Pitt Head Coach John Hargis on 1st Ever Men’s ACC Medal (Video)

2019 ACC MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 27th to Saturday, March 2nd | Prelims 10:00am | Finals 6:00pm
• Where: Greensboro Aquatics Center, Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: NC State Wolfpack (results)
• Live Results: here
• Streaming: WatchESPN (subscription required)
• Psych Sheet
• Championship Central
• Day 3 Heat Sheets

^{Reported and captured by Robert Gibbs.}

400 IM

• Meet Record – Robert Owen, Virginia Tech, 3:38.43 – 2017
• ACC Record – Gal Nevo, Georgia Tech, 3:38.00 – 2009
• Estimated NCAA Invite Time – 3:43.81

1. Brendan Casey (Virginia) – 3:39.93
2. Eric Knowles (NC State) – 3:42.09
3. Samy Helmbacher (Pitt) – 3:42.30

Virginia teammates Brendan Casey and Ted Schubert led the pack through the first half of this race. Things began to change on the breaststroke leg, where Casey increased his lead to up to 2.6 seconds at the 250 mark, and Schubert began to fall off the pace. Several different men moved up over the final 150, including another Cavalier, Casey Storch, but ultimately it was NC State’s Eric Knowles and Pitt’s Samy Helmbacher who emerged and took 2nd and 3rd in close order, 3:42.09 to 3:42.30.

The top six men were all under our predicted NCAA invite time this morning, so tonight’s swims didn’t appear to affect anyone’s invite status.

Notre Dame’s Marci Barta, who came into the meet as the top seed, won the C-final in 3:47.13. Neither he nor teammate Zach Yeadon, who also had his NCAA invite secure before this week, have been close to their best times, suggesting that they may be aiming to peak at NCAAs this year.

NC State now leads by almost 200 points, but there’s plenty of drama further down the standings, as the battles for 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th are each separated by less than ten points each.