2016 ACC MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
- When: Wednesday, Feb. 24 – Saturday, Feb. 27; Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
- Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC
- Defending Champion: NC State (results)
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The NC State men earned top seeds in two of three events on day 2 of the ACC Championships, including an absurdly dominating 50 freestyle behind senior Simonas Bilis and sophomore Ryan Held.
500 Free – Prelims
The 500 free set up the first of two events with a 1-2 qualifying run or better for the NC State Wolfpack. Sophomore Anton Ipsen, the defending conference champ, qualified first in 4:18.50, just a tick ahead of his own teammate Adam Linker (4:18.68). That’s a great drop for Linker, who was just 6th last year and broke 4:20 for the first time this morning.
Louisville’s Trevor Carroll, second to Ipsen last year, went 4:19.17 for third place as NC State and Louisville continue to battle for team points. Though the already-completed diving events have the two teams buries on the points early, it’s pretty clear based on this morning’s session that those two programs should rise to the top by tonight.
Also under 4:20 this morning was UNC’s Henry Campbell at 4:19.51. Campbell was third overall last year and sits fourth at this point.
Top 8:
- Ipsen, NCSU – 4:18.50
- Linker, NCSU – 4:18.68
- Carroll, LOU – 4:19.17
- Campbell, UNC – 4:19.51
- Szuba, VT – 4:20.13
- Magnan, UVA – 4:22.00
- Safra, GT – 4:22.20
- Hrabchak, UVA – 4:22.27
200 IM – Prelims
Virginia Tech’s Brandon Fiala had perhaps the swim of the morning, crushing 4.3 seconds off his seed time to take top billing in the 200 IM. That number is a little inflated, considering Fiala had only been 1:47.0 this season but was 1:43 at last year’s ACCs. Still, though, Fiala dropped about a full second off his lifetime-best (no small feat) to go 1:42.77, a time that ranks him 4th in the NCAA this year, pending the results of the other conference meets this weekend.
Fiala is the defending conference champ and looks in good shape to challenge for a repeat bid tonight.
NC State has the next two spots with Soeren Dahl (1:42.93) and Justin Ress (1:43.73). The freshman Ress is already off to a fast start in his first ACCS, and Dahl was third overall last year.
A bit of a blow for NC State, though, was senior Christian McCurdy missing the A final after taking fourth last year. McCurdy was 1:45.42 for 10th.
Louisville’s Nolan Tesone booked a return trip to the final in 1:43.88 for fourth, but the Cardinals also had a returning finalist miss the cut. Josh Quallen wound up 9th by just two tenths of a second and will face off with McCurdy for team points tonight.
Both NC State and Louisville got one more athlete into the A final: 6th-place Hennessey Stuart for the Wolfpack (1:44.42) and 7th-place Carlos Claverie for the Cards (1:44.87).
Top 8:
- Fiala, VT – 1:42.77
- Dahl, NCSU – 1:42.93
- Ress, NCSU – 1:43.73
- Tesone, LOU – 1:43.88
- Colley, UNC – 1:44.41
- Stuart, NCSU – 1:44.42
- Claverie, LOU – 1:44.87
- Owen, VT – 1:45.06
50 Free – Prelims
NC State has built its ACC resurgence around the sprints, and the 50 free might turn out to be their high point. The Wolpack owns 4 of the top 5 spots after this morning, with a potential sweep of the gold, silver and bronze medals lined up.
ACC record-holder Simonas Bilis was 19.00 for a new ACC meet record and just .09 off his overall conference record set at NCAAs last year. His sophomore teammate Ryan Held, coming off an insane 18.1 split last night, went 19.02 to also get under Bilis’s meet record.
NC State also got the third seed from Virginia Tech transfer Joe Bonk, who was 19.53 to beat out Duke’s James Peek (19.57). The last Wolfpack member is junior Andreas Schiellerup at 19.61, just .04 seconds out of a 1-2-3-4 sweep for NC State.
UNC’s Sam Lewis returns to the A final in his senior year after going 19.62 as well.
Top 8:
- Bilis, NCSU – 19.00
- Held, NCSU – 19.02
- Bonk, NCSU – 19.53
- Peek, Duke – 19.57
- Schiellerup, NCSU – 19.61
- Lewis, UNC – 19.62
- Plaschka, ND – 19.69
- Mylin, FSU – 19.73
Coach DeSorbo is the Sprint Man at NCSTATE. If you want to go fast, he is the best teacher.
I agree, Coach Desorbo and Coach Taylor do not get enough credit considering they are the ones coaching these fast swimmers directly
I think Coach Holloway gives them a lot of credit and without his leadership it all falls apart.
NCSU = NORTH CAROLINA SPRINT UNIVERSITY!!! WOW!
NCSU = NATIONAL CHAMPION SPRINT UNIVERSITY—200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, pending no DQs 🙂
Wow! NC State has left every team in the conference in the dust this morning. Whatever they are doing is far greater than the team 20 minutes away. Chapel Hill looks like they need a head coaching shake up. Distance guys struggled for what was considered a distance program, on top of that the sprinters have never been strong enough and relied on distance to carry the points. It’s hard to watch but NC State is proving fast swimming is not rocket science, since Holloway and Co. has arrived you could guarantee one thing that at the end of the year they would show up.
Wish Auburn had that coaching staff, we could bring back SEC Champs and even National… Read more »
I think it’s been clear to most in swimming for at least a couple years that there needs to be a change at UNC. They have zero shot at beating nc state in the near future. Probably not Louisville either. And to all you UVA haters out there, Busch has had the men swimming well and going best times consistently. They’re starting to get recruits again. They’ll be back competing sooner than you think.
I think know matter what UNC does they catch up to NC State. They’re coaching staff and swimmers are just to good!
UNC needs a change for sure. Here’s a quote from Coach DeSelm today when asked about how his team might finish in the ACCs this weekend,…paraphrased but pretty close…”Well we’re not going to worry about team standings, we’re just here to get the job done and swim fast”. DUH?!! Really?!! Not worried about team standings. I’ll bet NCSU and VT and Louisville care about team standings. It’s called GOALS Rich! If you shoot for nothing, you are sure to hit it.
DeSelm was a long time assistant under the lackluster Frank Comfort carrying on more mediocrity and this under performing program has been that way for decades. It would be scary to see UNC with a good coach, considering… Read more »
Have there ever been 2 19.0s on the same team in the same year?! I’m quite sure there haven’t been 2 18.9s and that phenomenon seems impending. It goes without saying, but this NC State team is quickly becoming superb.
It was 2009, but Auburn had Matt Targett going 18.8 and Gideon Louw going 18.9 at NCAA’s that year. I don’t have time to look back farther than that, but if anyone has done it, it’s Auburn in the mid 2000’s
Jakob Andkjaer also went 18.8 leading off the 2 Free relay that year. But again, it was 2009
On 2007 NCAA Auburn had Cielo on 18,69, Target 19,06, Goodrich 19,29 and Lundquist 19,49
Justin – this actually isn’t even close to the best 1-2 punch, though it’s very good. In 2009, Auburn had 3 guys 19.0 or better (Targett, Andkjaer, Louw) . Same year, Stanford did too (Dunford, Staab, Coville). Auburn almost did it in 2010 in the post-suit era – Louw was 19.14, Brown 19.03. Texas had 19.07 and 19.11 from John Murray and Matt Ellis in 2014. Nobody did it last year, but NC State was the closest with an 18.91 from Bilis, a 19.12 from Williams, and a 19.27 from Held.
Different era back in 09 with the suits though right?
Yep, sure was.
Well, hey, my memory doesn’t go back far enough, I guess! Either way, NC State sprinters are looking pretty good.
Nice morning by the Pack!
Jared – Can we refer to Joe Bonk as an NC State swimmer going forward and not as a transfer from VT?
Grant – an intra-conference transfer is newsworthy, especially with Bonk swimming well in his first ACC Championships against his former team. That won’t be Bonk’s story forever, but in his first competition against his old team, it is very much part of the story at the moment.
Then “Raleigh native” should be part of the narrative, as well. No?
Jared – Ok. While I understand a swimmer transferring within conference is newsworthy (as mentioned in several articles prior to and during ACCs), I also think Swimswam readers are probably more interested in times (and time improvement), places and how a swimmer’s performance helps his team’s ranking at ACCs and NCAAs.
I think about time NC state get the credit they desereve. Bonk is no longer a VT swimmer but and NC state Swimmer
ACC > B1G?
500 free 1st – 8th – 16th – 24th
ACC 4:18.5 – 4:22.2 – 4:24.5 – 4:26.8
B1G 4:15.8 – 4:21.7 – 4:24.7 – 4:27.3
depth same, top end speed goes to B1G
200 IM 1st – 8th – 16th – 24th
ACC 1:42.7 – 1:45.0 – 1:46.2 – 1:47.3
B1G 1:43.0 – 1:44.8 – 1:46.3 – 1:47.3
almost identical all the way through
50 free 1st – 8th – 16th – 24th
ACC 19.00 – 19.73 – 19.93 – 20.25
B1G 19.03 – 19.71 – 19.94 – 20.28
practically identical again
After Day 1 these conferences are eerily similar. The other measuring stick is how teams stack up at the… Read more »
I really think they will win the 200 free relay at NCAAs by a wide margin and potentially bring the NCAA record down.
They should have won the 200 FR each of the past 2 years! They win it this year for sure, unless the history repeats itself a third time and they DQ.
Texas could be pretty salty too. Murray, Ringgold, Ellis, (Conger, schooling, tate)