NC State Freshman Abby Arens Time Trials Lifetime Best 59.46 100 Breast at ACCs

2021 ACC WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, February 17th – Saturday, February 20th | Prelims: 11:00 am | Finals: 7:00 pm (EST) (Except Wednesday’s timed finals, which begin at 5:15 EST)
• Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC
• Defending Champion: University of Virginia (x1) (results)
• Format: 25 Yards/Short Course Yards (SCY)
• Championship Central: Here
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• Wednesday Results
• Thursday Prelims Results

One of the fun parts about college conference championships is keeping an eye on the time trials to see what times emerge outside of the main competition.

The first round of time trials at this year’s ACC Championships on Wednesday yielded an immediate impact, as NC State freshman Abby Arens went 59.46 in the 100 breast on Wednesday night, knocking exactly 0.30s off of her lifetime best of 59.76, which came in March of 2019.

Arens’ time yesterday put her well under the 59.9 its taken to qualify for NCAAs in this event the last two years, although Arens already went 2:08.21 in the 200 breast in December, which was already enough to secure her spot. She’s also been 52.25 in the 100 fly and 1:57.59 in the 200 IM this year, both of those times about what it took to qualify in those events the last few years. She’s entered in all of those events, plus the 200 fly, this week, so yesterday’s time trial would perhaps indicate that she’s going to focus on the 100 fly tomorrow.

Other notable time trials:

• Notre Dame freshman Megan Deuel went 1:57.27 in the 200 fly yesterday. That’s a season-best time for Deuel, and her second-fastest ever, but still about a second away from what it took to qualify for NCAAs in this event last year.
• The Fighting Irish also time trialed the 200 medley relay yesterday, using the same lineup they had for the actual race. Senior Rachel Wittmer managed to anchor the relay in 22.06 on both attempts, but otherwise the other three women were each just a bit slower in the time trial than the actual race, so the time trial swim touched in 1:38.11 versus the race time of 1:37.37. It takes a 1:37.05 to clip the NCAA ‘B’ cut in the event.