Virginia Tech Invite
- February 5-7, 2021
- Christiansburg Aquatic Center, Christiansburg, VA
- Championship Format
- SCY
- Day 1 Prelims Results
- Day 1 Finals Results
- Results on Meet Mobile as “VT Invite”
With only a couple weeks ago until conference championships underway, we’re seeing several teams hosting invite meets that follow a championship format, and either serve as the final meet of the season for swimmers who aren’t going to make the conference championship team, or as a final tune-up before conference champs.
The Virginia Tech Hokies are hosting one of those invites this season, with a few NC State swimmers in attendance, along with most of the VT team competing, and six pool records went down on the first day of the competition.
VT freshman Emma Atkinson continued her strong season with a pool record in the 100 back, breaking the previous mark of 52.63 with her 52.23 leading off the Hokies’ 400 medley relay. Atkinson’s best time coming into college was a 52.80, and she’s now been under that seven times this season, with her best time a 52.03 from December. Atkinson also hit a personal best of 4:47.12 in the 500 free.
The Hokies women also broke a pair of pool records in relays. The team of Atkinson, Joelle Vereb (1:00.39), Karisa Franz (52.95) and Sarah Shackelford (48.34) combined for a 3:33.91, knocking nearly two seconds off of the old pool record of 3:35.71, and coming within just over a second of the school record.
Shackelford (22.94), Vereb (22.03), Abby Larson (22.05) and Caroline Bentz (22.34) hit 1:29.36 in the 200 free relay, breaking the old pool record of 1:29.95, and coming within 0.07s of the school record. ·
The Virginia Tech men also took down three pool records, starting with Antani Ivanov‘s 4:17.96 in the 500 free, which clipped the previous record of 4:18.83.
Carles Coll Marti put up a strong 1:43.80 in the 200 IM, taking down the old record of 1:44.25 and putting him on the bubble already for a NCAA invite in the event; it took 1:43.79 in 2020 and 1:43.82, but with a few more weeks until ACCs, watch for Marti to drop substantial time there and secure an invite.
Ivanov and Coll Marti were also part of the pool record-breaking 400 medley relay. Blake Manoff led off in 47.01, after going 46.77 in a morning time trial. Coll Marti split 52.70 on breast, Ivanov hit 45.68 on the fly leg, and Youssef Ramadan anchored in 43.09. Their time of 3:08.48 knocked a second and a half set by William & Mary at last year’s CAA Championships.
While it wasn’t a pool record, Virginia Tech also got a solid 1:17.83 in the 200 free relay from Ramadan (19.58), David Herbert (19.26), Manoff (19.66), and Tommy Hallock (19.33), while Coll Marti split 19.28 on the Hokies’ ‘B’ relay.
Action continues today and tomorrow, with results available on Meet Mobile under “VT Invite.”