For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of three finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, places 9 through 16 the B final and places 17 through 24 the C final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.
With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups,” “Mids” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, “Mid” to swimmers in the B final and “Down” to swimmers in the C final.
After the first prelims session of the 2021 ACC Men’s Championships, it looks like things are shaping up largely about how we expected, with the teams that should finish in the top four all getting the job done. Louisville, NC State, and Virginia all put five swimmers into tonight’s individual A-finals, with Virginia Tech right behind with four championship finalists.
Virginia and Virginia Tech each got at least one up in each of today’s three events. Louisville missed out on any A-finalists in the 500 free, but made up for that with four ups in the 50 free. NC State, somewhat shockingly, won’t have a single A-finalist in the 50 free for the first time in a decade, but they did get three men in the top eight of the 500 free, a testament to how much depth the Wolfpack’s distance group has developed over the last few years.
Day 2 Ups/Mids/Downs
| Team | Score After Day 1* | 500 Free | 200 IM | 50 Free | Totals |
| UNC | 304 | 0/0/1 | 0/0/0 | 0/1/2 | 0/1/3 |
| Virginia Tech | 249 | 1/0/0 | 1/4/1 | 2/1/1 | 4/5/2 |
| Louisville | 238 | 0/1/3 | 1/0/1 | 4/0/1 | 5/1/5 |
| Miami (FL) | 207 | — | — | — | |
| FSU | 205 | 1/2/0 | 0/0/1 | 0/2/1 | 1/4/2 |
| Georgia Tech | 191 | 1/1/0 | 1/0/0 | 0/0/1 | 2/1/1 |
| NC State | 174 | 3/1/0 | 2/2/0 | 0/3/2 | 5/6/2 |
| Duke | 152 | 0/0/0 | 0/1/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/1/0 |
| Pitt | 120 | 0/1/1 | 0/0/0 | 1/0/0 | 1/1/1 |
| Virginia | 106 | 1/1/1 | 3/0/3 | 1/1/0 | 5/2/4 |
| Notre Dame | 82 | 1/1/2 | 0/1/2 | 0/0/0 | 1/2/4 |
| Boston College | 66 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 |
*includes all diving points.
The biggest thing that jumps out is the 50 free, where Louisville put up a whopping 4 A finalists, but NC State, home to the ACC Champion in 5 of the last 6 seasons, had none.
NC State is still favored to win the meet as the week goes on, but this highlights what a different year this is for the Wolfpack as they await a monster incoming recruiting class and the return of some of their non-American swimmers who sat out this season because of the pandemic and Olympic preparations.
The last time NC State didn’t have an ACC A-Finalist in the 50 free was in 2011 – the year before Braden Holloway became head coach.
Projected Scores By Event:
| NC State | VT | Louisville | UVA | Florida St | ND | GT | PITT | UNC | Duke | |
| 500 Free | 91.0 | 25.0 | 41.0 | 45.0 | 55.0 | 52.0 | 38.0 | 12.0 | 3.0 | 0 |
| 200 IM | 75.0 | 81.0 | 33.0 | 86.0 | 8.0 | 27.0 | 32.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 20.0 |
| 50 Free | 57.0 | 72.5 | 103.0 | 44.0 | 34.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 27.0 | 23.5 | 0.0 |
If those points projections were to hold, here’s what scores will look like after tonight, including all diving events, but not including tonight’s 200 free relay.
- Virginia Tech – 427.5
- Louisville – 415
- NC State – 397
- UNC – 330.5
- FSU – 302
- UVA – 281
- Georgia Tech – 262
- Miami (FL) – 207
- Duke – 172
- Notre Dame – 161
- Pitt – 159
- Boston College – 66
Pitt GREAT day today! Keep it up!!
Three things to consider:
•In a score to 24 meet a lot of weight moves to the B heat; good for NCSU and VT this morning.
•Missed opportunities can make a big difference; NCSU and Louisville each with 4 swims missing out, Virginia and Virginia Tech each missing 6 finals. Quite a few of these missed swims are breaststrokers (not such a big deal).
•NCSU, UVA and VT each raced seventeen times this morning.
Manoff, William Cole, and (I think) Owen Hanna will each swim twice tomorrow.
Louisville raced fifteen times this morning. Albiero, Whyte, and Sofiandos will each do the fly/back double tomorrow. Last year Louisville got 4 A, 1 B, and 1 C… Read more »
I would guess Jacob Johnson is swimming twice tomorrow for NC State, but who knows.
Thank you for pointing that out, Tim.
Last year he swam the 50, and he was not in it today.
We’ll find out when the heat sheets come out tonight.
Great analysis! Diving is going to sink UVA against VT. I bet they are just about equal in the pool so 150 points is going to be too much to over take them.
If a few NC State swimmers are just a little bit off I could see Louisville taking the title this year but as of now I would still give the Wolfpack the slight edge.
I’m definitely impressed by some of the swims by Pitt and GT. It’s great to see some top times by everyone!!! Tonight should be some exciting racing.
I’m not sure your first paragraph is true. After just 3 individual events, that lead is going to be cut in half by the end of the night…
Not sure if you are looking the same thing I am. VT and UVA are set to score almost identical tonight. I think that will continue over the rest of the meet. Both scored around 180 today before e relay
Oh you’re right, I was looking at the “not all diving events included yet” scores on the live results.
4 swimmers under 20.0 in the 50 who did not score – places 25-28. 0.37 gap between top 8; 0.15 gap between next 8; 0.17 gap between places 17-24; Tight field, thank god for electronic timing – hate to think how these races would have been judged back in the days of hand timers and place judges.
Those Wolfpack swimmers are a bunch of Champions! LETS GO!
-Pack By God Alum