2017 ACC Men’s Championships: Day 4 Prelims Live Recap

2017 MEN’S ACC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Monday, February 27th – Thursday, March 2nd
• Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
• Defending Champion: NC State (Full results)
• Psych Sheet
• Live results
• Live Streaming
• Championship Central

The final preliminary session of the 2017 men’s ACC Championships is upon us, with heats of four events followed by timed final heats of the 1650 free and qualifying rounds of platform diving. NC State has a commanding 100-point lead over Louisville, but competition is still very live for spots #3-#12.

The day 4 event lineup shows the rise of the ACC as well as any single session, with conference records in every single preliminary event having been set within the past two seasons. Hennessey Stuart and Grigory Tarasevich square off once more in the 200 back after Tarasevich won the conference title and set the ACC meet record last year before Stuart broke the overall conference record at NCAAs.

Ryan Held looks to defend his conference championship record in the 100 free while going after former teammate Simonas Bilis‘s overall ACC record. Plus Brandon Fiala is back to chase his own ACC meet record in the 200 breast while NC State’s Andreas Vazaios looks to keep the 200 fly title in Raleigh with former Wolfpack member and conference record-holder Christian McCurdy now graduated.

Keep refreshing this page for live, event-by-event recaps of all the action from Atlanta.

MEN’S 200 Back – Prelims

• NCAA ‘A’ cut – 1:39.87
• NCAA ‘B’ cut –1:46.39
• Conference Record – Hennessey Stuart, 2016 – 1:38.56
• Championship Record – Grigory Tarasevich, 2016 – 1:39.28

Top 8:

1. Stuart, NC State – 1:39.59
2. Ress, NC State – 1:40.26
3. Tarasevich, Louisville – 1:40.28
4. Owen, Virginia Tech – 1:40.29
5. Witacre, Notre Dame – 1:40.60
6. Merrilees, UNC – 1:41.35
7. Clark, Virginia – 1:41.86
8. T-8 Workman, Virginia Tech – 1:41.86
9. T-8 Greene, Louisville – 1:41.86

It’ll be ACC record-holder Hennessey Stuart leading the way into finals. Last year’s 3rd-place finisher nationally went 1:39.59 for an NCAA A cut that rockets him to #2 in the NCAA ranks. Stuart trails only American record-holder Ryan Murphy this season.

NC State has the top two seeds, with sophomore Justin Ress blowing almost three seconds off his season-best to go 1:40.26 for second. Last year’s ACC champ Grigory Tarasevich of Louisville is third, just .02 back. Tarasevich’s teammate Aaron Greene could make it a duo in the final if he wins a swim-off for 8th.

Virginia Tech also got a potenial pair of swimmers into the final with Robert Owen (4th) and Sean Workman, who will battle with Greene in that swim-off for the last finals spot.

MEN’S 100 Free – Prelims

• NCAA ‘A’ cut – 42.25
• NCAA ‘B’ cut – 44.29
• Conference Record – Simonas Bilis, 2016 – 41.18
• Championship Record – Ryan Held, 2016 – 41.69

Top 8:

1. Held, NC State – 42.33
2. Dahl, NC State – 42.89
3. Bonk, NC State – 42.92
4. Lindenbauer, Louisville – 42.95
5. Afrik, Notre Dame – 42.96
6. Speers, Notre Dame – 43.09
7. Johnson, NC State – 43.10
8. Whiteside, Virginia – 43.11

After a 1-2 of the 200 back, NC State upped its game to sweep the top three seeds of the 100 free. The signature event of the Wolfpack saw Ryan Held go 42.33 for the top spot by half a second. Held went out in 20.00 and should have a shot to open in 19 seconds to his feet in tonight’s final. He’s joined by Soren Dahl (42.89, 2nd), Joe Bonk (42.92, 3rd) and Scott Johnson (43.10, 7th) in the championship final.

Notre Dame has had a nice morning, and put two into the A final. Sophomores Tabahn Afrik and Daniel Speers will swim in the fast heat tonight with two more Irish scorers in the B final. Their chief competition for third place is Virginia Tech, who had a great 200 back but have no scorers lined up in the 100 free.

MEN’S 200 Breast – Prelims

• NCAA ‘A’ cut – 1:52.99
• NCAA ‘B’ cut – 1:59.79
• Conference Record – Thomas Dahlia, 2015 – 1:52.68
• Championship Record – Brandon Fiala, 2016 – 1:52.87

Top 8:

1. Fiala, Virginia Tech – 1:53.36
2. Loschi, Georgia Tech – 1:53.47
3. Jackson, Notre Dame – 1:53.68
4. Claverie, Louisville – 1:54.33
5. Kropp, Duke – 1:54.54
6. McBryan, UNC – 1:54.86
7. Switzer, Virginia Tech – 1:55.40
8. Emslie, UNC – 1:55.43

But just as Notre Dame started to make some headway against Virginia Tech, the Hokies struck back with two in the A final of the men’s 200 breast. That includes Brandon Fiala, who looks primed to defend his 2016 conference title after going 1:53.36 this morning. He’s only a tenth up on Georgia Tech junior Moises Loschi, though, and tonight’s race could be much closer than the blowout Fiala won back in 2016, where he held about a half-second lead almost the entire way.

Notre Dame did get Trent Jackson into the A final. The senior is third at 1:53.68, just a half-second out of first. He cut more than three seconds off his seed for that spot.

Louisville’s Carlos Claverie is into the final at 1:54.33 – he was third last year in 1:53.7 and should have more in the tank tonight. UNC also got a pair of finalists between Michael McBryan and Craig Emslie.

MEN’S 200 Fly – Prelims

• NCAA ‘A’ cut – 1:41.86
• NCAA ‘B’ cut – 1:47.99
• Conference Record – Christian McCurdy, 2016 – 1:41.06
• Championship Record – Christian McCurdy, 2016 – 1:41.42

Top 8:

1. Vazaios, NC State – 1:41.93
2. Harting, Louisville – 1:43.15
3. Southern, Georgia Tech – 1:43.35
4. Bradley, Notre Dame – 1:43.81
5. Fong, Virginia – 1:43.90
6. Quallen, Louisville – 1:43.96
7. Slanschek, Georgia Tech – 1:44.00
8. Schubert, Virginia – 1:44.35

NC State finished the morning by nabbing the top qualifying spot in their third event. This time it was junior Andrea Vazaios who went 1:41.93 to top the 200 fly. Vazaios was also the 200 IM champ earlier in the meet.

He’s a little more than a second ahead of Zach Harting of Louisville who returned (much like the Dark Knight) from a 6th place finish in yesterday’s 100 fly and a 5th-place slot in the 500 free.

Georgia Tech earned a pair of finalists with Ben Southern‘s 1:43.35 (3rd) and Tim Slanschek‘s 1:44.00 (7th). Louisville will also have two A finalists with Josh Quallen joining Harting.

Louisville and Notre Dame are the only two programs with at least one swimmer in each A final tonight. Kevin Bradley made the 200 fly A final for the Fighting Irish in his senior year, going 1:43.81 and taking 4th.