Pitt’s Blaise Vera on Friendly Wagers And Highest-Ever ACC Team Finish (Video)

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

Reported by Robert Gibbs.

Thursday

50 FREESTYLE – FINALS

• ACC championship record – 18.68, Ryan Held (NC State), 2018
• ACC record – 18.56, Ryan Held (NC State), 2017
• 2019 champion – Will Pisani (FSU), 19.21

1. Nyls Korstanje (NC State) – 19.25
2. Abdelrahman Sameh (Louisville) – 19.31
3. Peter Varjasi (Florida State) – 19.35

Nyls Korstanje captured his first ACC title in this event after finishing 4th last year. This burning, he burned up the pool with a 19.07, and while he was a little off of that tonight, it was enough to secure the victory.

The men who finished 2nd-4th were the only three men in the field to drop time from this morning, and they all touched within 0.11s. Louisville freshman Abdelrahman Sameh dropped two-tenths to take silver in 19.31, a new lifetime beset for him. According to the broadcast team, Louisville tried questioning the results, thinking that Sameh had somehow managed to touched ahead of Korstanje, although the results seem to have stood.

Florida State’s Peter Varjasi also continued a strong freshman campaign by taking 3rd in 19.35. Virginia senior Ryan Baker captured a 4th place finish in 19.42, setting a new lifetime best in his last individual ACC 50 free.

The rest of the field all added time from this morning. Virginia Tech’s Tommy Hallock and Pitt’s Blaise Vera took 5th and 6th with times of 19.49 and 19.54. Louisville ended up in 7th and 8th, as both Mihalis Deliyannis (19.65) and Andrej Barna (19.97) added fairly big chunks from this morning. It’ll be interesting to see how Barna does this week, as he missed the first half of the season, presumably due to some illness or injury.

It’s taken a 19.35 or 19.36 to qualify for NCAAs in this event the last year two years, meaning that only Korstanje was well under that mark tonight, although Vera was 19.10 early this season and Deliyannis could be safe with his 19.25.

Friday

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.

Saturday

100 FREE – FINALS

• ACC record: 41.05 – Ryan Held (NC State), 2018
• ACC meet record: 41.41 – Ryan Held (NC State), 2018
• 2019 champion: Kanoa Kaleoaloha (Florida State), 42.34

1. Nyls Korstanje (NC State) – 42.13
2. Peter Varjasi (Florida State) – 42.68
3. Andrej Barna (Louisville) / Will Messenger (North Carolina) – 42.69

NC State sophomore Nyls Korstanje completed his sweep of the two shortest freestyle events, going 42.13 from lane 1 to take the victory here, after winning the 50 free on Thursday. That’s Korstanje’s 2nd-fastest time ever, behind only 41.91 from last year’s NCAAs, and puts him roughly 6th in the nation this season.

The race for 2nd was incredibly tight. Florida State’s Peter Varjasi just got his hand on the wall first with a 42.68. Louisville’s Andrej Barna and UNC’s Will Messenger tied for 3rd at 42.69, with UVA’s Ryan Baker just a hair behind at 42.72.

Duke’s Miles Williams, who had the fastest time in prelims, touched 6th in 42.90, followed by Louisville’s Abdelrahman Sameh (43.03) and Virginia Tech’s Tommy Hallock (43.14).

Pitt’s Blaise Vera, who took 2nd last year, but missed the A-final this morning, won the B-final with a 42.61 that would’ve earned him 2nd in the A-final tonight.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

1. NC State – 1250
2. Virginia – 1089
3. Louisville – 1066.5
4. Virginia Tech – 898
5. Florida State – 812.5
6. Notre Dame – 803.5
7. North Carolina – 630.5
8. Pitt – 520
9. Georgia Tech – 506
10. Duke – 421
11. Miami – 197
12. Boston College – 134