2021 ACC Men’s Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2021 ACC Men’s Swimming Championships

• When: Wednesday, February 24th to Saturday, February 27th Prelims 10:00 am | Finals 6:00 pm (1650 prelims Saturday at 4:00 pm)
• Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: North Carolina State University (NC State) (29x, 6th-straight) (results)
• Streaming: ACC Network
  • Wednesday
  • Thursday
  • Friday
  • Saturday
• Championship Central: Here
• Detailed Timeline: Here
• Psych Sheets: Here
• Live Results
• Thursday Finals Heat Sheet

The second night of the 2021 ACC Men’s Championships will consist of finals of the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free, as well as timed finals of the 200 free relay.

The 500 free will feature three NC State swimmers, including top Ross Dant and 2019 champion Eric Knowles. The pair will be looking to hold off a field that includes last year’s 2nd and 3rd place finishers, Virginia’s Jack Walker and Notre Dame’s Jack Hoagland.

Georgia Tech’s Caio Pumputis took the top seed in the 200 IM this morning as the only man under 1:44. He won this event in 2019 and finished 2nd last year, and he’s on form, he should be the favorite to win.

Louisville Cardinals will fill half of the lanes in tonight’s 50 free A-final, and Haridi Sameh will swim in lane 4 after putting up the fastest time of the morning with a 19.14. He’s likely to face a challenge from UVA freshman Matt Brownstead, who had the fastest time in the conference this season coming into today, and Pitt’s Blaise Vera, who sports a lifetime best of 19.10 from the fall of 2019.

The session will wrap up with the 200 free relay. With four 50 free A-finalists, plus Nick Albiero available, the Cardinals are looking like the favorites to win, although obviously nothing is guaranteed, especially after the speed explosion we saw in the 200 medley relay last night. It’s worth mentioning that the last time a team besides NC State or Florida State won this event was 2011, when Duke won.

Scores After Day 1 (Including All Diving)

While the live results currently only include the 3m diving event, Meet Mobile (and our math) shows that this is what the team scores look currently with all three diving events and the first two relays all taken into account:

1. UNC – 304
2. Virginia Tech – 249
3. Louisville – 238
4. Miami (FL) – 207
5. FSU – 205
6. Georgia Tech – 191
7. NC State – 174
8. Duke – 152
9. Pitt – 120
10. UVA – 106
11. Notre Dame – 82
12. Boston College – 66

500 Free – Finals

• ACC Record – 4:09.13, Anton Ipsen (NC State), 2018
• ACC Meet Record – 4:10.00, Matt McLean (Virginia), 2010
• 2020 Champion – Zach Yeadon (Notre Dame), 4:10.39

Top 3:

1. Jack Hoagland (Notre Dame) – 4:11.26
2. Ross Dant (NC State) – 4:12.21
3. Jack Walker (Virginia) – 4:13.34

As expected, this turned into a fun race in which the top three returners from last year ended up taking the top three spots this year. Notre Dame’s Jack Hoagland took the early lead, hitting the way halfway mark at 2:03. NC State’s Ross Dant hung with Hoagland early on, then passed him after the halfway point. But Hoagland wasn’t done yet, and moved ahead of Dant on the final 50, hanging on to win 4:11.26 to 4:12.21. That’s a new best time for Hoagland, whose previous best time came from his 4:12.15 to take 3rd at last year’s ACCs. Dant clipped a few tenths off of 4:12.54 in this morning’s prelims, his previous lifetime best. UVA’s Jack Walker stayed in 3rd for essentially the entire race, ultimately finishing 3rd in 4:13.34, about a second slower than his 2nd place time of 4:11.93 last year.

Virginia Tech’s Antani Ivanov took 4th in 4:14.92 after going 4:16.21 in prelims, setting lifetime bests with both swims today, and he was the only other A-final swimmer besides the top three to drop time from prelims to finals.

Florida State freshman Yordan Yanchev finished 5th in 4:16.66 after blasting a 4:15.02 out of the very first heat this morning. NC State’s Eric Knowles, the 2019 champion in this event, finished 6th in 4:17.62 after pushing Hoagland early in the race. Knowles’ teammate James Plage finished 7th in 4:18.44, followed by Georgia Tech’s Baturalp Unlu in 4:18.62.

200 IM – Finals

• ACC Record – 1:39.35, Andreas Vazaois (NC State), 2019
• Meet Record – 1:41.24, Andreas Vazaois (NC State), 2017
• 2020 Champion – Ted Schubert (Virginia) – 1:43.09

Top 3:

1. Caio Pumputis (Georgia Tech) – 1:41.76
2. Carles Coll Marti (Virginia Tech) – 1:43.47
3. Evgenii Somov (Louisville) – 1:44.05

Georgia Tech senior Caio Pumputis reclaimed his crown in this event with a 1:41.76 win this evening. Virgina Tech freshman Carles Coll Marti led at the halfway point, but fell behind on Pumputis’ 28.90 breaststroke leg, ultimately taking 2nd in 1:43.47, under last year’s NCAA cut of 1:43.82 in this event.

Louisville senior Evgenii Somov moved up one spot from last year to take 3rd in 1:44.05. It was a packed field behind him, as the next four men all touched within 0.29s of each other. UVA’s Sean Conway took 4th in 1:44.11, ahead of NC State’s Noah Bowers (1:44.21) and Erge Gezmis (1:44.32), last year’s 3rd-place finisher. Cavaliers Sam Schilling (1:44.40) and Casey Storch (1:45.19) rounded out the top 8.

50 Free – Finals

• ACC record – 18.56, Ryan Held (NC State), 2017
• Meet Record – 18.68, Ryan Held (NC State), 2018
• 2020 Champion –Nyls Korstanje (NC State), 19.25

Top 3:

1. Matt Brownstead (Virginia) – 18.88
2. Blaise Vera (Pitt) – 19.03
3. Haridi Sameh (Louisville) – 19.15

UVA freshman Matt Brownstead became the first UVA swimmer to crack the 19-second mark, and also became the third freshman in the nation to get under that barrier, with his 18.88 win tonight out of lane 5.

Pitt senior Blaise Vera also set a lifetime best — and a Pitt school record — with his 2nd place time of 19.03. Louisville’s Haridi Sameh was just a hair off of his 19.14 from this morning, taking 3rd in 19.15. Teammates Tanner Cummings (19.45), Michael Eastman (19.55), and Mihalis Deliyiannis (19.62), finished 5th, 7th, and 8th.

The top three times tonight were all under last year’s winning time of 19.25.

Virginia Tech freshman Youssef Ramadan shaved 0.04s off of his time from this morning to take 4th overall with a time of 19.33, and teammate Tommy Hallock took 6th in 19.48.

While we noted this morning that this marks the first time since 2011 that NC State hasn’t had a swimmer in the A-final, the Wolfpack nearly maximized their four final swims in the other two heats. Noah Henderson won the B-final in 19.31, which would’ve placed him 4th in the A-final, and Giovanni Izzo finished 2nd in the B-final with a 19.47. NC State sophomore Kacper Stokowski won the C-final with a time of 19.64, while Luke Sobolewski took 23rd overall with a 19.92.

200 Free Relay – Timed Finals

• ACC record – 1:14.50, NC State, 2018
• Meet Record – 1:15.34, NC State, 2018
• 2020 Champion – Florida State, 1:16.69

Top 3:

1. Louisville – 1:15.99
2. NC State – 1:16.33
3. Virginia Tech – 1:16.56

When you have four A-finalists in the 50 free, it’s reasonable to expect an excellent 200 free relay, and sure enough, the Louisville Cardinals put up the 2nd-fastest time in the nation this season, en route to winning in 1:15.99 tonight. Haridi Sameh matched his individual time from 40 minutes early with a 19.15 leadoff, then Nick Albiero (19.06), Tanner Cummings (18.89) and Michael Eastman (18.89) brought it home. That’s a Louisville school record, and as the team pointed out on their Twitter account, the three swimmers besides Sameh are all Kentucky natives.

That’s Louisville’s first ACC victory in this event, and it marks the first time since 2011 that a school other NC State or Florida State has won it.

NC State took 2nd in 1:16.33, followed by Virginia Tech (1:16.56) and UVA (1:16.64), as all four of the fastest teams battled it out in the fastest heat. Both Virginia schools set new school records. Florida State won the second heat, putting up a 1:16.82 that was also under the NCAA ‘A’ standard in this event. Georgia Tech (1:17.70) and UNC (1:17.86) both finished under the NCAA ‘B’ standard.

Scores Through Day 2

*including all diving points

1. Virginia Tech – 487
2. Louisville – 470
3. NC State – 456
4. UNC – 372
5. Florida State – 354
6. Virginia – 335
7. Georgia Tech – 307
8. Pitt – 208
9. Miami (FL) – 207
10. Notre Dame/Duke – 203
11. (tie)
12. Boston College – 98

With six swimming events done, and all three diving events factored in, Virgina Tech currently holds the lead by 17 points over Louisville and 31 over NC State. While NC State was projected to win, it would not be surprising to see Louisville or Virginia Tech push the Wolfpack. Virginia continues to rise after scoring 0 diving points, and they should push ahead of UNC and Florida State tomorrow. Lower down, it’s currently a tight are for 8th-11th, with only 5 points separating the four schools currently occupying those spots, although Miami will fall out of that race since they’re capped at their 207 diving points.