Fresh off a dominant session on night two of the ACC Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, Virginia looks to extend their lead over their conference foes with two more days of swimming left to go. On paper, this is thought to be Virginia’s weakest day; their pretty loaded across the board at this meet, but three of the five swim events are 100’s of stroke (traditionally not what Mark Bernardino’s teams have specialized in). Despite those factors, the Wahoos put three in the A-Final in four out of five events, and look to seal things tonight.
Though UVA seems to be running away with the meet, there are plenty of reasons to stay tuned; plenty of great races to be swam, along with five teams battling for 2nd. Florida State, NC State, Virginia Tech, and Miami are separated by less than 20 points, and North Carolina is looking to climb the standings tonight (they have more scoring swims tonight than the four teams listed above).
(Scores after night 2, Up/Downs at bottom)
Women’s 400 IM Prelims
Shaun Casey, the sophomore from Virginia who was runner up in the 200 IM last night, used a solid backstroke leg to propel her way to the top spot heading into tonight with a 4:09.55. She’ll look to hold off Cari Blalock of UNC, the top seed coming into the event. Blalock (seeded at 4:07.51) finished third in the event last year, and finished right on her seed time in the 200 IM last night. Expect her to challenge Casey.
Casey will be joined by teammates Haley Durmer and Hillary Peterson tonight, who finished 5th and 7th, respectively. Seminoles Julia Henkel (3rd) and Jamie Barrett (6th), Tarheel freshman Emma Nunn (4th), and H2Okie Laura Simon (8th) make up the rest of the A-Final.
Women’s 100 Fly Prelims
Miami sophomore Lucy Worrall turned in the swim of the morning, setting an ACC Meet and Conference record in 51.98. That’s a huge swim for her; almost a second and a half faster than last year at this meet, plus a guaranteed spot at NCAA’s and a top 5 time in the country. Virginia Tech senior Heather Savage, last year’s ACC champion in this event, also snuck under the NCAA ‘A’ standard with a time of 52.03.
Three Virginia swimmers and two Tarheels also made the A-Final. Ellen Williamson (53.14), Emily Dicus (53.47), and Sarah White (53.49) finished 4th, 5th, and 7th for the Wahoos, while Katie Nolan (52.64) and Hannah Lincoln (53.48) were 3rd and 6th for UNC. Zina Grogg (NC State – 53.50) finished 8th.
Women’s 200 Free Prelims
ACC Meet and Conference record holder Lauren Perdue of Virginia cruised into the top spot with a 1:45.90. Expect the U.S. Olympian to be much faster tonight, and even better in Indianapolis at the big meet; she already swam under the ‘A’ cut earlier this season, and likely has plenty more to rest off of. Teammates Kelly Offutt (500 free champion from last night, and sister of renowned beard-grower and Stanford swimmer Bryan Offutt) and Rachel Naurath (second in the 500) snuck into the A-Final, as well. Naurath got the touch, though, finishing 7th (1:46.83) while Offutt was 8th (1:47.18). In the middle of the pack were NC State senior Marifra Henley (3rd – 1:46.34), Danielle Siverling (UNC, 4th – 1:46.56), Julianna Prim (NC State, 5th – 1:46.61), and Tiffany Oliver (FSU, 6th – 1:46.77).
Women’s 100 Breast Prelims
Duke Blue Devil Christine Wixted broke the 1:00.00 barrier for the first time, smashing her own personal best and school record (previously 1:00.97) in the process with a 59.95. The time puts her 21st in the country this year. With another week of conference meets, she should be safe, but might need to swim a tick faster to ensure a spot at NCAA’s. Last year’s ACC Champion (and current ACC record holder) Sofia Johansson of Miami finished 2nd in 1:00.28.
UVA was left without a swimmer in the A-Final, but in-state rival Virginia Tech put three swimmers in the top heat. Weron Paluszek (1:00.56), Alyssa Bodin (1:00.60), and Keri Sink (1:02.72) were 3rd, 4th, and 8th respectively. Christine Anderson (Miami, 5th – 1:01.72), Lauren Poli (NC State, 6th – 1:02.15), and Sami Pochowski (FSU, 7th – 1:02.46) make up the rest of the heat.
Women’s 100 Back Prelims
Holland, Michigan native Courtney Bartholomew is the top seed headed into tonight in 52.25. That’s a season best for her, and she sits 10th in the country right now (safely into NCAA’s). Zina Grogg of NC State was a distant 2nd (52.93). Carly Smith of North Carolina rounded out the top three (53.10). A pair of Florida State teammates (Bianca Spinazzola [whose brother Luca is Southern California’s top sprint backstroker] and Ashley Hicks), Virginia teammates (Charlotte Clarke and Emily Dicus), and Hannah Freyman of NC State (the lone wolf, if you will) also made the A-Final.
Women’s 3 meter diving
Miami is looking to stay in the team hunt for 2nd place, with three divers finishing in the top 8. Lindsay Lester of the Hurricanes holds the top spot. Diving results are listed below. The top 8 finishers dive again tonight.
1 Lester, Lindsay JR Miami 295.25 353.70 q
2 Rittenhouse, Ar JR Florida St. 353.05 339.90 q
3 Arnett, Kalyea SO Virginia Tech NP 337.35 q
4 Hopkins, Hannah SR NC State NP 320.60 q
5 McCormack, Kara SO Miami 290.15 317.00 q
6 Dragland, Carri SR Miami 334.90 302.85 q
7 Kline, Logan SR Virginia Tech NP 292.10 q
8 Corbett, Becca FR Virginia NP 289.40 q
9 Stockton, Kelli SO Virginia Tech NP 289.10
10 Tatum, Elizabet SR Clemson NP 283.70
11 Goodman, Kelsey SO Florida St. 341.50 280.00
12 Lumbra, Shannon FR Georgia Tech NP 272.85
13 Gundry, Jaimee FR Duke NP 271.25
14 McClenney, Kend FR Duke NP 268.10
15 Mumma, Rachael SO NC State NP 265.85
16 Uranaka, Chelse SO Clemson NP 261.75
Up/Downs for Friday Morning:
| SORTED TOTALS | |||
| A Final | B Final | C Final | |
| UVA | 13 | 6 | 1 |
| UNC | 7 | 10 | 3 |
| FSU | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| NCST | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| VT | 7 | 6 | 4 |
| MIAMI | 6 | 2 | 3 |
| DUKE | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| GT | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| BC | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Scores after Thursday night:
Women – Team Rankings – Through Event 7
1. Virginia, University of 309 2. Florida State University 177
3. North Carolina State Universit 166 3. Virginia Tech 166
5. University of Miami (Fl) 159 6. University of North Carolina 113
7. Duke University 107 8. Georgia Institute of Technolog 79
9. Boston College 62 10. Clemson University Diving Team 8