By Nelson Helm, Swimming World College Intern
If last week’s ACC Women’s Championship meet is any indication of how the Men’s ACC Championships will go, fast swimming is going to come out of Atlanta next weekend. Headlining the meet will be the showdown between nationally-ranked teams Virginia Tech, last year’s champion, and North Carolina State, last year’s runner-up. Check the psych sheet here.
Here are five things to keep an eye on at Men’s ACC Championships:
The Team Race
Last year’s champion Virginia Tech has a lot to prove. Not many of the team’s scorers are ranked within the top 16 of their respective events, and it doesn’t seem like the team has as much depth as they did last year.
When Virginia Tech won the meet last year, its diving points and depth pushed them the necessary 38.5 points ahead of North Carolina State, which has really come into its own this season.
NC State has put on a show this year in their dual meets. Sophomore Simonas Bilas and freshman Anton Ipsen have continued to set the nation’s leading marks as they have torn through the season. It seems as if the tides have turned this year, with NC State having most of the depth.
But don’t count out the Hokies, who are still scoring threats in their respective events and will pick up crucial diving points that propelled them to the top a year ago.
50 Freestyle
Simonas Bilas is on a tear this year. Bilas has been consistently dropping shocking times throughout the season—and I think will continue to do so. Bilas has been a blistering 19.28 already this season, which is under the NCAA-invited time from last year.
He still has work to do if he wants to compete with the big boys at NCAAs, as Florida freshman Calaeb Dressel and Alabama sophomore Kristian Gkolomeev have both been under 19.0 at SECs this weekend. But, I expect to Bilas to also dip under the 19.0 mark, pushing him to be in contention for the NCAA title in the event.
200 Fly
There is not an event that has as much depth as the 200 fly. Florida State senior Connor Knight has already been under the NCAA-invited time from last year, with four swimmers trailing right behind him.
Among them is 2014 ACC Champion Christian McCurdy, 2014 ACC runner-up Morgan Latimer, national team member Ben Colley and NCAA finalist Jonathan Williamson. All five of these guys have a shot of winning the title, which makes for a very exciting race to watch.
200 Free Relay
NC State is going to win this event. There is not question about it. But how fast will they go? Compared to the rest of the nation, NC State is the only team, other than Michigan, that went their best time in a dual meet. Most of the teams in front of them, in fact, swam their best relay time at SECs.
NC State DQ’d their relay in prelims of last year’s NCAA Championship, but with three of four relay legs returning this year, and Bilas coming into his own, look for a fast relay.
Diving
Virginia Tech won the 2014 ACC title because of two things: their depth and crucial diving points. Virginia Tech averages three divers in the top eight of each event, with only UVA averaging about the same number. In terms of the team race, diving will be crucial. If Virginia Tech can sneak three or four divers into the A final, expect the team race to be close once again.