Virginia Women, NC State Men Dominate Day Two of Top-Flight ACC Clash
The Atlantic Coast Conference tri-meet featuring North Carolina, NC State and Virginia began Friday afternoon in Chapel Hill, N.C., with the Virginia women and NC State men opening up big leads, and as the venue shifted east to NC State’s pool in Raleigh for Saturday’s session, the same trends continued. The Virginia women, again led by Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and Alex Walsh, dominated their final regular season meet while the Wolfpack men, top-four finishers at five of the last six NCAA Championships, performed well in advance of a trip to Austin, Texas, next week to face the Longhorns.
Women’s Results
Just like Friday, the meet began with Virginia dominating a medley relay against the Cavaliers’ closest competition from last season’s NCAA Championships. The Virginia team of Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Douglass and Maxine Parker topped the 200 medley relay in 1:35.71, well ahead of NC State’s 1:37.39. Notably, Gretchen Walsh topped Wolfpack rival Katharine Berkoff in the opening backstroke leg, 23.57 to 23.96.
Virginia’s Maddie Donahoe took the 1000 freestyle in 9:57.04, and Douglass went 47.77 for a big win in the 100 free. Alex Walsh made an appearance in the 100 breaststroke and was the only swimmer under 1:00 at 59.90, and younger sister Gretchen dominated the 100 butterfly in 50.76. The Walsh sisters, Douglass and Parker teamed up again to win the 400 free relay by six seconds in 3:14.45, and it was a 1-2 finish for UVA as the B-squad of Carly Novelline, Aimee Canny, Lexi Cuomo and Reilly Tiltmann grabbed second in 3:20.53.
NC State’s Abbey Webb edged out Virginia’s Canny in the 200 free, 1:46.48 to 1:46.72, and Berkoff won the 100 back in 51.63 with teammate Kennedy Noble taking second (52.72). With both Douglass and Alex Walsh passing on the 200 IM, Abby Arens got the win for the Wolfpack in 1:58.71. Meanwhile, UNC’s Aranza Vazquez won 1-meter diving with a score of 309.85.
Women’s Team Scores:
- Virginia 223, NC State 130
- Virginia 261, North Carolina 92
- NC State 243, North Carolina 110
Men’s Results
The Wolfpack men opened the day with a sweep of the top-two spots in the 200 medley relay, with Kacper Stokowski, Hunter Mason, Nyls Korstanje and David Curtiss winning in 1:24.34 (fueled by an 18.87 anchor split from Curtiss) and Aidan Hayes, Giovanni Izzo, Noah Bowers and Noah Henderson taking second in 1:26.94. Next up, it was 1-2-3-4 finish from NC State in the 1000 free with Will Gallant winning in 8:59.86 ahead of Ross Dant (9:02.24), James Plage (9:07.12) and Owen Lloyd (9:18.96).
It was almost the same story in the 200 free and 100 back. First, Luke Miller dominated the eight-lapper with his 1:34.41 and Sam Hoover (1:36.94) and Bowers (1:37.34) completing the top three, and then Stokowski went 46.48 in his signature event to beat Hunter Tapp (48.30) and Zachary Cram (48.59). Henderson edged out Curtiss in the 100 free, 43.41 to 43.55, and in the 100 breast, Mason took down Virginia’s Noah Nichols, 53.27 to 53.40.
In the 100 fly, Korstanje (46.31), Miller (46.51) and Hayes (46.83) dominated, but finally, Virginia pulled an event win and a 1-2-3 sweep of its own in the 200 IM. Sean Conway got the win for the Cavaliers in 1:48.17 ahead of Nichols (1:48.39) and Tim Connery (1:49.12). In diving, Bayne Bennett of the Wolfpack scored 368.70 to earn a tight win, and the team of Henderson, Curtiss, Miller and Tapp closed the meet with a 400 free relay time of 2:52.29 to win by almost three seconds.
Men’s Team Scores:
- NC State 264, Virginia 89
- NC State 285, North Carolina 68
- Virginia 250, North Carolina 103
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