Virginia Tech’s Senior Day was even more celebratory at Christiansburg Aquatic Center as both the Hokie men and women came away with commanding victories over the weekend. VA Tech hosted Georgia Tech, The University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW) and University of Miami in a triple dual (women)/double dual (men), which predominantly fell in the Hokies’ favor.
Final Scores
Women – VA Tech 200, Miami (FL) 99
VA Tech 250, UNCW 47
VA Tech 224, Georgia Tech 75
Men – VA Tech 246, UNCW 53
VA Tech 190, Georgia Tech 110
Full Meet Results Available Here
Women’s Meet
The VA Tech women started off strongly, as the foursome of Klaudia Nazieblo (25.79), Alyssa Bodin (28.96), Maggie Gruber (24.67) and Holly Harper (23.65) combined for a 200y medley relay time of 1:43.07 to put immediate points on the board for the Hokies.
The women of VA Tech continued to rack up hard-hitting points in the form of seven individual first-place-finishes, including two event sweeps. Jessica Hespeler first led the Hokie 1-3 finish in the 200y freestyle in her time of 1:50.29 and she also earned the 500y freestyle win in a time of 5:00.99. Then in the 100y breaststroke race, Blaire Kinsey charged ahead of the field to lead a 1-2-3 Hokie finish with her top time of 1:04.17
VA Tech also did some damage in the backstroke discipline as Sophomore Fiona Donnelly shut down the field in the 100y distance, winning in 56.26. Donnelly came in second to teammate Klaudia Nazieblo in the 200y distance, as Nazieblo out-touched her competitors with her time of 2:01.14.
The Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech tried to keep up, as was seen in tough efforts by junior Efrat Rotsztjien who won the women’s 200 IM (2:07.61) and also earned points with a third-place finish in the 200y backstroke (2:22.18). Teammate Katherine Kerman touched in second place in the 100y backstroke for the Yellow Jackets by just .32 behind Donnelly, to also put some Georgia Tech points on the board.
Stellar swims by sophomores Heather Arseth and Cameron Davis put the Miami Hurricane women a boost in the point standings. Arseth clocked the fastest time of the 50y freestyle field, earning the win in 24.08 and then she busted out a 52.14 to win the 100y freestyle by just three one-hundredths. After bringing in the points with a second place finish in the 500y freestyle (5:04.74), Davis decisively won the 1000y freestyle event in a time of 10:25.63, a full eight seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
For the UNCW Seahawks, the highest finishes were a duo of fifth-place spots, swum by Kelsey Moore in the 1,000 freestyle and Hannah Stephenson in the 200y backstroke.
Men’s Meet
Although Virginia Tech dominated the meet on the men’s side as well, Georgia Tech’s All American, Andrew Kosic, pulled his weight for the Yellow Jackets with three individual event wins. Kosic touched the wall first in the 200y freestyle (1:38.52), 50y freestyle (20.02) and 100y butterfly (47.68), simultaneously earning “B” cuts in the 50y free and 100y fly races.
On the UNCW Seahawks’ front, the top finishes includes an individual fifth place by Valtteri Halonen in the men’s 200y backstroke and similar fifth place spots scored by the Seahawks’ 200y medley and 400y freestyle relays.
The rest of the meet was all Virginia Tech, as several swimmers took home multiple wins on the day. Distance swimmer Michael Szuba earned victories in the 1000y (9:18.95) and 500y (4:30.73) freestyle events. Collin Higgins swept the backstroke events, winning the 100y race in 48.94 and the 200y distance in 1:47.08.
Brandon Fiala also put points on the board as he topped the field in the 100y breaststroke in 56.05 and 200y breaststroke 2:04.07 to sweep that discipline. Hokie Owen Burns joined his teammates’ scoring run, earning a first-place finish in the men’s 100y freestyle with a winning time of 44.82.