200 Medley Relay
This 200 medley relay was projected to be a wide-open race, but I don’t think even the most prudent prognosticators saw the result coming out the way that it did.
The host team Virginia Tech took the win in 1:26.34, which crushes the school record in the event. The Hokies’ splits were in err on the touch pads, but they got out to a big lead, extended it with a strong 20.64 fly split from butterflier Greg Mahon, and barely held on from the anchor with senior Greg Morgan on the freestyle leg. The Hokies new that they had to get a lead to hold on for the anchor, and they did just that. The key for them was that Morgan, while not the best sprinter in the conference, had enough experience to fight off a big charge.
This relay is often good for a curveball at this meet (everyone remembers the emotional win of the Clemson Tigers last year).
Duke continued the upended standings with a runner-up finish in 1:26.46 (a school record for them as well, by over a second). That included the field’s fastest breaststroke leg of 23.62 from D2 transfer Piotr Safronczyk. Ben Hwang also had a very good anchor of 19.21 on the freestyle leg. The junior is having a breakout season, and he showed with this swim that he will be a contender in the individual 50.
There were some other outstanding freestyle splits as well, including Clemson’s Eric Bruck in 18.89 (en route to a 4th place finish), and Florida State’s Mark Weber in 18.99 on a perfect exchange (en route to a 6th place finish). In between the two was Georgia Tech in 5th with a balanced foursome.
What’s almost as surprising as who was at the top was who wasn’t. We haven’t yet mentioned the Virginia Cavaliers; that’s because they finished in 9th (aka 2nd-to-last) in this race in 1:28.29. That’s only half-a-second faster than their mid-season mark at the Georgia Invite. As compared to that relay, however, the Cavaliers totally reconstructed this group with only breaststroker Taylor Grey on the same leg. They might have “punted” this relay to stack their others; specifically, they pulled Tom Barrett and Peter Geissinger to save them for the 800 free relay.
Men’s 800 Free Relay
The Virginia men saved a lot for this 800 free relay, and they ended up cruising easily to a 5-second victory in 6:18.35, which is an NCAA automatic qualifying time. That’s easily the best time in the country this year (with the ACC meet starting before the Big Ten men got a shot).
David Karasek had a dynamite anchor split of 1:32.61. This Virginia team still has some horses, but they have been without the big star that they’ve had the past few seasons. With that swim, Karasek might have just stepped into that role. That’s roughly four-seconds faster than he’s been on a flat-start this season. Also impressive was a 1:35.0 third leg from sophomore Parker Camp.
(Note that there appears to be some glitches with the pads, so this presumes that the splits are accurate).
The race for 2nd between an improved North Carolina State team and and North Carolina was neck-and-neck until the anchor. The Tarheels’ Tom Luchsinger swam a strong 1:34.01 anchor to pull away for runner-up positioning. NC State was 3rd in 6:25.67.
That blows away the school record by more than four seconds for the Wolfpack. Much like their women, they have arrived ready to race. They beat every opponent in the ACC this year aside from a 10-point loss early to Virginia Tech, and a late thumping to Virginia.
Standings
I went ahead and added in the already-completed diving competition (the men dove last week with the women) to the team scores, though those events haven’t technically been hit in the event schedule yet.
In terms of strictly swimming points, Virginia Tech and North Carolina take the lead, with Virginia in 3rd.
1. Florida State 199
2. Virginia Tech 177
3. North Carolina 140
4. Virginia 102
5. Georgia Tech 87
6. North Carolina State 73
7. Duke 66
8, Maryland 54
9. Clemson 48
10. Boston College 28
11. Miami 15
GO GA TECH!