The first full week of swimming action around the ACC saw Notre Dame taking care of business in a relay meet Friday and then a dual meet Saturday, and Louisville, Michigan, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Pitt and Boston College were also in the water.
Georgia at North Carolina
The Tar Heels , winning just four total swimming events before Georgia had the meet clinched and swam exhibition from that point on. Facing the defending women’s national champions, UNC had just two individual event winner—Hellen Moffitt in the 100 back (53.08) and Caroline Baldwin in the 50 free (22.73). Moffitt was also a part of the best race of the day as she came in just behind Georgia’s Megan Kingsley in the 100 fly, 53.07 to 53.13. North Carolina’s Elissa Dawson swept the one and three-meter diving events.
Tar Heel winners on the men’s side included Craig Emslie in the 100 breast (55.85), Jordan Merrilees in the 500 free (4:29.35) and Michael Meyer in the 200 IM (1:50.38). North Carolina also got big points out of diving, as Sean Burston won the one-meter and Jack Nyquist took first place on the three-meter.
The final scores were not close—the Georgia women won 179-119, and the men took the meet 162.5-132.5.
Louisville at Michigan
In a unique “tripleheader,” Michigan swept all three sessions for both the women and men in Ann Arbor. But even without their best efforts, the Cardinals still had some major highlights. Senior breaststroker Andrea Cottrell swept the three breaststroke events, winning the 50 (28.25), 100 (1:01.60) and 200 (2:13.24), and Grigory Tarasevich did the same in the men’s backstrokes (22.67, 48.35 and 1:45.48).
Freshman Grace Oglesby made her presence felt as she won the 50 fly and contributed to two winning medley relays. She swam the fly leg on Louisville’s mixed 400 medley relay with Tarasevich (back), Carlos Claverie (breast) and Mallory Comerford (free), which touched in 3:26.30, and she joined Alina Kendzior, Cottrell and Comerford to win the women’s 200 medley relay in 1:41.22.
Oglesby is stepping into big shoes, as the Cardinals finished third in that relay at the NCAA championships last year with the now-graduated Kelsi Worrell swimming the butterfly leg. Her efforts in Ann Arbor have to have Cardinals head coach Arthur Albiero feeling good about the prospects for Oglesby’s rookie campaign.
The Cardinal women also got victories from Comerford (50 free, 23.00), Kendzior (50 back, 25.97) and Abbie Houch (200 fly, 1:59.88). For the men, Claverie won the 200 breast (2:00.16), Trevor Carroll took first in the 200 free (1:37.51), and Zach Harting grabbed the 200 fly win in 1:49.05. Carroll, Matias Lindenbauer, Harding and Tarasevich won the 800 free relay in 6:35.45, and Tarasevich, Claverie, David Boland and Carroll were first in the 400 medley relay in 3:15.29.
Virginia Tech at FGCU Classic
The Hokies swam at the Florida Gulf Coast University’s annual invitational this week in Ft. Myers, Fla. The VT men took first place overall, and the women ended up a close third behind LSU and Ohio State.
Robert Owen took first in a pair of events for Virginia Tech, the men’s 200 back (1:45.98) and 200 IM (1:49.63) while also grabbing second in the 100 back. Norbert Szabo won three different races: the 200 free (1:37.64), 100 IM (50.52) and 200 fly (1:47.64), and he took second in the 100 fly. Ian Ho was first in the 50 free (20.29), and veteran Brandon Fiala finished second in both breaststroke events.
The VT women got first-places finishes from Fiona Donnelly in the 200 back (1:58.29), 100 back (54.97) and 200 IM (2:02.77). Klaudio Nazieblo won the 100 fly in 54.45, and Jessica Hespeler finished with top honors in the 500 free (4:49.72).
Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh at Boston College
Chestnut Hill, Mass., was the site of three separate dual meets Saturday as Boston College hosted ACC foes Georgia Tech and Pitt. The Pitt women defeated both BC (237-62) and Georgia Tech (162-137), and GT crushed BC (249-50). The Yellow Jackets took two wins in men’s competition, beating BC (231-68) and Pitt (199-100), and Pitt again defeated the BC men (203-96).
Georgia Tech’s Moises Loschi was a three-time winner in the tri-meet, taking first in the 1000 free (9:37.22), 100 breast (55.64) and 500 free (4:34.89). His teammate Rodrigo Correia was first in the 200 (1:38.04) and 100 free (44.73), and fellow Yellow Jacket Ben Southern touched the wall ahead of the pack in the 200 (1:50.16) and 100 fly (49.16).
For the women, Pitt’s Valerie Daigneault won the 100 back (56.77) as well as the 200 back (2:00.36) and 200 IM (2:06.37). Teammates Amanda Richey and Kinga Cichowska grabbed two wins apiece: Richey in the 1000 (10:15.08) and 500 free (4:59.92) and Cichowska in the 100 breast (1:03.26) and 200 breast (2:18.62), and another Panther, Meme Sharp, swept one-meter and three-meter diving. For Georgia Tech, Iris Wang won the 200 free (1:52.30) and 100 free (51.21), and Kaitlin Kitchens earned victories in the 50 free (23.51) and 100 fly (56.54).
The Boston College men also hosted Bryant Sunday, coming away with a 170-116 victory.
NOTE: Florida State was scheduled to host both Duke and Wisconsin this weekend, but that meet was postponed indefinitely due to the looming threat of Hurricane Matthew.
