2022 ACC Championships: Virginia Women, NC State Men Top Meet Records in 800 Free Relay

alex-walsh, virginia
Virginia's Alex Walsh -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

2022 ACC Championships: Virginia Women, NC State Men Top Meet Records in 800 Free Relay

Last season, the University of Virginia women won the first-ever national title in swimming for the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Cavaliers look to be on track for a repeat performance at this year’s championships. First, though, Virginia will try to win a third straight ACC title and its fourth in five seasons under head coach Todd DeSorbo. The women began that effort Tuesday evening at the ACC championships in Atlanta by recording the nation’s top time so far this season in the 800 freestyle relay.

Meanwhile, NC State topped Louisville for the win in the men’s 800 free relay, with the Wolfpack and Cardinals recording the first two sub-6:10 performances this season.

2022 ACC Championships Links

Women’s 800 Freestyle Relay

Virginia won the 800 free relay at last season’s national championships by 4.5 seconds, and the Cavaliers nearly topped their winning time from 2021 at the conference meet. The team of Reilly TiltmannElla NelsonElla Bathurst and Alex Walsh recorded a time of 6:53.37, chopping a second off their ACC meet record of 6:54.31 set last season. The time was less than a second off the 6:52.56 that UVA swam at last year’s NCAA Championships. The time was the fastest in the nation by 2.5 seconds.

Two freshmen, Tiltmann and Bathurst, who stepped in for the graduated Kyla Valls and Paige Madden. Madden in particular left big shoes to fill after she won three individual NCAA titles last year before qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics and winning an Olympic silver medal, but Walsh made up the difference with a stellar 1:41.63 anchor split, well ahead of the 1:43.18 she swam at NCAAs last season.

NC State finished second with Abbey WebbAnnabel CrushKate Moore and Julia Poole in 6:59.05. That made the Wolfpack the third team to break 7:00 this season, joining Virginia, Texas, Stanford and Cal (while SEC teams Tennessee and Kentucky would also break 7:00 Tuesday evening at the SEC Championships). Third went to Louisville’s Arina OpenyshevaPaige HetrickPolina Nevmovenko and Alena Kraus in 7:00.62.

Virginia recorded the three fastest splits in the field with Walsh’s 1:41 and Tiltmann and Nelson both splitting 1:43s, while the only other sub-1:44 performance belonged to Duke leadoff swimmer Sarah Foley at 1:43.85. Foley will be among the top contenders in the breaststroke events later in the week.

Event 3  Women 800 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
         MEET: # 6:54.31  2/17/2021 University of Virginia, UVA
                          K Valls, A Walsh, P Madden, M Nelson
         CONF: % 6:52.56  3/17/2021 University of Virginia, UVA
                          K. Valls, P. Madden, E. Nelson, A. Walsh
         AMER: $ 6:45.91  3/15/2017 Stanford
                          S Manuel, L Neal, E Eastin, K Ledecky
         USOP: & 6:45.91  3/15/2017 Stanford, Stanford
                          S Manuel, L Neal, E Eastin, K Ledecky
         NCAA: ! 6:45.91  3/15/2017 Stanford
                          S Manuel, L Neal, E Eastin, K Ledecky
         Pool: ^ 6:51.80  3/16/2016 Georgia, Georg
                          H Flickinger, K Stewart, M Raab, B MacLean
                 7:00.86  A
                 7:05.88  B
    School                           Seed     Finals       Points 
==================================================================================
  1 Virginia  'A'                 7:03.95    6:53.37#A       52  
     1) Tiltmann, Reilly A FR         2) r:0.23 Nelson, Margaret JR   
     3) r:0.41 Bathurst, Ella FR      4) r:0.38 Walsh, Alexandra SO   
    r:+0.75  24.42        50.91 (50.91)
      1:16.91 (1:16.91)   1:43.53 (1:43.53)
        2:07.15 (23.62)     2:32.93 (49.40)
      2:59.59 (1:16.06)   3:27.02 (1:43.49)
        3:50.89 (23.87)     4:17.46 (50.44)
      4:44.43 (1:17.41)   5:11.74 (1:44.72)
        5:34.77 (23.03)     6:00.46 (48.72)
      6:26.85 (1:15.11)   6:53.37 (1:41.63)
  2 NC State  'A'                 7:03.72    6:59.04 A       46  
     1) Webb, Abbey C SO              2) r:0.32 Crush, Annabel FR     
     3) r:0.18 Moore, Kathleen 5Y     4) r:0.15 Poole, Julia 5Y       
    r:+0.75  24.33        51.15 (51.15)
      1:17.87 (1:17.87)   1:44.83 (1:44.83)
        2:08.20 (23.37)     2:34.46 (49.63)
      3:01.48 (1:16.65)   3:29.25 (1:44.42)
        3:53.16 (23.91)     4:19.49 (50.24)
      4:46.36 (1:17.11)   5:13.45 (1:44.20)
        5:37.25 (23.80)     6:03.78 (50.33)
      6:31.02 (1:17.57)   6:59.04 (1:45.59)
  3 Louisville  'A'               7:05.36    7:00.62 A       44  
     1) Openysheva, Arina SR          2) r:0.20 Hetrick, Paige SO     
     3) r:0.34 Nevmovenko, Polina FR  4) r:0.23 Kraus, Alena SR       
    r:+0.64  24.17        50.65 (50.65)
      1:17.82 (1:17.82)   1:45.49 (1:45.49)
        2:08.72 (23.23)     2:34.81 (49.32)
      3:01.44 (1:15.95)   3:28.93 (1:43.44)
        3:53.47 (24.54)     4:19.88 (50.95)
      4:46.74 (1:17.81)   5:13.87 (1:44.94)
        5:37.74 (23.87)     6:04.38 (50.51)
      6:32.23 (1:18.36)   7:00.62 (1:46.75)
  4 Virginia Tech  'A'            7:07.40    7:01.32 B       42  
     1) Atkinson, Emma R SO           2) r:0.28 Shackelford, Sarah JR 
     3) r:0.28 Pouch, Rose JR         4) r:0.26 Gyorgy, Reka 5Y       
    r:+0.75  24.74        51.13 (51.13)
      1:17.72 (1:17.72)   1:44.25 (1:44.25)
        2:08.10 (23.85)     2:34.39 (50.14)
      3:01.84 (1:17.59)   3:29.85 (1:45.60)
        3:54.34 (24.49)     4:20.72 (50.87)
      4:48.01 (1:18.16)   5:16.11 (1:46.26)
        5:40.37 (24.26)     6:06.84 (50.73)
      6:33.92 (1:17.81)   7:01.32 (1:45.21)
  5 Duke  'A'                     7:13.75    7:05.32 B       40  
     1) Foley, Sarah E SO             2) r:0.13 Chang, Yi Xuan FR     
     3) r:0.09 Purnell, Catherine SO  4) r:0.08 Smith, Mckenna FR     
    r:+0.64  24.12        50.55 (50.55)
      1:17.34 (1:17.34)   1:43.85 (1:43.85)
        2:07.88 (24.03)     2:35.19 (51.34)
      3:02.78 (1:18.93)   3:30.51 (1:46.66)
        3:54.20 (23.69)     4:20.76 (50.25)
      4:48.57 (1:18.06)   5:16.96 (1:46.45)
        5:40.49 (23.53)     6:07.53 (50.57)
      6:35.82 (1:18.86)   7:05.32 (1:48.36)
  6 UNC  'A'                      7:11.65    7:05.35 B       38  
     1) Lindner, Sophie M SR          2) r:0.33 Dragelin, Amy JR      
     3) r:0.24 Vannote, Elizabeth JR  4) r:0.42 Smith, Addison JR     
    r:+0.70  24.49        50.79 (50.79)
      1:17.87 (1:17.87)   1:45.79 (1:45.79)
        2:10.01 (24.22)     2:36.46 (50.67)
      3:03.89 (1:18.10)   3:32.35 (1:46.56)
        3:56.84 (24.49)     4:23.20 (50.85)
      4:50.02 (1:17.67)   5:17.55 (1:45.20)
        5:41.89 (24.34)     6:08.84 (51.29)
      6:36.59 (1:19.04)   7:05.35 (1:47.80)
  7 Florida St  'A'               7:14.35    7:10.13         36  
     1) Griffiths, Phoebe L SO        2) r:0.14 Trieschmann, Emily FR 
     3) r:0.12 Boals, Sydney FR       4) r:0.22 Jernstedt, Edith FR   
    r:+0.77  25.02        52.11 (52.11)
      1:19.95 (1:19.95)   1:47.42 (1:47.42)
        2:11.76 (24.34)     2:38.75 (51.33)
      3:07.17 (1:19.75)   3:36.11 (1:48.69)
        4:00.42 (24.31)     4:27.29 (51.18)
      4:54.47 (1:18.36)   5:22.08 (1:45.97)
        5:46.18 (24.10)     6:13.32 (51.24)
      6:41.36 (1:19.28)   7:10.13 (1:48.05)
  8 Notre Dame  'A'               7:14.16    7:10.81         34  
     1) Herceg, Ana FR                2) r:0.11 Chelsvig, Kallie SO   
     3) r:0.22 Behm, Ann FR           4) r:0.14 Whiting, Sydney SO    
    r:+0.70  24.95        52.40 (52.40)
      1:20.57 (1:20.57)   1:48.31 (1:48.31)
        2:12.60 (24.29)     2:39.65 (51.34)
      3:07.24 (1:18.93)   3:35.21 (1:46.90)
        4:00.00 (24.79)     4:27.94 (52.73)
      4:56.29 (1:21.08)   5:24.74 (1:49.53)
        5:48.59 (23.85)     6:15.58 (50.84)
      6:43.07 (1:18.33)   7:10.81 (1:46.07)

Men’s 800 Freestyle Relay

In a showdown between NC State and Louisville in the meet’s first men’s swimming event, the Wolfpack came out on top after sophomore Lukas Miller blasted a 1:31.03 split on the second leg to take over the lead from fifth-year Louisville swimmer Nick Albiero, who popped a quick 1:31.82 split of his own. The NC State team of Sam Hoover, Miller, Eric Knowles and Hunter Tapp swam a mark of 6:08.35, taking almost a second-and-a-half off the ACC championships record of 6:09.82 that NC State set in 2017. Tapp also broke 1:32 with a 1:31.97 anchor split.

Louisville, meanwhile, just missed the old meet record with a 6:09.85 as Murilo Santori, Albiero, Denis Loktev and Colton Paulson competed for the Cardinals. Previously, Texas had owned the top time in the country at 6:10.14, but both NC State and Louisville surpassed that mark, along with Florida and Georgia at the SEC Championships in Knoxville. In comparison, only two teams (Texas and Cal) broke 6:10 at last year’s NCAA Championships, so this race is shaping up as a hotly-contested contest in five weeks at the men’s national meet.

Virginia finished third in 6:13.71 with Matt BrownsteadJack AikinsJustin Grender and Jack Wright competing on for the Cavaliers.

Event 4  Men 800 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
         MEET: # 6:09.82  2/27/2017 North Carolina State Universit, NCSU-
                          A Vazaios, R Held, J Ress, S Dahl
         CONF: % 6:05.31  3/23/2018 North Carolina State Universit, NC St
                          Vazaios. Held, Molacek, C. Stewart
         AMER: $ 6:05.08  3/27/2019 Texas
                          D Kibler, A Katz, J Newkirk, F Haas
         USOP: & 6:05.08  3/27/2019 Texas, Texas
                          D Kibler, A Katz, J Newkirk, F Haas
         NCAA: ! 6:05.08  3/27/2019 Texas
                          D Kibler, A Katz, J Newkirk, F Haas
         Pool: ^ 6:08.03  3/23/2016 Texas, Texas
                          J Conger, F Haas, C Smith, J Schooling
                 6:16.80  A
                 6:21.32  B
    School                           Seed     Finals       Points 
==================================================================================
  1 NC State  'A'                 6:13.95    6:08.35#A       52  
     1) Hoover, Samuel E FR           2) r:0.14 Miller, Lukas SO      
     3) r:0.05 Knowles, Eric 5Y       4) r:0.18 Tapp, Hunter JR       
    r:+0.60  21.32        44.89 (44.89)
      1:08.96 (1:08.96)   1:32.62 (1:32.62)
        1:53.52 (20.90)     2:16.65 (44.03)
      2:39.93 (1:07.31)   3:03.65 (1:31.03)
        3:24.33 (20.68)     3:47.76 (44.11)
      4:11.75 (1:08.10)   4:36.38 (1:32.73)
        4:57.19 (20.81)     5:20.41 (44.03)
      5:43.94 (1:07.56)   6:08.35 (1:31.97)
  2 Louisville  'A'               6:19.97    6:09.85 A       46  
     1) Sartori, Murilo S FR          2) r:0.35 Albiero, Nicolas 5Y   
     3) r:0.24 Loktev, Denis FR       4) r:0.20 Paulson, Colton SR    
    r:+0.67  21.34        44.89 (44.89)
      1:08.64 (1:08.64)   1:32.38 (1:32.38)
        1:52.92 (20.54)     2:16.07 (43.69)
      2:39.67 (1:07.29)   3:04.20 (1:31.82)
        3:25.35 (21.15)     3:48.92 (44.72)
      4:13.07 (1:08.87)   4:37.48 (1:33.28)
        4:57.96 (20.48)     5:21.31 (43.83)
      5:45.43 (1:07.95)   6:09.85 (1:32.37)
  3 Virginia  'A'                 6:22.71    6:13.71 A       44  
     1) Brownstead, Matthew K SO      2) r:0.26 Aikins, Jack FR       
     3) r:0.04 Grender, Justin SR     4) r:0.25 Wright, Jack JR       
    r:+0.63  21.04        44.76 (44.76)
      1:08.90 (1:08.90)   1:33.48 (1:33.48)
        1:54.23 (20.75)     2:17.64 (44.16)
      2:42.08 (1:08.60)   3:06.98 (1:33.50)
        3:27.98 (21.00)     3:52.21 (45.23)
      4:16.43 (1:09.45)   4:41.05 (1:34.07)
        5:01.78 (20.73)     5:25.14 (44.09)
      5:49.32 (1:08.27)   6:13.71 (1:32.66)
  4 Virginia Tech  'A'            6:21.97    6:14.19 A       42  
     1) Manoff, Philip B SR           2) r:0.13 Coll Marti, Carles SO 
     3) r:0.36 Dominguez CalonLuis FR 4) r:0.21 Ivanov, Antani SR     
    r:+0.65  21.24        44.87 (44.87)
      1:09.33 (1:09.33)   1:35.02 (1:35.02)
        1:55.92 (20.90)     2:19.47 (44.45)
      2:43.66 (1:08.64)   3:07.78 (1:32.76)
        3:28.99 (21.21)     3:52.73 (44.95)
      4:17.36 (1:09.58)   4:42.05 (1:34.27)
        5:02.92 (20.87)     5:25.92 (43.87)
      5:49.88 (1:07.83)   6:14.19 (1:32.14)
  5 UNC  'A'                      6:30.61    6:16.96 B       40  
     1) Sungalia, Tomas SR            2) r:0.22 Radkov, Nick FR       
     3) r:0.46 Hussey, Patrick SO     4) r:0.31 Rutberg, Noah SO      
    r:+0.67  21.82        45.46 (45.46)
      1:09.51 (1:09.51)   1:33.73 (1:33.73)
        1:55.15 (21.42)     2:19.19 (45.46)
      2:43.63 (1:09.90)   3:08.26 (1:34.53)
        3:29.71 (21.45)     3:53.15 (44.89)
      4:17.38 (1:09.12)   4:42.32 (1:34.06)
        5:03.44 (21.12)     5:27.42 (45.10)
      5:52.08 (1:09.76)   6:16.96 (1:34.64)
  6 Florida St  'A'               6:23.06    6:18.95 B       38  
     1) Ghaffari, Mohamed JR          2) r:0.25 Quirie, David SO      
     3) r:0.30 Budd, Samuel SR        4) r:0.04 Yanchev, Yordan SO    
    r:+0.66  21.87        45.85 (45.85)
      1:10.16 (1:10.16)   1:34.52 (1:34.52)
        1:56.10 (21.58)     2:20.08 (45.56)
      2:44.82 (1:10.30)   3:08.78 (1:34.26)
        3:30.53 (21.75)     3:55.22 (46.44)
      4:19.88 (1:11.10)   4:44.85 (1:36.07)
        5:06.33 (21.48)     5:30.28 (45.43)
      5:54.52 (1:09.67)   6:18.95 (1:34.10)
  7 Georgia Tech  'A'             6:27.68    6:19.94 B       36  
     1) Unlu, Baturalp SO             2) r:0.14 Wakeland, Clark SR    
     3) r:0.19 Kertesz, Daniel JR     4) r:0.31 Saka, Berke FR        
    r:+0.62  21.95        45.74 (45.74)
      1:09.72 (1:09.72)   1:33.68 (1:33.68)
        1:55.09 (21.41)     2:19.13 (45.45)
      2:44.08 (1:10.40)   3:08.86 (1:35.18)
        3:30.41 (21.55)     3:54.49 (45.63)
      4:19.24 (1:10.38)   4:44.49 (1:35.63)
        5:06.32 (21.83)     5:30.53 (46.04)
      5:55.19 (1:10.70)   6:19.94 (1:35.45)
  8 Pittsburgh  'A'               6:34.08    6:25.76         34  
     1) Goraj, Marcin A SO            2) r:0.25 Dutkowiak, Wojciech JR
     3) r:0.26 Frimis, Guy FR         4) r:0.32 Toledo Sanchez,inic JR
    r:+0.66  21.91        46.02 (46.02)
      1:10.87 (1:10.87)   1:36.55 (1:36.55)
        1:58.50 (21.95)     2:22.61 (46.06)
      2:47.27 (1:10.72)   3:12.21 (1:35.66)
        3:34.28 (22.07)     3:58.79 (46.58)
      4:24.17 (1:11.96)   4:49.87 (1:37.66)
        5:11.15 (21.28)     5:34.85 (44.98)
      5:59.93 (1:10.06)   6:25.76 (1:35.89)

Women’s 1-Meter Diving

Duke opened the meet with a win in diving as freshman Margo Omera scored 354.75 to narrowly edge out the 353.85 that Miami junior Mia Vallee recorded. Third went to Miami’s Emma Gullstrand with a 344.65 performance.

Event 1  Women 1 mtr Diving
=========================================================================
         MEET: # 361.85  2/17/2011 Abby Johnston, Duke
         CONF: % 379.98  3/3/2007  Jenna Dreyer, Miami
         Pool: ^ 381.65  2/22/2011 Abby Johnson, Duke
    Name           Year School            Prelims     Finals       Points 
=========================================================================
                             === Finals ===                              
 
  1 Omeara, Margo E  FR Duke               327.20     354.75         26  
  2 Vallee, Mia J    JR Miami (FL)         314.85     353.85         23  
  3 Gullstrand, Emm  FR Miami (FL)         302.05     344.65         22  
  4 Vazquez, Aranza  SO UNC                339.10     338.65         21  
  5 Hidalgo, Cami M  SR Georgia Tech       292.80     314.35         20  
  6 Haffety, Millie  SR Miami (FL)         268.55     287.35         19  
  7 Straub, Kelly M  SR Notre Dame         287.35     286.55         18  
  8 Burrell, Paige   JR UNC                280.90     270.65         17

Men’s 3-Meter Diving

Miami just missed out on a win in the first women’s diving event of the meet, but on the men’s side, Max Flory got the job done on the 3-meter springboard with his score of 448.50, just over three points ahead of North Carolina’s Anton Down-Jenkins, an Olympian for New Zealand. Down-Jenkins scored 445.10, while his UNC teammate Alexander Hart took third in 406.40.

Event 2  Men 3 mtr Diving
=========================================================================
         MEET: # 531.00  2/28/2014 Nick McCrory, Duke
         CONF: % 531.00  2/28/2014 Nick McCrory, Duke
         Pool: ^ 517.65  2/26/2017 David Dinsmore, MIA-FG
    Name           Year School            Prelims     Finals       Points 
=========================================================================
                             === Finals ===                              
 
  1 Flory, Max L     JR Miami (FL)         429.80     448.50         32  
  2 Down-Jenkins, A  JR UNC                418.95     445.10         28  
  3 Hart, Alexander  SO UNC                384.25     406.40         27  
  4 Lechuga, Ruben   JR Georgia Tech       356.45     383.85         26  
  5 Vargas Garcia,      Florida St         329.70     373.00         25  
  6 Helling, Jesco   SO Florida St         336.95     362.80         24  
  7 Zawadzki, Noah   SR Virginia Tech      345.60     318.90         23  
  8 Harding, Seamus  SO Duke               320.40     305.45         22
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