Press Release courtesy of Florida State Athletics
After splitting the opening dual of the 2017-18 season against No. 17/21 Minnesota, the (No.23/20) Florida State swimming and diving teams will face another tough test as it heads to Durham, N.C. for a tri-meet with (No. 20/NR) Duke and (RV/19) Virginia Tech.
“We started the season off on such a high note last weekend,” FSU head coach Neal Studd said. “We’ll look to continue that this weekend as we’ve got another challenge ahead of us at Duke. We’re excited to face two very good ACC opponents. It should be a very competitive, team-oriented atmosphere and we’re looking forward to it.”
The Meet:
The two-day contest will be held at the Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion starting at 5 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Friday’s events will feature the 200 free relay, 200 IM, 500 free, 100 breast, 200 back, 100 free, 200 fly, 3-meter diving and the 400 medley relay. Saturday’s session will have the 200 medley relay, 1000 free, 50 free, 100 back, 200 breast, 200 free, 100 fly, 1-meter diving, the 400 IM and the 400 free relay.
Live timing will be available on meet mobile and through sportstiming.com.
The Last Time Out for the Noles
Florida State opened the dual meet season, splitting with Minnesota in a top 25 contest at the Morcom Aquatics Center.
The No. 20 men’s team (1-0) picked up its second victory all-time over the No. 21 Gophers, 179-121 behind strong swims in the relays, sprint free races, the backstroke and fly events and diving. In fact, the Noles outscored the Gophers 31-7 on the boards.
No. 17 Minnesota just squeezed past the 23rd-ranked Noles (0-1) in the women’s meet (153.5-146.5). Senior Natalie Pierce won both breaststroke events and junior Shelly Drozda stepped up and won the 200 IM, helping the Seminoles make a late push for the meet after divers Blaire Mulka, Molly Carlson and Ayla Bonniwell teamed up to dominate the boards, contributing 31 points to the team total.
With the meet coming down to the final relay, Minnesota (1:31.57) out-touched FSU by one one-hundredth of a second in the 200 free relay to take the meet.
The Series:
The Seminoles hold the lead in the all-time series over both Virginia Tech and Duke.
The men hold a 5-1 lead over the Hokies and a 4-1 edge over the Blue Devils. The women are 4-2 against VT, while holding a 3-1 advantage over Duke.
Both squads will look to rebound after falling at Duke during the 2015-16 season (M:164-129, W: 184-110). The last meet between FSU and Virginia Tech was the last tri-meet in 2013 in Durham, N.C., as the men won 179-120, while the women lost 162-136.
On Duke:
Duke enters the first meet of the 2017-18 season with its women’s team ranked at No. 20.
The Blue Devils returned eight national qualifiers overall, including All-ACC candidate Leah Goldman and All-American senior diver MaryEllen Targonski. Duke also welcomes nine new freshmen.
Duke placed fifth at the 2017 Women’s ACC Championships with a total of 513.5 while the men finished eighth at 607.
On Virginia Tech:
This weekend’s contest will also be the first for the Hokies this season. The women’s team received votes in the first CSCAA poll of the season, while the men came in ranked 19th.
Virginia Tech returns most of its team with 21 men and 25 women in addition to having the ninth ranked men’s recruiting class in college swimming by SwimSwam.
The women return key athletes including junior All-American diver Ashlynn Peters and All-American swimmers Reka Gyorgy (Back/IM) and Klaudia Nazieblo (Back/Fly/IM/Free). Both Gyorgy (Hungary) and Nazieblo (Poland) represented their countries at the World University Games this summer.
The men’s team will look to continue its strong showing in diving, as VT has had the top team total from diving at the ACC Championships for the past seven years. Virginia Tech finished the 2017 ACC Championships in fourth (men, 883.5) and sixth (485, women).
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