2016 ACC Women’s Championship
- Tuesday, February 16- Saturday, February 20
- Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
- Prelims 10 AM/ Finals 6 PM (Wed-Sat) (Eastern Time)
- Defending Champion:Virginia, 8 Conescutive Titles (results)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
- Live Video (Finals only 6-8pm)
- Fan Guide
The final preliminary session of the ACC Women’s Championships were this morning, after a very fast and exciting finals session last night. Coming into the final day, Virginia holds a firm grasp on the team lead, ahead of 2nd place NC State by 90.5 points. The race for 3rd is very much alive however, as North Carolina is ahead of Louisville by just 26 points. There are also many close team battles going on between Duke and VA Tech for 5th, Notre Dame and Miami for 7th, and Florida State and Pittsburgh for 9th.
200 Backstroke
After scoring silver last night in the 100 back, NC State’s Alexia Zevnik took the top time in the 200 back prelims, going 1:51.41. Last night’s 100 back champion Courtney Bartholomew placed 2nd overall with a time of 1:52.24, and will be very dangerous tonight. Bartholomew has already won ahead of Zevnik in 2nd in both the 100 back and 200 IM finals here. Bartholomew was last years champion and Zevnik was the runner-up. Bartholomew’s UVA freshman teammate Megan Moroney took off over six seconds from her seed time to place 3rd this morning in a time of 1:52.84.
Last year’s 5th place finisher Klaudia Nazieblo also had a good swim this morning to put her in 4th heading into tonight (1:54.93), and senior Annie Harrison of UNC was able to take off over 3.5 seconds from her seed time to qualify for the A-final.
Top 8 for tonight’s finals:
- Alexia Zevnik, NC State, 1:51.41
- Courtney Bartholomew, UVA, 1:52.24
- Megan Moroney, UVA, 1:52.84
- Klaudia Nazieblo, VT, 1:54.93
- Hellen Moffitt, UNC, 1:55.19
- Alice Trueth, ND, 1:55.44
- Annie Harrison, UNC, 1:55.74
- Alina Kendzior, Louisville, 1:55.81
100 Freestyle
Louisville senior Kelsi Worrell threw down a new ACC conference and meet record this morning in the 100 freestyle, grabbing the top seed time in 47.33. That swim eclipses her mark from this meet last year where she went 47.71. Worrell will be searching for her 3rd individual title of the meet tonight as she has already come out victorious in the 50 free and 100 fly.
Worrell qualified almost a full second ahead of the 2nd place finisher, as Riki Bonnema of NC State qualified 2nd in 48.30, and Worrell’s Louisville teammate Mallory Comerford is 3rd in 48.52. All of the swimmers who made the A-final cracked the 49 second barrier.
Top 8 for tonight’s final:
- Kelsi Worrell, Louisville, 47.33
- Riki Bonnema, NC State, 48.30
- Mallory Comerford, Louisville, 48.52
- Ellen Thomas, UVA, 48.68
- Lauren Earp, UNC, 48.74
- Allyn Hardesty, UNC, 48.77
- Natalie Labonge, NC State, 48.86
- Shannon Rauth, UVA, 48.92
200 Breaststroke
Last night’s 3rd place finisher in the 100 breast Weronika Paluszek of Virginia Tech grabbed the top seed this morning in the women’s 200 breast, taking nearly 5 seconds off her seed time in 2:08.61. Last night’s 100 breast champ Andrea Cottrell of Louisville finished 2nd in 2:08.77, and Laura Simon of was 3rd in 2:09.63. Simon also made the podium in the 100 last night, finishing 2nd. Simon is the defending champion.
The conference, meet and pool records are all held by American and NCAA record holder Emma Reaney at a incredibly fast time of 2:04.34, which would be a huge surprise for anyone to get close to tonight.
Top 8 for tonight’s final:
- Weronika Paluszek, VT, 2:08.61
- Andrea Cottrell, Louisville, 2:08.77
- Laura Simon, UVA, 2:09.63
- Kayla Brumbaum, NC State, 2:09.69
- Abby Fisher, UNC, 2:10.78
- Rachael Bradford, Louisville, 2:11.85
- Kinga Cichowska, PITT, 2:13.04
- Natalie Martin, UVA, 2:13.13
200 Butterfly
With last years NCAA champ Kesli Worrell absent in this event, as she was last year, this field is somewhat wide open. Kaitlyn Jones of UVA took off over 4 seconds from her seed time to secure the top seed, going 1:54.64. After Jones, it is very tight, as swimmers 2-6 are all within 0.85. Jones’ teammate Jen Marrkand sits 2nd in 1:56.05, Klaudia Nazieblo qualified for her second final of the day sitting 3rd in 1:56.07, and Abbie Houck of Louisville is 4th in 1:56.67.
Jones and Marrkand head into tonight 1-2 after finishing just 5th and 6th respectively last year. Nazielbo was 3rd last year. Worrell’s conference record of 1:51.11 may be out of reach for tonight, but Tanja Kyllainen‘s meet record from last year is certainly within reach for tonight, sitting at 1:53.19.
Top 8 for tonight’s final:
- Kaitlyn Jones, UVA, 1:54.64
- Jen Marrkand, UVA, 1:56.05
- Klaudia Nazieblo, VT, 1:56.07
- Abbie Houck, Louisville, 1:56.67
- Isabella Paez, Duke, 1:56.72
- Emma Nunn, UNC, 1:56.90
- Lydia Jones, NC State, 1:57.64
- Maggie Gruber, VT, 1:57.65
The 1650 timed final heats will go later this afternoon, with the fastest heat swimming with finals tonight. Also tonight will be the platform diving events and the 400 free relay to finish things up.