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
NC State’s Coleman Stewart tied, to the hundredth, his ACC Record set in prelims on Friday morning in the 100 back. Stewart swam a 44.44 in prelims, and repeated it with a 44.44 in finals.
The previous conference and conference championship records were both Stewart’s own 44.54 from last year’s ACC Championships.
Comparative Splits:
- Stewart, 2018 ACC Finals – 21.60/22.94 = 44.54
- Stewart, 2019 ACC Prelims – 21.69/22.75 – 44.44
- Stewart, 2019 ACC Finals – 21.31/23.13 = 44.44
The rhetoric after his prelims record from the NC State camp was that he was cruising, and intending to go faster in finals. That seems to show up in the splits: in finals, he was out much faster, even if the final time wound up being the same.
Last year, Stewart was slightly slower at NCAAs than his ACC Record in the 100 back, swimming a 44.58. That was still good enough for an NCAA title, however.
The time ties Stewart for 4th-fastest performer in history, surpassing 2012 Olympic 100 backstroke champion and former Short Course 100 back World Record holder Matt Grevers.’
Top 5 Performers of All-Time, Men’s 100 Yard Backstroke
- Ryan Murphy – 43.49
- Nick Thoman – 44.07
- John Shebat – 44.35
- Coleman Stewart – 44.44
- Matt Grevers – 44.49
The biggest challenge to a 2nd-straight Stewart NCAA title is Texas’ John Shebat, who was hampered by injury last season but is healthy again this year.
Drag suits and beards?
Beards but suited.
Stewart’s relay swim was amazing. 5th 100 of the day – five times hammering the underwaters – and he finishes going 44.36. Dude is rocking a beard too. I’m super impressed – he’ll be doing :43 in Austin. And I’d love to see what he could do in a 100 back that doesn’t come in the 2nd half of the 100 fly double
earlier in the final, Zach Harting did the same time in 200 free… the split of his prelim and final swim is almost identical (0.11 at 50, 0.01 at 100, 0.02 at 150)
Prelim: r:+0.64 22.12 46.32 (24.20) 1:09.94 (23.62) 1:33.52 (23.58)
Final: r:+0.66 22.23 46.31 (24.08) 1:09.96 (23.65) 1:33.52 (23.56)
44.36 on the relay
does it count as meet record?
Yes absolutely. Murphy’s 100 LC WR came on relay leadoff in Rio. Of note – the rest of the relay has to swim legal for the record to count (which makes no sense, BTW)