 58 (Wenger), one woman under 59 (Walsh) and two more under 1:00 (Keating, Douglass).

Swimfan
Reply to  Nonrevhoofan
3 years ago

Totally forget about Keating. Very similar line up with NC State. Hannson 57, Calegan 58, Arens & Podmanikova 59

Gator
3 years ago

Wonder if any of these kids are swimming……

Swimmerj
3 years ago

Can we discuss the fact that Virginia will have three underclass(wo)men who are 2:05 in the 2brst

Wow
Reply to  Swimmerj
3 years ago

It’s crazy. And Douglass wasn’t even fully rested for ACCs (at least based on my assumptions). I don’t even know what she would’ve went at NCAAs.

I’m curious as to what Alex Walsh will even swim next year. Logically, the 200 IM. Then either 100BK/200BK or 100BR/200BR. With Regan as a freshman next year it would be logical to do the breaststrokes, but based on Virginia’s needs it may have to be backstroke. Or possibly backstroke on relays and breaststroke individually.

swimgeek
Reply to  Wow
3 years ago

Walsh could also swim diff events at ACCs and NCAAs

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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