Virginia Men's Swimming And Diving Team Leads After First Day Of ACC Championship
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Feb. 22, 2006
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Virginia men’s swimming and diving team stands in first place after the first of four days of competition Wednesday (Feb. 22) in the 2006 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship, which is being held at Maryland’s Campus Recreation Center Natatorium. UVa set an ACC meet and school record while winning the 800 freestyle relay. The Cavaliers also finished fourth in the 200 medley relay to amass 70 points and lead the competition after two events.
Virginia, the seven-time defending champion, leads the 2006 ACC Championship with 70 points, while Florida State is second with 66 points. NC State is third with 62 points, while Clemson and North Carolina are tied for fourth with 58 points. Virginia Tech (56), Georgia Tech (52), Maryland (50), Duke 36) and Boston College (28) round out the field. The men’s one and three-meter diving competitions have already been held, but have not been factored into the team scoring.
In the meet opening 800 free relay, the Cavaliers bettered the school and ACC meet record with their winning time of 6:27.16 (NCAA “B”). UVa held the prior ACC meet record with a time of 6:28.03, which was set at last year’s ACC Championship. That time was also the school record. Second-year Pat Mellors (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) swam a 1:37.02 lead-off leg. Third-year John Millen (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) followed Mellors in the water and third-year Stefan Hirniak (Highland Park, N.J./Princeton Day) and fourth-year Fran Crippen (Philadelphia, Pa./Germantown Academy), swam the final two legs. Virginia Tech was second in the 800 free relay (6:30.55) and Florida State was third (6:30.95).
Virginia finished fourth in the 200 medley relay with a NCAA “B” time of 1:28.51, just three hundredths of a second behind Clemson. NC State set new ACC and ACC meet records with its winning time of 1:26.88. Second-year Bryan Stahl (Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands), third-year Vanja Rogulj (Zagreb, Croatia/Split), first-year Lee Robertson (Waynesboro, Va./Waynesboro) and third-year Greg Imboden (Chattanooga, Tenn./McCallie) swam legs on UVa’s relay. Florida State was runner-up in the 200 medley relay (1:27.80) and Clemson took third (1:28.51).
The ACC Championship resumes Thursday (Feb. 23), with preliminaries beginning at 11:00 a.m. and finals commencing at 7:00 p.m.