Virginia Tech Breaks School Record in 200 Free Relay, Hits NCAA “A” Standard

2024 ACC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, February 20 to Saturday, February 24, 2023
• Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
• Defending Champions: NC State men / Virginia women
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Streaming
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Recap

The Virginia Tech women nailed an NCAA “A” standard in the 200 medley relay in a Thursday time trial to ensure their advancement to the 2024 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in March.

The team of Carmen Weiler Sastre (22.52), Caroline Bentz (21.42), Anna Summers (21.90), and Emily Claesson (21.97) combined for a 1:27.81. That swim is easily under the “A” standard of 1:28.43. That swim ranks them 25th in the NCAA so far this season.

A day earlier, that same relay swam 1:29.18 for 6th place in the regular event, which is a new “B” standard time.  While the leadoff Weiler was slower in the time trial, her teammates picked her up on the last three legs to easily undercut their previous best.

Splits Comparison

The swim also broke the old school record of 1:27.96 that was set in 2022.

Because they hit an “A” standard, that relay will be eligible to swim at the NCAA Championships. If the Hokies also have an individual qualifier to NCAAs (which is very likely), then the team will also be eligible to swim any relays with “B” standards.

Other ACC Championships Time Trial Highlights

• Florida State’s Jokubas Keblys swam 19.23 in the 50 free, which was better than the 19.41 he swam in the regular event and better than his lifetime best of 19.60 coming into the meet (from the Georgia Fall Invitational). Last year, it took 19.21 to earn an individual invite to NCAAs in the men’s 50 free. He was 19.72 at last year’s ACC Championships, showing big progress in a year.
• Virginia Tech’s Will Hayon swam 45.66 in the 100 fly. Last year it took 45.57 to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Hayon is still in okay shape after finishing 11th in the 100 fly in 45.54, which would have earned an invite last season, but he was unable to better that in the time trial.
• There were some other nice 100 fly time trial swims, though none are likely to earn NCAA individual invites. Shing Chi Yuk from Virginia Tech swam 46.25, which was better than his 46.80 from the event prelims and his lifetime best of 46.68 from last year’s ACC Championships.
• Guy Brooks of Louisville, a sophomore from South Africa, swam a 1:33.64 in a 200 free time trial. It took 1:32.85 to qualify for NCAAs las season, and he did eventually clear that with a 1:32.49 in a Last Chance Meet. He’ll have to take a shot at a Last Chance meet again this season.
• NC State freshman Hudson Williams, who hasn’t scored yet at ACCs, swam a lifetime best of 19.32 in a 50 free time trial. That improves on the 19.78 he swam in prelims of the regular event. He was 19.55 in high school.
• On Thursday, the Pitt men swam 1:23.92 in a 200 medley relay time trial, improving on the 1:24.05 they swam for 7th in the regular event, but still just-missing the “A” cut of 1:23.71. There’s some room to find those two tenths: Krzysztof Radziszewski was .17 better in the scoring event than the time trial on backstroke, and the relay’s combined reaction times were 1.61, so if they hit their exchanges at a Last Chance meet they should clear the bar.