2020 ACC Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships: Day 4 Finals Live Recap

2020 WOMEN’S ACC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 19th to Saturday, February 22nd | 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) (1x) (results)
• Streaming: ACC Network
  • Day 2 Finals
  • Day 3 Finals
  • Day 4 Finals
• Championship Central: Here
• Detailed Timeline: Here
• Psych Sheets: Here
• Live Results
• Saturday Finals Heat Sheet

We’re ready to go for the final night of the 2020 ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. At this point, it appears that this meet should be UVA’s to lose, as they had over a 100 point lead on NC State heading into today and took care of business this morning, putting 11 women into A-final swims.

Tonight will kick off with the fastest heat of the 1650. UVA junior Paige Madden will being lane four, and she’ll be looking to sweep the distance freestyles this meet after winning the 500 and the 200 freestyles so far.

The 200 back will feature defending champion Emma Muzzy, a NC State sophomore, in lane four. She went 1:51.92 this morning, just about a quarter of a second off of her winning time from last year. She could be pushed, though, as this is a strong field that includes NC State freshman backstroke ace Katharine Berkoff, and UVA’s Megan Moroney and Emma Seiberlich, who finished 2nd and 3rd last year.

Louisville’s Mallory Comerford won the 100 free last year, and while she’s done with college swimming, Casey Fanz will be doing her best to keep the event win streak going for the Cards; she put up the fastest time of the morning with a 47.94, the only woman under 48.

All of these races should be fun, but the 200 breast could be especially exciting, as defending champion Sophie Hansson, a NC State sophomore, will square off against a field that includes UVA freshman Kate Douglass, who currently holds the fastest time in the nation with her 2:06.19 from the Tennessee Invite.

The final individual race will be the 200 fly. It’s a fairly young field, with five underclassmen in the A-final, but Louisville senior Grace Oglesby is the defending champion and will be in lane 3, next to UVA junior Abby Richter, who went 1:54.69 for the fastest time this morning.

After the platform diving finals, the meet will conclude with timed finals of the 400 free relay, where UVA has the fastest time in the conference this season with a 3:12.30.

1650 – Timed Finals

• ACC meet record: 15:25.20 – Leah Smith, 2016
• ACC record: 15:25.20 – Leah Smith, 2016
• 2019 ACC champion: Tamila Holub (NC State) – 15:56.91

1. Paige Madden (Virginia) – 15:50.38
2. Makayla Sargent (NC State) – 16:01.36
3. Kate Moore (NC State) – 16:09.86

NC State freshman Katharine Foley led the early heats with a 16:17.45. That’s 11 seconds faster than she was at midseason, and is over 40 seconds faster than her best time coming into college. With a handful of women in the final heat seeded with times in the low 16:20s, it looks like Foley could have a good chance of ending up in the top eight overall.

Virginia Tech sophomore Loulou Vos (16:25.99) and freshman Brooke Travis (16:27.47)were the only other two women under 16:30 in the early heats. That’s about a 3.3s personal best for Vos, while Travis was about six seconds off of best time from high school.

UVA junior Paige Madden had competed in the 200 back at ACCs the past two years, but she made her first ACC 1650 a memorable one. Swimming in in the final heat, she moved into the lead early on, and was roughly 10 seconds ahead of the field with 600 to go. No one came close to challenging her, and she ended up winning by nearly 11 seconds, in 15:50.38. That’s a new best time for her by nearly 8 seconds and moves her to #4 in the nation this year (pending other results today).

It also completes the distance sweep for Madden, as she’ll walk out of the meet with three individual gold medals, as well as relay gold for the 4×200 free. Madden mention in the post-race interview that she thought it was only her second time swimming the even in the past five years, and sure enough, until she swam the 1650 at the Tennessee Invite, she doesn’t appear to have swam that event since December 2013.

NC State got 2nd and 3rd place finishes from the two women who flanked Madden, Makayla Sargent (16:01.36) and Kate Moore (16:09.86), while UVA freshman Maddie Donohoe picked up 4th with a 16:13.64. Sargent moved up one spot after finishing 3rd last year with a 16:06.58.

Foley’s time from the early heats held up for 5th, and Vos’s time put her 8th. Louisville’s Sophie Cattermole (16:20.33) and Notre Dame’s Lindsay Stone (16:23.93) also made the top eight from the final heat.

NC State closed the gap a little bit with that event, and UVA’s lead has been cut to about 90 points. Notre Dame has closed to within 6 points of UNC.

WOMEN’S 200 BACK – Finals

• ACC meet record: 1:49.61 – Alexia Zevnik, 2017
• ACC record: 1:49.09 – Alexia Zevnik, 2017
• 2019 ACC champion: Emma Muzzy (NC State) – 1:51.66

1. Emma Muzzy (NC State) – 1:50.79
2. Katharine Berkoff (NC State) – 1:52.36
3. Emma Seiberlich (Virginia) – 1:53.13

The Wolfpack swept the top two spots, as Emma Muzzy defended her title in a new personal best time of 1:50.79. Muzzy led from wire-to-write, and even put some distance between herself and runner-up Katharine Berkoff (1:52.36) down the stretch. The Wolfpack had a total of four women in the A-final, and Mackenzie Glover (1:54.27) and Danika Huizinga (1:55.42) took 7th and 8th. Muzzy’s time moves her to #5 in the nation, pending tonight’s other results.

UVA blunted NC State’s scoring here by sweeping the next three spots, with Emma Seiberlich repeating as the 3rd-place finisher with a 1:53.13, and Megan Moroney (1:53.13) and Erin Earley (1:54.00) coming in right behind her.

Notre Dame’s Bayley Stewart, the only top 8 swimmer not from NC State or Virginia shaved a bit of time off of her prelims swim to take 6th in 1:54.10).

WOMEN’S 100 FREE – Finals

• ACC meet record: 46.57 – Mallory Comerford, 2019
• ACC record: 46.20 – Mallory Comerford, 2018
• 2019 ACC champion: Mallory Comerford (Louisville) – 46.57

1. Morgan Hill (Virginia) – 47.47
2. Kylee Alons (NC State) – 47.73
3. Casey Fanz (Louisville) – 47.97

There was arguably no clear favorite coming into tonight in this event, and heading into the final wall, it looked like the winner could be one of several different woman. But UVA senior Morgan Hill, last year’s runner up, come off that last wall strong and stormed home to take the win in 47.47, just 0.01s off her lifetime best from last year’s final.

NC State sophomore Kylee Alons broke the 48 second barrier for the first time to take 2nd in 47.73, while Louisville senior Casey Fanz essentially matched her time from this from morning to take 3rd in 47.97. Louisville also got a 6th place finish from Arina Openysheva (48.37).

UNC got 4th and 8th place finishes from Caroline Hauder (48.18) and Emma Cole (48.78). That’s a new lifetime best for Hauder, shaving a little over 0.2s off her previous best from this morning.

Duke’s Alyssa Marsh took 5th in 48.29, while UVA freshman Lexi Cuomo shaved another couple tenths off her previous personal best from this morning to take 7th in 48.46.

NC State Ky-lee Perry, who was 3rd last year, but missed the A-final, won the B-final with a 48.30.

WOMEN’S 200 BREAST – Finals

• ACC meet record: 2:04.34 – Emma Reaney, 2014
• ACC record: 2:04.06 – Emma Reaney, 2014
• 2019 ACC champion: Sophie Hansson (NC State) – 2:06.73

1. Sophie Hansson (NC State) – 2:05.59
2. Ella Nelson (Virginia) – 2:05.68
3. Kate Douglass (Virginia) – 2:05.89

Coming into tonight, this race was giving every indication that it would a great one, and it did not disappoint. Three underclassmen turned together at the final wall, and at the touch, it was NC State sophomore Sophie Hansson who defended her title with a 2:05.59 victory. UVA’s Ella Nelson took 2nd in 2:05.68, her first time under 2:07, and fellow Cavalier freshman Kate Douglass, who had the fastest time in the nation heading into tonight, took 3rd in 2:05.89. Those are personal bests for all three swimmers and are currently the the top three times in the nation this year. Hansson is now 4-4 in the breaststroke races in her ACC champs career.

Only three teams were represented in the A-final. NC State got 4th and 8th place finishes from Julia Poole (2:08.59) and Olivia Calegan (2:13.83). UVA’s Alexis Wenger earned 5th with a 2:09.20. Louisville Cardinals Morgan Friesen (2:09.24) and Mariia Astashkina (2:09.37) took 6th and 7th. To show how explosively fast this event has gotten in the last year, Friesen took 3rd in 2019 with a 2:09.05.

Score Update:

1. Virginia – 1324.5
2. NC State – 1234
3. Louisville – 931.5
4. North Carolina – 704
5. Notre Dame – 640
6. Duke – 552.5
7. Florida State – 468
8. Virginia Tech – 400
9. Georgia Tech – 328.5
10. Miami – 253
11. Pitt – 238
12. Boston College – 134

WOMEN’S 200 FLY – Finals

• ACC meet record: 1:52.81 – Grace Oglesby, 2019
• ACC record: 1:50.61 – Kelsi Worrell, 2016
• 2019 ACC champion: Grace Oglesby (Louisville) – 1:52.81

1. Grace Oglesby (Louisville) – 1:53.70
2. Abby Richter (Virginia) – 1:54.09
3. Coleen Gillilan (Notre Dame) – 1:54.79

Up to this point, NC State or Virginia had won every single swimming event, but that finally changed tonight as Louisville senior Grace Oglesby defended her title. She was about a second off of her time from last year, but still 0.39s ahead of the runner-up, Abby Richter of Virginia, who touched in 1:54.09.

Virginia had a total of three women in the A-final, and Jessica Nava and Julia Menkhaus took 4th and 6th in 1:54.81 and 1:55.87. Louisville’s Alena Kraus, last year’s 3rd place finisher, took 5th in 1:55.70.

Notre Dame’s Coleen Gillian wrapped up a strong freshman season with a bronze medal here with a time of 1:54.79. Teammate Luciana Thomas took 7th in 1:56.17, while UNC’s Bryanna Cameron rounded out the field with a 1:57.15.

With platform diving and the 400 free relay to go, here where the teams stand:

1. Virginia – 1406.5
2. NC State – 1250
3. Louisville – 1015.5
4. UNC – 747
5. Notre Dame – 696
6. Duke – 584.5
7. Florida State – 477
8. Virginia Tech – 414
9. Georgia Tech – 330.5
10. Pitt – 262
11. Miami – 253
12. Boston College – 134

Women’s Platform Diving – Finals

• ACC meet record: 364.70 – Katrina Young, 2014
• ACC record: 367.20 – Brittany Viola, 2008

1. Molly Carlson (Florida State) – 297.25
2. Camryn Hidalgo (Georgia Tech) – 270.45
3. Aliyah Watson (Duke) – 267.65

Women’s 400 Free Relay – Timed Finals

• ACC meet record: 3:09.45 – Virginia, 2018
• ACC record: 3:09.45 – Virginia, 2018
• 2019 ACC champion: Louisville – 3:11.63

1. Virginia – 3:10.57
2. Louisville – 3:11.57
3. NC State – 3:13.00

Virginia wrapped up the ACC champs with a dominant showing in the 400 free relay. The Cavaliers used a pair of freshman for the front half; Kate Douglass got things rolling with a 47.77 leadoff, then handed it over to Lexi Cuomo, who split 47.84. At that point, the upperclassmen took over. Paige Madden, who swept the distance events, split a 48.04 that’s not at all shabby for someone just won the mile in 15:50, then Morgan Hill stormed home with a 46.92 split as UVA won in 3:10.57. That’s about a second off of the meet and conference record the Cavaliers set two years ago, but at the moment, that appears to be the fastest time in the NCAA this season (although that could change soon this evening).

NC State was actually in the lead at the halfway point after getting a 47.97 leadoff by Kylee Alons and a 47.48 2nd leg by Ky-Lee Perry. Sophie Hansson split 48.87 and Julia Poole anchored in 48.68 as the Wolfpack ended up 3rd in 3:13.00.

The Louisville sprint crew has been pushing Virginia and NC State all meet, and they took 2nd in 3:11.57. Arina Openysheva opened it up in 48.42, then Casey Fanz ripped a 47.22, the 2nd-fastest split of the day. Christina Regenauer went 48.19 on the 3rd leg, and Lainey Visscher brought it home in 47.74 as Louisville touched in 3:11.57.

All three top teams were under the NCAA ‘A’ cut, and UNC was under the ‘B’ cut with a time of 3:14.64.

Final scores are now in, and UVA has won with 1492.5 points, the most in ACC Conference Championships history.

Final Scores

1. Virginia – 1492.5
2. NC State – 1333
3. Louisville – 1105.5
4. North Carolina – 839
5. Notre Dame – 784
6. Duke – 675.5
7. Florida State – 555
8. Virginia Tech – 469
9. Georgia Tech – 407.5
10. Pitt – 359
11. Miami – 298
12. Boston College – 164