The Virginia women hit the accelerator on day 2 of their dual meet with Notre Dame, sweeping all 9 individual events as Virginia won the men’s and women’s meets with their ACC foes.
After winning the 500 free on day 1, it was Leah Smith who came up with the double on day 2, taking the 1000 free (9:40.22) and 200 free (1:47.55) by wide margins.
Also doubling up was sophomore Jen Marrkand, who won the 200 fly on opening day. She took the 100-yard race in that same stroke (54.31 while outpacing Notre Dame’s Tayde Revilak over the final 50) as well as the 400 IM (4:16.68) to close out the meet.
The Virginia women smashed a pool record in the 200 medley relay, with Courtney Bartholomew, Laura Simon, Ellen Thomas and Caitlin Cooper going 1:39.49.
Bartholomew was an impressive 24.7 leading off in backstroke, Simon was 28.0 on breaststroke and Thomas 23.9 on the fly leg. All three would go on to win individual races: Bartholomew won the 100 back (53.07) to complete a trio of wins for the weekend, Simon took the 200 breast (2:13.45) and Thomas won the 50 free (23.27).
On the men’s side, Austin Quinn came home with his third win of the weekend, going 1:38.87 to take the 200 free. He also led off the winning 200 medley relay in 22.8 as Virginia went 1:30.05 to win its first men’s relay of the meet.
Notre Dame put together a tough run through the middle of the meet, though, winning 4 of 5 events during one stretch. That started with freshman sprint star Tabahn Afrik, who went 20.68 to take the 50 free. Afrik won the 100 free on day 1 as well.
Trent Jackson took the 200 breast (2:03.11) and Matt Grauslys the 100 fly (48.32 to complete a fly sweep for the weekend) to maintain Notre Dame’s run. Quinn’s 200 free win stopped the streak, but Notre Dame returned to take the 100 back (Ayhan Bogac in 48.99) in the next race.
But Virginia was better over the longer distances, and wins in the 1000 free (Sam Magnan in 9:17.62) and 400 IM (Zach Fong in 3:58.17) sealed the win, despite Notre Dame taking the final 400 free relay on a 43.7 Afrik split.
