Potential 75-Point Scorer Cooper Wozencraft Out of ACC Championships (PSYCHS)

2020 ACC – Men’s Swimming Championships

Pre-cut psych sheets for the 2020 men’s ACC Swimming Championships have been distributed. These are just for the swimming championships, as diving is held a week earlier with the women’s championships, though scoring is combined to determine the swimming & diving team champions.

Teams also have over-entered their roster limits and will have to cut to 18 swimmers and 3 divers by meet time.

The immediate standout item is the absence of Virginia junior Cooper Wozencraft. A key relay leg for the Virginia men, he is the conference’s 9th-best in the 200 free this season, 5th-best in the 100 back, 4th-best in the 200 back, and 5th-best in the 100 fly. That would project him to score around 75 points individually.

Because Virginia has senior Joe Clark to use on the backstroke leg of their medleys, Wozencraft has been swimming the butterfly leg instead. The 200 medley is seeded 4th in the conference and the 400 medley is seeded 2nd; the 200 has not yet secured an NCAA invites, with a season-best time of 1:25.83, needing to hit the provisional time of 1:24.97.

Virginia’s next-best 100 butterfliers this season behind Wozencroft’s 46.33 are freshmen Konnar Klinksiek (47.75) and Josh Fong (47.96). Another freshman, Max Edwards, is a viable replacement as well – he swam the fly leg of Virginia’s top 200 medley relay against NC State and split 21.01, just few hundredths behind Klinskiek on the team’s B relay.

Wozencraft was also a member of the school’s fastest 400 free relay this season. The Virginia men, like the Virginia women, haven’t raced an official 800 free relay this season, but Wozencraft likely would have been a member of that relay as well at the ACC Championships as the team’s top 200 freestyler. On paper, his absence costs the team about 2 seconds.

We have reached out to Virginia for more information on Wozencraft’s absence and to ask if he will return for the NCAA Championships. We have not yet received a response.

Wozencraft isn’t the only big name missing from the psych sheets. Bartosz Piszczorowicz, who ranks 9th in the 100 free and 6th in the 200 free in the ACC this season, is also absent. He swam the entire fall semester for Louisville, but hasn’t represented the Cardinals since November. Social media posts indicate that he’s back training in Poland, which Louisville has confirmed, saying that the Polish federation wanted him back home training for the Olympics. Piszczorowicz is expected to return for the Cardinals next season.

Louisville has a lot of depth in the 100 freestyle, but far less in the 200 freestyle, so Piszczorowicz’s absence hurts them more in the longer 800 free relay.

Other Entry Notes:

  • Louisville did a better job than most of their peers in limiting swimmers to 3 entries, though not completely so. Nicolas Albiero still has 4: 100 fly (#8 seed), 100 back (#5 seed), 200 back (#11 seed), and 200 fly (#4 seed). The most likely scratch there is the 200 back, though that still leaves him with a double on day 3 of the meet.
  • We also now know that Louisville sophomore Colton Paulson will swim the 200 free (#10 seed), 500 free (#13 seed), and the 1650 free (#24 seed), and not the 100 free, where he’s the 10th-best swimmer in the conference this season. That 100 free would have been his highest seed at the meet if he had swum it.
  • Notre Dame’s Liam Hutchinson isn’t entered at the meet, in spite of having the 10th-best 500 free time in the conference this season. He posted a 4:19.11 at the OSU Winter Invite, a “first chance” meet, last week, so the Irish coaches must feel that he used up all of his gas there.
  • A similar story goes for the ACC’s 9th-best 100 breaststroker, Jackson Seith of Florida State, who swam 54.15 at the Auburn Invitational last week but isn’t entered at the ACC Championships.
  • The conference’s most versatile, and probably best, swimmer Coleman Stewart is entered in 6 events: the 200 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 back, 200 back, and 100 free. All roads lead to a probable double on day 3 of the meet, though the NC State men are heavy favorites to win the title so they may play with his lineup a little too.

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Wow
4 years ago

What is the roster size limit? I see 21 swimmers for NC State. Sucks B final swimmers will have to stay home.

Nonrevhoofan
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

As long as you are answering questions, what about the possibility of tweaking Swimulator to account for 18, not 17, swimmers?

barbotus
Reply to  Nonrevhoofan
4 years ago

Or even 20. CAA going on right now goes 20 deep in conference roster.

Wow
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Thanks, Braden! Not sure how I missed that…

Mark Nedza
4 years ago

Olympic Year. Summer in Louisville or summer in air conditioned Tokyo?

DravenOP
4 years ago

Feels like some people are entered in every event, even events they definitely won’t be swimming.

Samuli Hirsi
Reply to  DravenOP
4 years ago

yes, that is that seems to be normal way, enter full slate and then closer to meet scratch those who are not needed

Bula
4 years ago

Unrelated, but is the Women’s Big 10 psych sheet out?

Anonymous Llama
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Reading, “they don’t do psyche sheets”, hearing “we’re to cool to do psyche sheets”, imagining the meet director staff for the Big Ten meet as the Sqirtle Squad.

AuggieBuschFan
4 years ago

Tough

GA Boy
4 years ago

None of these can really be expected to affect the outcome of the meet though, right?

Texas swims in a short pool
Reply to  GA Boy
4 years ago

Either way two huge losses for Louisville and Virginia.

AuggieBuschFan
Reply to  GA Boy
4 years ago

That would be naive to say seeing as how the race for 2nd 3rd and 4th was already really close between FSU UVA and Louisville before this news came out……. @ GA BOY

Wahoo Wah
Reply to  AuggieBuschFan
4 years ago

Bitter augie fan ^

AuggieBuschFan
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Does this mean you think UVA is a lock for 2nd?

Ol’ Longhorn
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Probably almost definitely is quite the crescendo of a hedge.

Working Swim Mom
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

If it’s an injury, are his mid-season times fast enough for an invite if he’s recovered by then?

Editor
Reply to  Working Swim Mom
4 years ago

Working Swim Mom – Probably not. From a quick glance, I’d say he’s at least a few tenths over what it’ll take to qualify in the 100 back and the 100 fly, and a little over a second over probable qualifying times in the 200 free and the 200 back.

Working Swim Mom
Reply to  Robert Gibbs
4 years ago

That’s a shame. My son swam in the same High School district as Cooper and Clayton Bobo (now at A&M) They are good kids and I hope whatever is going on he is able to work through soon. I love reading articles about local kids’ successes, in and out of the pool.

AuggieBuschFan
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

So who do you think is a lock for 2nd Keith

Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

Bartosz Piszczorowicz is literally a big name. Only 4 consecutive/14 total consonant name in the ACC. My new favorite swimmer.

Max Polianski
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

Great guy too

Ferb
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

I mean, he’s no Fabian Schwingenschlogl, or even a Hrafnhildur Luthersdottir, but yeah, it’s a pretty good name.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Ferb
4 years ago

I miss Schwinginhisschnozzle.

JP input is too short
4 years ago

Geez, Giller last year and now Wozencraft this year.

Sccoach
Reply to  JP input is too short
4 years ago

The Desorbo effect

Sccoach
Reply to  Sccoach
4 years ago

lol I expected tons of downvotes, y’all shady

CACrushers
Reply to  JP input is too short
4 years ago

Did it ever come out what Giller’s injury was last season?

Daddy
Reply to  CACrushers
4 years ago

Back

Aquaman
Reply to  JP input is too short
4 years ago

And Whiteside and Burras

Acc85
Reply to  Aquaman
4 years ago

Whiteside was a back injury as well (sustained during his first year under the old coaches and never that much better). Burras wasn’t a good fit culture wise (academics, respect mostly). All in all, been tough with injuries. We’ll see if the reason for Wonezcraft comes out.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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