2017 Men’s ACC Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2017 MEN’S ACC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Monday, February 27th – Thursday, March 2nd
• Prelims 10AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern Time)
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
• Defending Champion: NC State (Full results)
• Psych Sheet
• Live results
• Live Streaming
• Championship Central

The 2nd full night of the 2017 ACC Men’s Swimming & Diving championships should feature the NC State Wolfpack padding its lead after putting 11 swimmers into A finals this morning.  Based on this morning’s up/down totals, Louisville should surpass the Virginia Tech Hokies and take 2nd place.  Tonight’s races will start with the 400 IM, where the top seed, UNC’s Henry Campbell will try to hold off a field that includes last year’s winner, Robert Owen of Virginia Tech.

After that, NC State’s Ryan Held will be the headliner in the 100 fly, after swimming 45.61 this morning.  Fellow Wolfpack swimmer Soren Dahl is the top seed in the 200 free, with a 1:32.94 from prelims.

100 breast may be the most exciting race of the evening session.  This morning, VT’s Brandon Fiala broke the conference record, only for Duke’s Peter Kropp to break it in the very next heat.  Still, it’s a very strong field, and includes last year’s winner, Derek Hren of NC State.

The final individual event of the session will be the 100 back, where defending champion Grigory Tarasevich of Louisville had the fastest time this morning.  The evening will wrap up with the medley relay as Louisville tries to prevent NC State from winning it’s fourth straight relay this week.

MEN’S 400 IM – FINALS

• NCAA ‘A’ cut – 3:40.76
• NCAA ‘B’ cut – 3:54.49
• Conference Record – Gal Nevo, 2009 – 3:38.00
• Championship Record – Gal Nevo, 2009 – 3:39.33

1. Robert Owen, Virginia Tech, 3:38.43
2. Henry Campbell, UNC, 3:40.88
3. Michael Meyer, UNC, 3:42.05

Top seeded Henry Campbell and two-time defending champion Robert Owen went out together, touching within 0.07 seconds of each other at the 100 mark.  Owen, an Olympic Trials finalist in the 200 backstroke, quickly surged ahead as the backstroke leg began, and he never slowed down.  He won his 3rd-straight title in this event in a NCAA ‘A’ cut time and set a new meet record of 3:38.43.  That currently ranks him 4th in Division I this season.

Campbell fought hard, but couldn’t close on Owen, touching 2nd in 3:40.88.  Fellow Tar Heel Michael Meyer didn’t have any one leg that stood out, but kept solid splits all the way to take 3rd in 3:42.05.

MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – FINALS

• NCAA ‘A’ cut – 45.73
• NCAA ‘B’ cut – 48.29
• Conference Record – Pavel Sankovich, 2014 – 45.00
• Championship Record – Pavel Sankovich, 2014 – 45.12

1. Ryan Held, NC State, 44.78
2. Josh Quallen, Louisville, 45.56
3. Andrea Vazios, NC State, 45.81

Ryan “I Can Swim Fast With a Beard” Held joined the 44 second club in the 100 fly.  Held went out in a blistering 20.41 and came back in 24.38 to set a new conference record with a 44.78.  That’s a NCAA ‘A’ cut by almost a second, and puts Held up to 5th in the NCAA this season.  Louisville senior Josh Quallen took a few-tenths off this morning’s prelim time to touch 2nd in 45.56.  That’s also under the NCAA ‘A’ cut.  NC State’s Andrea Vazaios backed up a great swim in the 200 IM last night with a 45.81 tonight, good for 3rd place.

Georgia Tech senior Benjamin Southern knocked half a second off his lifetime best to win the B final.  His time of 46.2. will put him on the bubble of earning a NCAA invite in this event.

MEN’S 200 FREESTYLE – FINALS

• NCAA ‘A’ cut – 1:32.97
• NCAA ‘B’ cut – 1:37.99
• Conference Record – Simonas Bilis, 2016 – 1:32.02
• Championship Record – Scot Robison, 2010 – 1:32.45

1. Soeren Dahl, NC State, 1:32.74
2. Trevor Carroll, Louisville, 1:33.10
3. Justin Ress, 1:33.31

Justin Ress was out first, splitting a 21.49 over the first 50, but Wolfpack teammate Soeren Dahl reeled him in quickly and held the lead the rest of the way.  His winning time of 1:32.74 was 0.14 seconds faster than his time from last year’s meet, where he took 2nd behind teammate Simonas Bilis, as part of NC State sweep of the top three spots.  Last year’s 4th place finisher, Louisville’s Trevor Carroll, dropped 0.42 seconds from last year and moved up two spots, finishing 2nd.  Ress hung with Carroll and finished only two-tenths behind, wth a time of 1:33.31.  All three men finished under the NCAA ‘A’ cut.

MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE- FINALS

• NCAA ‘A’ cut – 51.93
• NCAA ‘B’ cut – 55.39
• Conference Record – Peter Kropp, 2017 – 51.46
• Championship Record – Peter Kropp, 2017 – 51.46

1. Brandon Fiala, Virginia Tech, 51.51
2. Peter Kropp, Duke, 51.88
3. Carlos Claverie, Louisville, 52.05

We expected that it would be a duel between Brandon Fiala and Peter Kropp after both men broke the conference record in this morning’s prelims, and we weren’t disappointed.  Fiala looked to get a slightly better start, and had some great turns off the walls, but it was Kropp who was in the lead at the 50, 23.80 to 24.14.  Fiala emerged from the final turn (which he said “hurt” in the post-race interview) with a clear lead, and he held off Kropp to win 51.51 to 51.88.  Carlos Claverie was in 3rd the whole way and touched in 52.05, 0.36 seconds faster than he was at this meet last year, and just off his personal best time from last year’s NCAA’s.

MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE – FINALS

• NCAA ‘A’ cut – 45.37
• NCAA ‘B’ cut – 48.49
• Conference Record – Grigory Tarasevich, 2016 – 44.92
• Championship Record – Grigory Tarasevich, 2016 – 45.28

1. Grigory Tarasevich, Louisville, 45.25
2. Joseph Clark, Virginia, 45.63
3. Coleman Stewart, NC State, 45.99

Virginia freshman Joseph Clark rocketed out to a great start.  He appeared to be in the lead at the first wall, and was 0.13 seconds ahead of top-seeded Grigory Tarasevich at the halfway point.  However, the Louisville senior closed the gap on Clark over back half of the race and set a new meet record, touching in 45.25.  Clark’s 45.63 was good enough for 2nd as he held off NC State freshman Coleman Stewart, who finished 3rd in 45.99.

Scoring Update (not including platform diving)

1. NC State 799.5
2. Louisville, University of 714.5
3. VA Tech 567
4. Notre Dame, University of 562
5. Florida State University 476
6. UNC 416
7. Virginia 413
8. Duke  373
9. Pittsburgh 334
10. Georgia Tech 308
11. Boston College 98
12. Miami 76

MEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY – FINALS

• NCAA Qualifying Standard (A) – 3:07.75
• NCAA Provisional Standard (B) – 3:09.68
• Conference Record – Florida State, 2014 – 3:04.47
• Championship Record – Florida State, 2014 – 3:04.47

1. Louisville (Tarasevich, Claverie, Quallen, Carroll) – 3:04.44
2. NC State (Vazaios, Hren, Ress, Dahl) – 3:04.56
3. Georgia Tech (Correia, Loschi, Southern, Harasz) – 3:07.86

NC State had the top time coming into this week, but once they opted to leave Ryan Held off this relay, it figured to be a close race.  It was most certainly was, as each NC State and Louisville swimmer was within 0.21 seconds of his opponent throughout the race.

The Wolfpack went with a bit of a wildcard aproach, using Andreas Vazaios on leadoff instead of either Coleman or Hennessey Stuart.  That move paid immediate dividends, as Vazaios beat Louisville’s Tarasevich to the first wall.  Tarasevich closed in the 2nd 50, finishing his leg in 45.11, faster than he went roughly 30 minutes earlier, but Vazaios’s time of 45.32 was faster than either Stuart had gone in the individual 100 back.

Three men were under 52 on the breaststroke leg, VT’s Fiala (51.64), Louisville’s Claverie (51.88), and NC State’s Hren (51.91), so Louisville kept a 0.24 second lead over NC State at the 200 mark.  Justin Ress, who didn’t swim this event individually, kept the pace with Joshua Quallen, who placed individually tonight, with Ress splitting 45.38 to Quallen’s 45.29.

It came down to the anchor leg.  With Held out, anchor duty fell to the winner of tonight’s 200 free, Soeren Dahl, who tried to run down the 200 free runner-up, Trevor Carroll.  Indeed, Dahl outsplit Carroll 41.95 to 42.16, but it just wasn’t quite enough.  Louisville took the event in a new conference record time of 3:04.44 to NC State’s 3:04.56.

Notably, the Pittsburg men looked elated when they won the first heat with a time of 3:10.57 — turns out, they knocked almost three seconds off the previous school record.

Scoring Update (including platform diving)
1. NC State 878.5
2. Louisville795.5
3. VA Tech 690
4. Notre Dame637
5. FSU 590
6. Virginia 489
7. North Carolina 478
8. Duke 442
9. Pittsburgh 401
10. Georgia Tech 380
11. Boston College 130
12.  Miami 108