2020 ACC Men’s Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2020 ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• When: Wednesday, February 26th to Saturday, February 29th 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, 5th-straight) (results)
• Streaming: ACC Network
  • Day 2 Finals
  • Day 3 Finals
  • Day 4 Finals
• Championship Central: Here
• Detailed Timeline: Here
• Psych Sheets: Here
• Live Results
• Friday Finals Heat Sheets

We should be in for six fun races tonight on the third day of the 2020 ACC Men’s Championships. Right off the bat, fans will be treated to a 100 fly race that will feature a pair of sub-45 flyers in NC State’s Coleman Stewart and Louisville’s Nick Albiero. The Cardinal had the fastest time this morning with a 44.83, but Stewart holds the conference record with a 44.46 from last year’s NCAAs.

The 400 IM looks to be a wide open race. Notre Dame’s Jack Hoagland took the top seed this morning, dropping a 3:43.45, and the freshman seems to get better with every race. But UVA’s Ted Schubert has been sub-3:40, and won the 200 IM yesterday, and NC State’s Eric Knowles has to be motivated after unsuccessfully defending his 500 title yesterday.

The 200 free may be even more open. The highest returning finisher from last year, Virginia Tech’s Lane Stone, will be in lane one after finishing 7th this morning, while UVA’s Sam Schilling will occupy lane four after going 1:33.42 this morning.

Louisville’s Evgenii Somov is the defending champion in the 100 breast, and looks to be in the driver’s seat after going 51.93 this morning to take the top seed for tonight. Stewart is the top seed in the 100 back, and he should be the favorite to win, but Albiero and teammate Mitchell Whyte could make it an exciting race, at the very least in the sense that all three could finish under 45 seconds.

The session will wrap up with the 400 medley relay. Based on this morning’s results, this should be a race between Louisville and NC State, although both schools may be relying on a pair of swimmers (Albiero/Whyte and Noah Hensley/Stewart) who will each be on their third swim of the session by the time we get to the relay.

As a reminder, here’s what scores look like heading into this session, including all three diving events.

1. NC State – 488
2. Virginia – 438
3. Florida State – 420.5
4. Louisville – 393
5. Virginia Tech – 359
6. North Carolina – 315
7. Notre Dame – 294.5
8. Duke – 258
9. Pitt – 223
10. Georgia Tech – 216
11. Miami (diving only) – 197
12. Boston College – 66

100 Fly – Finals

• ACC record: 44.46 – Coleman Stewart (NC State), 2019
• ACC meet record: 44.79 – Ryan Held (NC State), 2018
• 2019 champion: Kanoa Kaleoaloha (Florida State), 44.93

1. Nick Albiero (Louisville) – 44.86
2. Coleman Stewart (NC State) – 44.92
3. Nyls Korstanje (NC State) – 45.47

Coleman Stewart was hunting for his first ACC title in this event after finishing 2nd the last two year, and at first he looked like he was going to be successful. He went out in 20.72, and looked to be in control at the final turn. Nick Albiero, who had the fastest time in prelims (43.83), appeared to be a little long on the first turn, and was 0.19s behind Stewart at the halfway point. But Albiero stormed home down the final few yards and managed to get to the wall just ahead of Stewart, 44.86 to 44.92.

Both men were faster than last year, when Stewart took 2nd in 45.09, and Albiero took 4th in 45.37.

NC State still earned big points in this event, as Nyls Korstanje took 3rd in 45.47,  new personal best for him, after taking 9th here last year. The Wolfpack also got a 5th place finish from Noah Hensley (45.71) and an 8th place finish from Luke Sobolewski (46.56).

Virginia Tech took 4th and 7th with the efforts of Blake Manoff (45.60) and Antani Ivanov (45.77). Pitt’s Blaise Vera almost perfectly matched his time from this morning (46.22 tonight vs 46.21 this morning) to take 6th.

400 IM – Finals

• ACC record: 3:38.00 – Gal Nevo (Georgia Tech), 2009
• ACC meet record: 3:38.43 – Robert Owen (Virginia Tech), 2017
• 2019 champion: Brendan Casey (Virginia), 3:39.93

1. Ted Schubert (Virginia) – 3:40.01
2. Jack Hoagland (Notre Dame) – 3:40.73
3. Casey Storch (Virginia) – 3:44.02

UVA senior completed the IM sweep by hanging to win the 400 IM tonight in 3:40.01. Schubert went out in 48,73, and hit the halfway mark at 1:44.17, three seconds ahead of the field. Notre Dame freshman Jack Hoagland began creeping up on Schubert on the breaststroke leg, and then outsplit Schubert 24.90 on the 26.21 as Schubert began visibly tightening up. But Schubert had just enough to left in the tank to outlast Hoagland, who touched 2nd in 3:40.73, whose knocked six seconds off his lifetime best since November, and almost nine seconds this season. Schubert’s time currently ranks #2 in the nation this season.

The Cavaliers also got a 3rd place finish from Casey Storch (3:44.02) and an 8th place finish from freshman Sean Conway (3:46.39). Last year, Storch finished 5th in 3:43.87, while Schubert took 6th in 3:43.89.

Pitt’s Samy Helmbacher (3:44.96) and Eben Vorster (3:46.24) finished 4th and 7th, respectively. Helmbacher was a couple seconds off his time from last year, when he finished 3rd in 3:43.15. Virginia Tech’s Filippo Del Maso finished 4th in 3:45.75, and NC State’s Eric Knowles took 6th in 3:46.01. Knowles was last year’s runner-up with a time of 3:42.09.

200 Free – Finals

• ACC record: 1:31.32 – Andreas Vazaois (NC State), 2018
• ACC meet record: 1:32.45 – Scot Robison (Virginia), 2010
• 2019 champion: Bartosz Piszczorowicz (Louisville), 1:33.51

1. Colton Paulson (Louisville) – 1:33.77
2. Sam Schilling (Virginia) – 1:33.98
3. Tomas Sungaila (North Carolina) – 1:34.18

For about 175 yards, it looked as if Tomas Sungaila was about to get the UNC men their first ACC victory of the Mark Gangloff era. But Louisville’s Colton Paulson split 23.60 down the final 50 to touch first in 1:33.77.

UVA’s Sam Schilling touched 2nd in 1:33.98, while Sangaila held on for 3rd in 1:34.18. This wasn’t a particular fast race, as both Paulson and Schilling had times this morning that were faster than Paulson’ time tonight.

While it wasn’t a fast field, it was a fairly tight field, as Notre Dame’s Sadler McKeen touched just behind Sungaila in 1:34.26. UVA’s Ryan Baker (1:34.59) just touched out Virginia Tech’s Lane Stone (1:34.61) and teammate Jack Wright (1:34.69), with NC State’s Erge Gezmis (1:34.88) rounding out the field.

Updated scores:

1. NC State – 698
2. Virginia – 623
3. Louisville – 556
4. Virginia Tech – 481
5. Florida State – 477.5
6. Notre Dame – 441.5
7. North Carolina – 370
8. Pitt – 297
9. Georgia Tech – 272
10. Miami – 297
11. Boston College – 66

100 Breast – Finals

• ACC record: 51.30 – Brandon Fiala (Virginia Tech), 2017
• ACC meet record: 51.46 – Peter Kropp (Duke), 2017
• 2019 champion: Evgenii Somov (Louisville), 51.90

1. Evgenii Somov (Louisville) – 51.85
2. Valdas Abaliksta (North Carolina) – 52.00
3. Izaak Bastian (Florida State) – 52.36

A Louisville Cardinal won for the third time in four events tonight, as Evgenii Somov defended his title with a 51.85 victory. UNC’s Valdas Abaliksta pushed Somov on the back half, but came up just 0.15s short, touching in 52.00. Abaliksta finished 7th last year.

Florida State’s Izaak Bastian moved up from his 6th place finish last year to take 3rd here tonight, touching in 52.36.

The rest of the field all touched within 0.3s of each other. UVA’s Keefer Barnum, last year’s 3rd-place finisher, took 4th in 52.36, followed by Notre Dame’s Joshua Bottelberghe (52.51) and Pitt’s Cooper Van Der Laan (52.71). Last year’s runner-up, Caio Pumputis, took 7th in 52.74, followed by UNC’s Jacob Rauch (52.78).

100 Back – Finals

• ACC record: 43.98 – Coleman Stewart (NC State), 2019
• ACC meet record: 44.36 – Coleman Stewart (NC State), 2019
• 2019 champion: Coleman Stewart (NC State), 44.44

1. Coleman Stewart (NC State) – 44.04
2. Mitchell Whyte (Louisville) – 44.64
3. Nick Albiero (Louisville) – 44.75

Coleman Stewart won this event for the 3rd-straight year, breaking a conference record and nearly breaking 44.0 with a 44.04. That’s the fastest time in the country so far this season, just ahead of Zane Waddell’s 44.10 from SECs last week.

Louisville teammates Mitchell Whyte and Nick Albiero both hit new personal bests, touching in 44.64 and 44.75, as fans were treated to the rare sight of three men going under 45 at a conference championship.

Georgia Tech’s Kyle Barone was out in 21.56, 2nd only behind Stewart, but faded over the back half, splitting 24.21 (against the sub-23 splits from the top three men), but still hung on to finish 4th in 45.77.

UVA’s Joe Clark touched 5th in 46.44 after finishing 3rd last year in 45.22. Clark’s best time this season is a 46.01 from the Tennessee Invite, and he may be in danger of not qualifying for NCAAs after scoring points there the last two years. It took a 46.06 to qualify last season.

NC State’s Noah Hensley took 6th in 46.57; like the top three men, he swam the 100 fly earlier this session. Florida State’s Griffin Alaniz (46.78) and Louisville’s Nikolaos Sofianidis rounded out the top 8.

One item of note further down the results: Boston College had its first individual scorer of the meet, Samuel Roche, take 21st in the C-final with a 47.60.

Current standings:

1. NC State – 801
2. Virginia – 708
3. Louisville – 682
4. Virginia Tech – 546
5. Florida State – 533.5
6. Notre Dame – 512.5
7. North Carolina – 438
8. Pitt – 341
9. Georgia Tech – 339
10. Duke – 310
11. Miami (FL) – 197
12. Boston College – 70

There haven’t really been any big point swings this evening, as most teams are within ten points of their projected points based on this morning’s swims.

400 Medley Relay – Timed Finals

• ACC record: 3:01.76 – NC State, 2018
• ACC meet record: 3:03.26 – NC State, 2019
• 2019 champion: NC State, 3:03.25

1. Louisville – 3:02.80
2. Florida State – 3:05.62
3. Virginia – 3:05.82

When your lineup consists of the 2nd place finisher in the 100 back, and the champions in the 100 breast and 100 fly, you stand a pretty good chance of winning the 400 medley relay, and sure enough, Louisville dominated this event, winning by nearly three seconds with a 3:02.80, the 4th-fastest time in the country this season.

Mitchell Whyte put Louisville in 2nd with a 44.93 leadoff, Evgenii Somov had the fastest breast split in the field with a 51.40, Nick Albiero‘s 44.55 fly split was also the fastest field, and Andrej Barna threw down a 41.92 anchor leg to bring it home with a new meet record time.

Florida State took 2nd behind a relay that only returned one leg from last year. Senior Griffin Alaniz led off in 46.18, Izaak Bastian, that lone returner, split 52.34 on breast, and Max McCusker (45.33) and Peter Varjasi (41.77) put together a strong back half as the Seminoles finished in 3:05.62, just ahead of UVA.

Joe Clark led off in 46.42 for Virginia, who then got a 51.66 breaststroke leg from Keefer Barnum (51.66). Freshman Konnar Klinksiek split 46.03 on fly, and Ryan Baker anchored in 41.71. Results show a -0.14s reaction time for Baker, and the livestream mentioned a video review after the race was over, but apparently officials were satisfied that it was a safe start, as the results seem to stand, and UVA recorded a 3:05.82.

Despite looking like he may have jammed his hand on the 100 back finish, Coleman Stewart put NC State in the lead early on with a 44.38. Rafal Kusto split 53.73 on breast, Nyls Korstanje‘s 45.20 fly split was the 2nd-fastest in the field, and Mark McGlaughlin anchored in 42.85 for a 3:06.16.

Standings After Day 3

1. NC State – 853
2. Virginia – 762
3. Louisville – 746
4. Virginia Tech – 596
5. Florida State – 589.5
6. Notre Dame – 558.5
7. North Carolina – 486
8. Pitt – 385
9. Georgia Tech – 379
10. Duke – 344
11. Miami (diving only) – 197
12. Boston College – 102

While NC State’s lead is not completely insurmountable, a lot would have to go wrong at this point for UVA or Louisville to make up the roughly 100 point difference. Those two schools, however, should be in for a tight battle on the final day, where from a quick glance, they seem to be evenly matched in terms of potential A-finalists, and the race for 2nd could come down to which team gets more swimmers into B- and C-finals.

The race for 4th should also be fun; Virginia Tech has a 6.5 point lead on Florida State, with Notre Dame about 45 points back. UNC probably has 7th locked up, while Pitt and Georgia Tech are only separated by 6 points in the battle for 8th. Duke, Miami, and Boston College are likely to finish 10th, 11th, and 12th, respectively.