2021 ACC Men’s Swimming Championships
- When: Wednesday, February 24th to Saturday, February 27th 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, 6th-straight) (results)
- Streaming: ACC Network
- Championship Central: Here
- Detailed Timeline: Here
- Psych Sheets: Here
- Live Results
- Saturday Morning Heat Sheets
The final morning of the 2021 ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships consists of heats of the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, and 200 fly.
Louisville currently leads the team standings by 25 points over Virginia Tech. NC State took a hit last night when their 400 medley relay was disqualified, but they have a few more splashes today. They’ll need to make the most of those opportunities in order to get back ahead of Louisville and Virginia Tech for the 7th-straight conference title.
TEAM SCORES AFTER DAY 3
- Louisville – 825
- Virginia Tech – 800
- NC State – 760
- Virginia – 629
- UNC – 567
- Florida State – 536
- Georgia Tech – 507
- Notre Dame – 425
- Pitt – 288
- Duke – 272
- Miami (FL) – 207
- Boston College – 148
200 Back – Prelims
- ACC Record: 1:37.71 – Coleman Stewart (NC State), 2020
- Meet record: 1:37.71 – Coleman Stewart (NC State), 2020
- 2020 NCAA Invite: 1:41.49
- 2019 Champion: Coleman Stewart (NC State), 1:37.71
Top 8:
- Mitchell Whyte (Louisville) – 1:40.89
- Justin Grender (Virginia) – 1:41.05
- Samuel Tornqvist (Virginia Tech) – 1:41.60
- Kacper Stokowski (NC State) – 1:41.69
- Sean Conway (Virgina) – 1:41.84
- Jack Wever (Louisville) – 1:42.03
- Christopher Thames (North Carolina) – 1:42.04
- John Healy (NC State) – 1:42.34
Last year’s runner-up, Louisville’s Mitchell Whyte put up the top time this morning with a 1:40.89. He’ll be joined tonight by teammate Jack Wever (1:42.03), who will be swimming in his first ACC A-final after knocking 1.69s off of his lifetime best this morning.
Virginia got a pair of swimmers in the top 8: Justin Grender (1:41.05) and Sean Conway (1:41.84), as did NC State in Kacper Stokowski (1:41.69) and John Healy (1:42.34), with both Conway and Healy hitting lifetime bests. Each school just had a swimmer miss the A-final as well, with NC State’s Michael Moore finishing 9th in 1:42.45, and UVA’s Will Cole right behind him at 1:42.50. Additionally, NC State sophomore Ross Dant finished 12th today after making the A-final last year as part of a 1650/200 back double.
UNC’s Christopher Thames rounds out the top 8 with a 1:42.04.
100 Free – Prelims
- ACC record: 41.05 – Ryan Held (NC State), 2018
- ACC meet record: 41.41 – Ryan Held (NC State), 2018
- 2020 NCAA Invite: 42.57
- 2020 Champion: Nyls Korstanje (NC State), 42.13
Top 8:
- Youssef Ramadan (Virginia Tech) – 42.27
- Blaise Vera (Pitt) – 42.37
- Matt Brownstead (Virginia) – 42.38
- Haridi Sameh (Louisville) – 42.54
- Hunter Tapp (NC State) – 42.66
- Peter Varjasi (FSU) – 42.77
- Michael Eastman (Louisville) – 42.93
- Blake Manoff (Virgina Tech) – 42.96
Virginia Tech freshman Youssef Ramadan continues his blistering meet by throwing down the fastest time of the morning with his 42.27 out of the final heat. Teammate Blake Manoff, who opted for this event despite finishing 2nd last year in 200 fly, just made it into the A-final as the #8 seed with a 42.96.
Last year’s runner-up, Peter Varjasi of Florida State returns after a 42.77 this morning. Louisville’s Haridi Sameh took 7th last year, also returns after clocking a new personal best of 42.54. Pitt’s Blaise Vera (42.37), who won the B-final last year with a time that would’ve put him ahead of Varjasi in the A-final, had the 2nd-fastest time of the morning.
UVA star freshman Matt Brownstead qualified 3rd with a 42.38. NC State’s Hunter Tapp (42.66) and Louisville’s Michael Eastman (42.93) round out the top 8, with the latter two setting new personal bests.
While we’re focusing on A-finals, it’s worth noting that NC State is getting the job done lower down, as well, nabbing several more scoring swims in each of the last two events, which is exactly what they’ll need to do if they want to mount a challenge to Louisville and Virginia Tech.
200 Breast – Prelims
- ACC record: 1:50.79 – Caio Pumputis (Georgia Tech), 2019
- Meet record:1:50.79 – Caio Pumputis (Georgia Tech), 2019
- 2020 NCAA Invite: 1:54.03
- 2020 Champion: Evgenii Somov (Louisville), 1:52.54
Top 8:
- Josh Bottelberghe (Notre Dame) – 1:53.34
- Evgenii Somov (Louisville) – 1:53.41
- Cooper Van Der Laan (Pitt) – 1:53.42
- Caio Pumputis (Georgia Tech) – 1:53.44
- Valdas Abaliksta (UNC) / Noah Nichols (Virginia)- 1:53.49
- Carles Coll Marti (Virginia Tech) – 1:54.13
- Keefer Barnum (Virginia) – 1:54.14
This event got drastically faster than last year, when it took only a 1:55.96 to make the A-final. This morning, that time would’ve finished 16th (and that’s after a few disqualifications).
Notre Dame’s Josh Bottelberghe led the way with a 1:53.34, faster than the 1:54.07 he swam in last year’s A-final, when he finished 5th. Louisville’s Evgenii Somov, the defending champion put up the 2nd fastest time of the morning with a 1:53.41. Last year’s runner-up, Keefer Barnum of Virginia, qualified 8th this morning with a 1:54.14, only making it into the A-final after teammate Matt Otto was disqualified. Virgina probably didn’t have much hope of cracking the top 3 at this point, but if they did, they needed to at least repeat last year’s three up in this event. Instead, they got 2 up and 1 mid, who two big DQs.
UNC’s Valdas Abaliksta also returns from last year’s A-final. He tied with UVA freshman Noah Nichols for the 5th-fastset time of the morning with a 1:53.49.
Cooper Van Der Laan of Pitt qualified 3rd overall with a 1:53.42. Georgia Tech’s Caio Pumputis (1:53.44) will return to the A-final after missing it last year and winning the B-final. Virgina Tech’s Carles Coll Marti (1:54.13) rounds out the top 8.
200 Fly – Prelims
- ACC Record: 1:38.57 – Andreas Vazaois (NC State), 2019
- Meet record: 1:38.65 – Nick Albiero (Louisville), 2020
- 2020 NCAA Invite: 1:43.18
- 2020 champion: Nick Albiero (Louisville), 1:38.65
Top 8:
- Nick Albiero (Louisville) – 1:40.79
- Antani Ivanov (Virginia Tech) – 1:41.59
- Christian Ferraro (Georgia Tech) – 1:41.69
- Dylan Eichberg (Virginia Tech) – 1:42.47
- Noah Bowers (NC State) – 1:43.43
- Joshua Fong (Virginia) – 1:43.60
- Zach Brown (NC State) – 1:44.16
- Noah Henderson (NC State) – 1:44.24
Three-time defending champion Nick Albiero of Louisville posted the fastest time this morning with a 1:40.79, the only man under 1:41. Virgina Tech put two men into the A-final, with Antani Ivanov qualifying 2nd in 1:41.59 and Dylan Eichberg qualifying 4th with a 1:41.69. Georgia Tech’s Christian Ferraro, who topped the psych sheet, sits between them with a 1:42.47.
NC State came up big here with three men in the top 8. Zach Brown returns to the A-final after a 1:44.16 this morning, and teammates Noah Bowers (1:43.43) and Noah Henderson (1:44.24) move up to the A-final after swimming in the B-final last year.
UVA’s Josh Fong earns his first ACC A-final appearance with a 1:43.60 this morning. Josh’s brother Zach swam for UVA and was a fixture in this event.
Louisville 6 up, 3 mid, 3 down
VT 6 up, 4 mid, 3 down
NCSU 6 up, 8 mid, 3 down
That is based on the morning swims.
Including the mile it looks like
Louisville 7up, 3 mid, 4down
VT 6 up, 5 mid, 4down
NCSU 9up, 9mid, 3 down
NC State depth is impressive. No Korstanje, DQ 400 MR and still have a chance (most likely) win this one.
Unfortunately for Louisville, this is their 1 shot to win it all for a while. NCSU’s recruiting hype is about to take control of the ACC.
This might be a heck of a sat night. LETS GO PACK!!!!
Unless there are some more DQs tonight or NC State’s distance team crashes they should pull it out. Louisville 2nd and VT 3rd. VT’s milers will have to pull off something special to catch Louisville. Based on seeding for tonight State should score around 350, Louisville 265 and VT 250.
L’ville had a swimmer go 14:52 in heat 2 of the early heat 1650’s. Going to be a battle tonight. Too bad Lane Stone missing for Va Tech – he would have scored 3 finals if he match past years – that’s a loss of at least 66 points, possible 20+ more
UofL, ACC CHAMPS!
GO CARDS!
The DQs have been insane. At this level meet it’s pretty weak for an official to raise their hand that much. The official needs to be reviewed and removed.
Disagree. These guys do extra fly kicks. Frankly there should be more calls for that.
Some swimmers do their fly kick before their pull out, thus making it seem like they may be doing a second fly kick on their actual pull out. I didn’t see what the official saw, but when you get that same call three times in one event, you can’t help but wonder at the pure coincidence that they were all from the same stroke judge, and didn’t happen anywhere else in the pool…
Yeah I mean, I feel you. Until you watch underwater videos and realize that some small fraction (less than 2%?) of breaststroke infractions are called.
It’s the inconsistency that’s frustration. The expectation that the calls aren’t going to be made. If officials would consistently call it, then the athletes would know and adjust.
Stuff like this is going to happen until we get video judging. They were probably legit calls.
Agree 100%. They stretch the rules by saying the 2nd kick is part of the natural undulation of the pull down. But it’s entirely possible to pull down and hold your legs steady. If this was enforced regularly then it would stop.
If someone is breaking the rules they know about in a meet of this level, they should absolutely know better. Just because enforcement has been so weak doesn’t mean that it’s ok.
The two-hand simultaneous touch is so tough to call right unless they really miss the wall. Like Lily King’s in Gwangju, you really can’t tell unless you freeze-frame. Two butterfly kicks is also hard. The line between kick and natural undulation back to middle is soooo subjective. Do many get away with a half kick there? Yes, but it is such a fine line. Wish they would tweak both those rules to make it easier and more consistent to officiate and make it just two hand touch (does it really matter if simultaneous) and clarify the butterfly kick starts at horizontal and finishes at horizontal and can only cross horizontal once on downward propulsive motion.
Agree with this too. They should just go back to the only kick allowed is after the hands pass the chest. Get rid of the dolphin kick before the pull.
Holy cow… this team race thooooo… very interesting morning. The turn judge at the far end in lanes 2-3 seemed to have her hand up every other heat in the breast and fly events?! Some bad juju in those lanes
State gets both of their breaststrokers in the B final.
Aidan Kreiley (Louisville) is in the C final after getting 25th in the 1Br yesterday.
Big big dq’s for UVA and VT.
What did they get DQed for???
Schilling and Myburgh, who were in lane 2 in back to back heats, both got DQ’d for fly kicks. Otto, who was in lane 3, got DQ’d for a one hand touch,
Butterfly kicks or 1 hand turn
Same judge DQ’d 3 swimmers in 2Br and a 2flyer. No other DQ’s
Lane 2/3 was a bad draw this am
Every DQ this morning seemed to come from same official in lane 1-3 turn end. She had her arm up all morning.
Where was she last week when uva did two dolphins kicks on all their pull outs…
Why are you obsessed with the UVA women on the men’s ACC posts? Everything you have commented is about the UVA women. FYI, some of NCSUs women’s breaststrokers do multiple dolphin kicks on their pull outs.
The problem comes when one official is officiating differently then the rest. It leads to swimmers in those lanes getting judged by a standard that is different from the others at the meet. Seems to be the same official that called the relay last night. Some consistency would be nice
Racing right away this morning.
Louisville is 9 for 9 in the first two races with 4 A’s, 3 B’s, and 2 C’s.
Luke Sobolewski for State hangs on for 24th in the 1free! C heat is big tonight and that can be a 9 point swim.
VT has missed out once, but Hallock gets 16th and nudges Worrell (Louisville) to 17th and the C heat in the 100.
Wow!
What a meet!
Virginia Tech is going to throw some dynamite in the pool tonite in the 4×100 free relay. They’re getting better as the meet grinds on.
The team race is going to be really tight. NCS needs a pump in the mile.
The 1650 is a very good event for Louisville, they are entered with dual meet times.
It’s a misconception to say that NCSU will crush Louisville in the mile.
VT is getting third. Already 3 missed swims including the dq in breast