This weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, ACC foes Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia battled in a two-day dual meet. For results from the first day of competition, visit http://swimswam.com/uva-women-vt-men-lead-first-day-two-day-dual/.
In this morning’s session, the same trends from yesterday’s session prevailed. The UVA women were very dominant, winning eight of the nine events. Jessica Hespeler of Virginia Tech won the 200 freestyle in 1:50.36, giving the Hokie women one event win of the session. However, Hespeler was followed by three UVA swimmers in the event: Hanne Borgersen (1:50.66), Ellen Thomas (1:51.44), and Cece Williams (1:52.22). In addition, although UVA’s Laura Simon won the 200 breaststroke in 2:12.99, she was chased by three Hokie breaststrokers who finished 2-3-4: Weronika Paluszek (2:15.37), Blaire Kinsey (2:19.23), and Mackenzie Stewart (2:19.44).
In addition to winning eight events this morning, the UVA women also swept a few of their wins with two athletes finishing in a row. In the women’s 50 freestyle, Ellen Thomas won the event in 23.41, but she was followed by her teammate Caitlin Cooper (23.68) who claimed second. The Cavaliers also achieved a 1-2 finish in the 100 backstroke, when Courtney Bartholomew touched in 52.60 and Jen Marrkand in 55.82. Finally, in the 400 freestyle relay, UVA’s A and B relays touched in first and second. The top time of the event, 3:23.68, belonged to the A relay, comprised of Hanne Borgersen, Ellen Thomas, Ellen Williamson, and Leah Smith. The B touched just tenths of a second later, in 3:23.80.
The UVA women also claimed two events with a 1-2-3 sweep, continuing their domination of the meet. In the 100 butterfly, Ellen Williamson (54.90), Courtney Bartholomew (55.23), and Jen Marrkand (55.29) swept the event. Later on, another three Cavaliers swept the 400 IM. Kaitlyn Jones touched in 4:19.95 to win the event, followed by teammates Leah Smith (4:22.64) and Haley Durmer (4:23.33).
In the men’s meet, the Virginia Tech swimmers continued their control of the meet, winning seven of the nine total events. The UVA men claimed only the 200 breaststroke (Yannick Kaiser in 2:02.15) and the 400 IM (Brendan Casey in 3:59.71 – almost three seconds ahead of the next finisher).
Virginia Tech’s wins included two in which they swept the top two spots. In the 100 backstroke, Collin Higgins won the event in 48.79. He was followed by his teammate, Robert Owen, who finished in 49.94. Higgins and Owen were the only two backstroke swimmers under 50 seconds at the meet. The second Hokie sweep arrived in the 100 butterfly. Morgan Latimer touched in 48.43, almost two seconds ahead of the rest of the field and the only butterflier under 50 seconds. Drake Becksted, also of Virginia Tech, took second in 50.05, holding off Virginia’s John Denning (50.50).
Women’s meet final scores:
UVA 243 – VT 110
Men’s meet final scores:
VT 218 – UVA 135
Complete results can be found here: http://www.virginiasports.com/sports/c-swim/stats/2014-2015/uvav.vtresults2015.html.
The University of Virginia will next take on the University of North Carolina at home in Charlottesville this upcoming Saturday, January 24th. This will be their final dual meet of the season. Virginia Tech will also compete again on Saturday the 24th. The men’s team will take on Georgia Tech and UNC-Wilmington while the women will challenge Miami. This meet will take place at Christiansburg Aquatic Center in Blacksburg, VA.