Coming off of road losses to the UNC Tar Heels Saturday, Virginia Tech got back into the win column Sunday, throttling ACC opponent Duke while breaking 4 pool records.
The H2Okie men, defending champions of the ACC, accounted for three of the records in working to avenge the loss to North Carolina. Owen Burns and Collin Higgins each knocked down a pool record along with the 400 free relay.
On the women’s side, it was Klaudia Nazieblo who continued her breakout freshman season by setting a new pool mark and winning 3 individual races.
Men’s Meet
The H2Okie men swam like a team on a mission, sweeping all but four events to blow away their conference foes after that painful loss to North Carolina Saturday.
Senior Collin Higgins swept the backstrokes and left his name up on the Duke record board with a 1:46.76 win in the 200 back. That’s the fastest time ever swum in the Duke pool, one of three pool records the men set. Higgins also won the 100 back in 49.06.
Fellow senior Owen Burns got the first pool record of the night, winning the second men’s race, the 200 free, in 1:38.66.
It was a big night for the senior class all around, as the team’s other double individual winner was yet another senior: Morgan Latimer. Latimer swept the butterfly races, going 1:49.62 to run away with the 200 early on, then returning to win the 100 in 49.26 late in the meet.
With Higgins and Latimer hogging the backstrokes and butterflys, Duke could only steal events in the breaststroke races. Peter Kropp went a quick 54.22 to win the 100 breast by exactly two seconds. He came back to win the 200 breast in 2:00.61, another win by a wide margin. 200 free winner Burns was second for Virginia Tech at 2:03.08. That 200 breast was a new pool record for Kropp, one of two set by the Duke men.
The Blue Devils also won the 200 IM with sophomore Bradley Cline (1:51.21) and Kropp finishing second to make it a 1-2.
The other Duke win came in the 200 medley relay, where Kropp split 24.24 to lead Duke’s 1:29.27 pool record-setting relay. Joining him on the squad were Kazumu Takabayashi, Ryan Nicholson and James Peek, who was an impressive 19.95 on the anchor leg.
But Virginia Tech got the biggest relay win of the meet, going 3:00.72 to break the pool record and win the final event of the night, the 400 free relay. Burns led off in 44.86 and individual 100 free winner Lucas Bureau anchored in 44.70 to close down the win. In between were individual 50 free winner Brandon Fiala and Latimer.
The H2Okies also swept diving with sophomore Kyle Butts. The final score was 180-115 in favor of Virginia Tech.
Women’s Meet
The H2Okie women one-upped the men, dropping just two events to Duke, not counting exhibitioned swims. Freshman Klaudia Nazieblo was the key, winning three individual races and smashing a pool record in the 200 back to power Virginia Tech.
Also winning twice were Weronika Paluszek and Margaret Parcell.
Nazieblo swept the butterfly events, but had her most noteworthy swim in the 200 back. The first-year from Poland went 1:59.48 to break the pool record in the 200 back, topping the field by over three seconds. She was also quick in the 200 fly (1:58.90) and 100 fly (55.43), both big VT wins, though the latter was technically exhibitioned.
Paluszek was her usually-dominant self in the breaststrokes. Third in both breaststroke races at last year’s ACC Championships, Paluszek was unmatched againt Duke, going 1:03.89 to lead a 1-2-3 H2Okie sweep in the 100 and 2:15.73 to win the 200 by over 5 seconds in another Virginia Tech sweep.
Finally, Parcell led the sprint races through the middle of the meet. Her closest win came in the 50, where she barely snuck in ahead of Duke sophomore Maddie Rusch. Parcell was 23.67 to Rusch’s 23.68. In the 100, Parcell could breathe a little easier at the finish. Her 51.67 won, and teammate Caroline Buscaglia was second in 51.96, providing some buffer space between Parcell and Rusch, who took third in 52.00.
Duke’s two wins came very early and very late in the meet. Towards the beginning, sophomore Jessica Sutherland paced the 100 back, going 55.64 to beat a pair of H2Okies. Then in the very last individual event, freshman Leah Goldman won the 200 IM in 2:04.94, besting Virginia Tech’s 500 free winner and Scottish import Fiona Donnelly.
The H2Okies won both relays. The 200 medley came down to about a half-second as Virginia Tech seemed to split its top swimmers between two relays. Nazieblo led off the winning relay, joining Alyssa Bodin, Maggie Gruber and Buscaglia at the top of the results. That team went 1:43.40. Duke was second in 1:43.93. The Blue Devils got a lead on Sutherland’s 25.96 backstroke split, but fell behind through the middle and weren’t able to come back, even with Rusch anchoring in a field-best 22.99. Virginia Tech’s B team, which featured Paluszek, Donnelly and Parcell, went 1:44.06 for third.
Virginia Tech was able to sweep the top two spots in the 400 free relay, though. 1000 free winner Jessica Hespeler, Parcell, Buscaglia and 200 free winner Gabrielle Bishop combined to go 3:27.59, getting 51-second splits from Parcell and Bishop. Meanwhile the B squad got 51s from Emily Ryczek and Adriana Grabski (including a field-best 51.21 from Grabski) to go 3:28.83 for second. Duke was third overall in 3:31.89.
The H2Okies made it a clean 4-for-4 sweep in diving on the day as Kaylea Arnett topped both women’s boards, leading to a final team score of Virginia Tech 175, Duke 116.
Virginia Tech will continue its run through the ACC, taking on new members Notre Dame and Pitt in a two-day meet in two weeks, while Duke tackles William & Mary and Old Dominion in back-to-back days the same weekend.
A 1:38 mid 200 Free is a pool record there? Seriously?
Im surprised VT even showed up to Duke they got so badly beaten at UNC
Typical ‘Carolina Way’ comment….
Duke men also won the 200 IM, going 1-2. And Peter Kropp’s 200 breast was a pool record as well.
A few (big) names missing from VT mens roster… They get kicked off or just leave? Hard to imagine they’d have swimmers leave after such a successful season.?