Virginia women, NC State men pick up wins in ACC split

The Virginia Cavalier women won at home against NC State, thanks to pool records from Courtney Bartholomew and Laura Simon. The NC State men beat the Cav men, though, sweeping all but four events.

Full results

Women’s Meet

Virginia broke three pool records in a dominant 188-112 win. Though none of those pool records came from distance star Leah Smith, the sophomore might have had the most impressive resume of the night.

Smith won three individual events, including back-to-back wins in the first two individual races. Smith first won the 1000 free in 9:56.61, and never really took her foot off the gas in that race – her final split was a field-best 27.9.

She came right off that race to win the 200 free in 1:49.17, and once again showed great closing burst with a 27.5 final split.

Smith would also return to win the 500 free in 4:51.82, a Virginia 1-2-3.

The Cavaliers got a pool record out of the gate with the 200 medley relay. Courtney Bartholomew, Laura Simon, Ellen Williamson and Caitlin Cooper combined to go 1:39.40 for the win. The splits were great across the board – Bartholomew was 24.70 on back, Simon 27.80 on breast, Williamson 23.98 on fly and the freshman Cooper 22.91 on freestyle.

Bartholomew and Simon would go on to break individual pool records in back-to-back races later on. Bartholomew took down the pool record in the 200 back with a 1:54.31, and Simon did the same in the 200 breast, going 2:12.54.

Each swimmer swept her respective stroke. Bartholomew was 52.58 to win the 100 back, while Simon won the 100 breast in 1:01.03.

Williamson also got an individual win, taking the 100 fly with a 53.81. Bartholomew was second.

Virginia’s other double winner was Kaitlyn Jones. Jones took the 200 fly (1:59.02) in a tight race, then dominated the 400 IM (4:17.16) for UVA.

The only events were NC State ruled were sprints and diving. Riki Bonnema won both the 50 (22.87) and 100 (50.70) frees for the Wolfpack, while Rachel Mumma swept 1- and 3-meter diving.

NC State also won the 200 free relay to close the meet, getting a 22.87 leadoff leg from Lauren Poli along with a 22.54 anchor split from Bonnema to go 1:31.11 for the win.

Men’s Meet

The men’s side was almost a complete reverse, as NC State won the majority of the events en route to a 181-112 victory over their conference foe.

Simonas Bilis was one of two Wolfpack members to double up. He won the 50 free (19.78) and 100 free (43.83) in very nice times, and was basically untouchable on the day. Bilis also swam on two winning relays. He anchored the 200 medley in 19.70, helping Andreas Schiellerup, Derek Hren and Soeren Dahl go 1:28.26. Bilis also led off the 200 free relay, which won in 1:20.17. Schiellerup was 19.87 on that relay, and joining him and Bilis were Ryan Held and David Williams.

Schiellerup won the 100 back for NC State in 47.97, while Williams took the 200 free in 1:38.65.

Second in that 100 back was freshman Henessy Stuart, who went on to win the 200 back in 1:46.18.

The other double winner for NC State was Christian McCurdy. McCurdy took the 200 fly (1:47.64) early on, and won the final individual race, the 400 IM (3:54.22) in a close race with Virginia’s Austin Quinn.

Virginia’s Yannick Kaeser continued his strong run of wins in the breaststroke races this season. He won two of the Cavaliers’ four events, going 54.11 in the 100 and 1:59.79 in the 200. That 200 was a 1-2 finish for Virginia.

UVA’s two other wins came in diving. Colby Shinholser won on 1-meter with JB Kolod second, and Kolod rose to the top of the 3-meter event to take the win.

Without entering star freshman Anton Ipsen in the 1000 free, NC State still took the event thanks to Adam Linker‘s 9:14.70. That topped UVA freshman Brendan Casey. Ipsen did swim the 500 free, which he won by nearly 10 seconds in 4:23.67.

NC State also went 1-2-3 in the 100 fly, with John Newell’s 48.99 leading the way.