2020 ACC Men’s Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2020 ACC MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 26th to Saturday, February 29th Prelims 10:00 am | Finals 6:00 pm (1650 prelims Saturday at 4:00 pm)
• Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: North Carolina State University (NC State) (29x, 5th-straight) (results)
• Streaming: ACC Network
  • Day 2 Finals
  • Day 3 Finals
  • Day 4 Finals
• Championship Central: Here
• Detailed Timeline: Here
• Psych Sheets: Here
• Live Results
• Day 2 (Thursday PM) Finals Heat Sheets

The first full finals session the 2020 ACC men’s championships will feature the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, and the 200 free relay.

Notre Dame Junior Zach Yeadon is the top seed in the 500 free. Notre Dame and NC State swimmers occupy the middle four lanes tonight, with defending champion Eric Knowles of NC State swimming in lane six. Likewise, 200 IM defending champion Caio Pumputis of Georgia Tech will be in lane six of that event, while Louisville’s Evgenii Somov is in lane four after going 1:43.48 this morning.

The sprint freestyles have been increasingly competitive in this conference, and both the 50 free and the 200 free relay should be fun tonight. NC State’s Nyls Korstanje will be in swimming lane four against a field that includes Pitt speedster Blaise Vera and two men who had sub-19 relay anchors last night in Louisville’s Mihalis Deliyiannis and Virginia Tech’s Tommy Hallock (the former drew a DQ for an early start, but would’ve been well under 19 even with a very safe start).

The 200 free relay figures to be a three-way race between defending champions Florida State, who are still dangerous despite graduating 3/4 of that relay, traditional powerhouse NC State, and Louisville, who put three men into the 50 free A-final today.

500 Freestyle – Finals

• ACC championship record – 4:10.00, Matt McLean (Virginia), 2010
• ACC record – 4:09.13, Anton Ipsen (NC State), 2018
• 2019 champion – Eric Knowles (NC State), 4:12.13

1. Zach Yeadon (Notre Dame) – 4:10.39
2. Jack Walker (Virginia) – 4:11.93
3. Jack Hoagland (Notre Dame) – 4:12.15

Notre Dame junior Zach Yeadon is bouncing back after a shaky postseason last year. Tonight he knocked two off his lifetime best — which came from the 2018 ACC Champs — to win by well a second, touching in a 4:10.39 that moves him to #2 in the nation at the moment, behind only newly-minted US Open Record holder Kieran Smith.

A pair of freshmen rounded out the top three spots. Virginia’s Jack Walker didn’t overwhelm on last night’s 4×200 free relay, but tonight he swam a 4:11.93, over three seconds faster than his previous lifetime best from over a year ago.

Notre Dame’s Jack Hoagland also swam a lifetime best, touching in 4:12.15. Hoagland has been improving all season — he came out of high school with a best time of 4:23.21. Teammate Sadler McKeen finished 6th in 4:17.14.

NC State took 4th and 5th, with 4th going to freshman Ross Dant in 4:13.77 (also a lifetime best), while last year’s champion Eric Knowles ended up in 5th after swimming 4:15.70 today (4:15.26) this morning.

Last year it took a 4:16.0 to qualify for NCAAs in this event, so the top five should all have their NCAA tickets punched if they hadn’t yet.

Virginia Tech’s Antani Ivanov (4:18.17)  and UNC’s Dimitrios Dimitrious (4:18.82) ended up 7th and 8th.

Colton Paulson of Louisville won the B-final for the second straight year, touching in 4:16.75.

200 IM – Finals

• ACC championship record – 1:41.24, Andreas Vazaois (NC State), 2017
• ACC record – 1:39.35, Andreas Vazaois (NC State), 2019
• 2019 champion – Caio Pumputis (Georgia Tech), 1:41.28

1. Ted Schubert (Virginia) – 1:43.09
2. Caio Pumputis (Georgia Tech) – 1:43.13
3. Erge Gezmis (NC State) – 1:43.19

Five men looked it be in it coming off of the final wall, and sure enough, the top five men in this race all touched within 0.16s of each, an unusually tight margin for a 200.

Virginia senior Ted Schubert got his hand on the wall first, touching in 1:43.09 for a new lifetime best by four-tenths of a second. Schubert was actually in the lead at the halfway point after a 25.25 backstroke leg, then fell behind on the breast leg, before storming home with a 24.80 free leg.

Defending champion Caio Pumputis of Georgia Tech was just behind at 1:43.13. Last year Pumputis won in 1:41.28, but it looks like he might be a little more focused on NCAAs or the upcoming Brazilian Olympic Trials. NC State’s Erge Gezmis took 3rd in 1:43.19; Gezmis has now shaved five seconds off his lifetime best in this event today.

Louisville teammates Evgenii Somov (who had the fastest time this morning) and Daniel Sos took 4th and 5th in 1:43.24 and 1:43.27. All of the top five should be well under the NCAA qualifying time in this event; it took 1:43.82 last year.

Pitt’s Samy Helmbacher took 6th in 1:44.90 tonight after winning the B-final last year. Virginia Tech’s Samuel Tornqvist took 7th in 1:45.02 and Virginia’s Casey Storch ended up 8th in 1:45.42.

50 Freestyle – Finals

• ACC championship record – 18.68, Ryan Held (NC State), 2018
• ACC record – 18.56, Ryan Held (NC State), 2017
• 2019 champion – Will Pisani (FSU), 19.21

1. Nyls Korstanje (NC State) – 19.25
2. Abdelrahman Sameh (Louisville) – 19.31
3. Peter Varjasi (Florida State) – 19.35

Nyls Korstanje captured his first ACC title in this event after finishing 4th last year. This burning, he burned up the pool with a 19.07, and while he was a little off of that tonight, it was enough to secure the victory.

The men who finished 2nd-4th were the only three men in the field to drop time from this morning, and they all touched within 0.11s. Louisville freshman Abdelrahman Sameh dropped two-tenths to take silver in 19.31, a new lifetime beset for him. According to the broadcast team, Louisville tried questioning the results, thinking that Sameh had somehow managed to touched ahead of Korstanje, although the results seem to have stood.

Florida State’s Peter Varjasi also continued a strong freshman campaign by taking 3rd in 19.35. Virginia senior Ryan Baker captured a 4th place finish in 19.42, setting a new lifetime best in his last individual ACC 50 free.

The rest of the field all added time from this morning. Virginia Tech’s Tommy Hallock and Pitt’s Blaise Vera took 5th and 6th with times of 19.49 and 19.54. Louisville ended up in 7th and 8th, as both Mihalis Deliyannis (19.65) and Andrej Barna (19.97) added fairly big chunks from this morning. It’ll be interesting to see how Barna does this week, as he missed the first half of the season, presumably due to some illness or injury.

It’s taken a 19.35 or 19.36 to qualify for NCAAs in this event the last year two years, meaning that only Korstanje was well under that mark tonight, although Vera was 19.10 early this season and Deliyannis could be safe with his 19.25.

Here’s how team scores seem to look currently (with all diving points included):

1. NC State – 434
2. Virginia – 390
3. Florida State – 356.5
4. Louisville – 337
5. Virginia Tech – 307
6. North Carolina – 265
7. Notre Dame – 260.5
8. Duke – 218
9. Miami (diving only) – 197
10. Pitt – 177
11. Georgia Tech – 172
12. Boston College – 66

200 Free Relay – Timed Finals

• ACC Championships record – 1:15.34, NC State, 2018
• ACC record – 1:14.50, NC State, 2018
• 2019 champion – Florida State, 1:15.81

1. Florida State – 1:16.69
2. Louisville – 1:16.94
3. NC State – 1:17.70

Florida State had six men in the finals of the 50 free. The one with the slowest time in the individual 50 free tonight proved to be the relay hero.

From the get go, we expected this to be a battle between NC State, Louisville, and Florida State, and a 19.19 leadoff leg by Korstanje put the Wolfpack in the lead early. A 19.09 2nd leg by Andrej Barna moved Louisville into the lead, and they held that as the anchor legs dove in. Max McCusker, who finished 21st individually tonight with a 19.75, dove in and split 18.93, running down Louisville’s anchor Tanner Cummings to give FSU its 2nd-straight victory in this event, touching in 1:16.69 to Louisville’s 1:16.94.

Notably, Louisville came within a whisker of drawing a relay disqualification for the second straight night row, as Cummings’ reaction time was -0.01s, considered to be within the margin of error and therefore not drawing an automatic DQ, but cutting it close.

NC State seemed to be focusing on safe relay starts and ended up 3rd in 1:17.70. Virginia Tech, meanwhile, actually put up the 4th-fastest time of the night while swimming in the initial heat, also slipping under the NCAA ‘B’ cut with a 1:17.84. Tommy Hallock split under 19 for the second straight tonight, swimming the 2nd leg in 18.83.

UNC (1:17.88) and Virginia (1:17.93) were just over the NCAA ‘B’ cut of 1:17.86. Tyler Hill led the Tar Heels with a 18.97 split on the second leg, while UVA got a 19.06 split by August Lamb.

Boston College DQ’d due to an early takeoff by the anchor leg. Miami scoring 197 diving points already meant that BC was unlikely to pass them in the team totals, given that they were only likely to score a handful of individual points, but a relay DQ would seem to end whatever hope they had.

Scores Through Day 2 (Including All Diving Points)

1. NC State – 488
2. Virginia – 438
3. Florida State – 420.5
4. Louisville – 393
5. Virginia Tech – 359
6. North Carolina – 315
7. Notre Dame – 294.5
8. Duke – 258
9. Pitt – 223
10. Georgia Tech – 216
11. Miami (diving only) – 197
12. Boston College – 66

At the end of our first full day of swimming, the tiers are starting to look about how we expected. NC State has a solid lead, with Virginia and Florida State not too far behind. Louisville would be in 2nd with the 64 points they lost from last night’s relay DQ. Notre Dame started with fewer diving points than any other team vying for a spot in the top half, but stands a good chance of continuing to move up in the standings the next few days.