Virginia Tech’s Blake Manoff Discusses 4th-Place Team Finish at ACCs (Video)

2020 ACC MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 26th to Saturday, February 29th 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) (29x, 5th-straight) (results)
• Streaming: ACC Network
  • Day 2 Finals
  • Day 3 Finals
  • Day 4 Finals
• Championship Central: Here
• Detailed Timeline: Here
• Psych Sheets: Here
• Live Results

Reported by Robert Gibbs.

Friday

100 FLY – FINALS

• ACC record: 44.46 – Coleman Stewart (NC State), 2019
• ACC meet record: 44.79 – Ryan Held (NC State), 2018
• 2019 champion: Kanoa Kaleoaloha (Florida State), 44.93

1. Nick Albiero (Louisville) – 44.86
2. Coleman Stewart (NC State) – 44.92
3. Nyls Korstanje (NC State) – 45.47

Coleman Stewart was hunting for his first ACC title in this event after finishing 2nd the last two year, and at first he looked like he was going to be successful. He went out in 20.72, and looked to be in control at the final turn. Nick Albiero, who had the fastest time in prelims (43.83), appeared to be a little long on the first turn, and was 0.19s behind Stewart at the halfway point. But Albiero stormed home down the final few yards and managed to get to the wall just ahead of Stewart, 44.86 to 44.92.

Both men were faster than last year, when Stewart took 2nd in 45.09, and Albiero took 4th in 45.37.

NC State still earned big points in this event, as Nyls Korstanje took 3rd in 45.47,  new personal best for him, after taking 9th here last year. The Wolfpack also got a 5th place finish from Noah Hensley (45.71) and an 8th place finish from Luke Sobolewski (46.56).

Virginia Tech took 4th and 7th with the efforts of Blake Manoff (45.60) and Antani Ivanov (45.77). Pitt’s Blaise Vera almost perfectly matched his time from this morning (46.22 tonight vs 46.21 this morning) to take 6th.

Saturday

200 FLY – FINALS

• ACC record: 1:38.57 – Andreas Vazaois (NC State), 2019
• ACC meet record: 1:40.51 – Nick Albiero (Louisville), 2020
• 2019 champion: Nick Albiero (Louisville), 1:40.70

1. Nick Albiero (Louisville) – 1:38.65
2. Blake Manoff (Virginia Tech) – 1:40.48
3. Antani Ivanov (Virginia Tech) – 1:41.01

Nick Albiero came within a tenth of a second of the overall conference record, blasting a 1:38.65 that moves him up to #1 in the nation this season. That’s Albiero 2nd-straight victory in this event, completes the fly sweep this week, and breaks his own conference meet record from this morning.

Virginia Tech swept the next two spots. Blake Manoff moves to #3 this season with a 1:40.48, a NCAA ‘A’ cut, and Antani Ivanov took 3rd here for the second season in a row with his time of 1:41.01.

UVA’s Ted Schubert, who swept the IMs over the last two days, touched 4th here with a 1:41.34. That’s a new personal best for him by 0.01s; he took 6th in this event last year.

NC State sophomore Zach Brown moved from 8th in this event last year to 5th this year with his time of 1:42.30. Teammate Erge Gezmis finished 7th in 1:44.00.

Georgia Tech’s Christian Ferraro (1:42.93) took 6th, and FSU’s Max Polianski (1:47.17) took 8th.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

1. NC State – 1250
2. Virginia – 1089
3. Louisville – 1066.5
4. Virginia Tech – 898
5. Florida State – 812.5
6. Notre Dame – 803.5
7. North Carolina – 630.5
8. Pitt – 520
9. Georgia Tech – 506
10. Duke – 421
11. Miami – 197
12. Boston College – 134