Virginia Earns Two More Titles on Day Two

Story Links

ATLANTA – The Virginia men’s swimming and diving team continued to build on its lead Thursday on the second day of the Atlantic Coast Championships, racking up a total of 284 points. Florida State stands in second with 208 points while North Carolina holds third place and 161 points. Rookie Matt McLean broke the conference and ACC meet records in the 500 free with a time of 4:15.91, automatically qualifying for the NCAA meet. He broke former Cavalier Ian Prichard’s record of 4:16.32.

McLean spearheaded a dominant performance in the 500 free, with Virginia taking the first four spots. Taylor Smith (4:20.32) placed second, with Darren Ankosko (4:21.72) and John Snawerdt (4:22.07) taking third and fourth, respectively. All times were NCAA ‘B’ standards.

Second-year John Azar took home his first ACC individual title in the 200 IM, touching at 1:47.06 and making the NCAA ‘B’ cut. Pat Reams (1:48.33), PJ Sullivan (1:49.43), and Tim Hayes (1:50.21) placed third, fourth, and seventh, respectively.

Third-year co-captain Lee Robertson and first-year Scot Robison scored points for Virginia in the 50 free. Robertson claimed fifth place and a NCAA ‘B’ time of 20.04 and Robison was seventh at 20.13. Robison later picked up a NCAA B-standard as the leadoff swimmer in the 200-free relay with a time of 20.02.

The team of Scot Robison, Robertson, Eric Olesen, and Bryan Stahl placed second in the 200 free relay, touching at 1:19.83, less than .5 seconds behind first-place Virginia Tech. Their time also was a NCAA ‘B’ cut.

The meet continues Friday with finals scheduled in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, and 400 medley relay. Preliminaries will begin at 11 a.m. with the finals at 7 p.m. Live footage of the finals can be viewed at www.accselect.com.

Thursday’s Final Results

500-yard Freestyle
1st – Matthew McLean, Virginia (*!+4:15.91)
2nd – Taylor Smith, Virginia (^4:20.32)
3rd – Darren Ankosko, Virginia (^4:21.72)

200-yard Individual Medley
1st – John Azar, Virginia (^1:47.06)
2nd – Steve Mellor, NC State (^1:47.36)
3rd – Pat Reams, Virginia (^1:48.33)

50-yard Freestyle
1st – Kaan Tayla, Virginia Tech (+19.50)
2nd – Scott Baker, Florida State (^19.73)
3rd – Nick Corder, Maryland (^19.88)

One-meter Diving
1st – Terry Horner, Florida State (393.15 points)
2nd – JJ Kinzbach, Miami (364.35 points)
3rd – Mikey McDonald, Virginia Tech (355.15 points)

200-yard Freestyle Relay
1st – Virginia Tech (^1:19.37 – Kaan Tayla, Jake Bova, Stephen Hawkins, Scott Beard)
2nd – Virginia (^1:19.83 – Scot Robison, Lee Robertson, Eric Olesen, Bryan Stahl)
3rd – Maryland (^1:19.91 – Dong Kim, Nick Cordes, Andy Dilz, Ryan Greene)

+Denotes NCAA “A” mark
^Denotes NCAA “B” mark
* Denotes Conference record
! Denotes ACC Meet record
# Denotes Georgia Tech Aquatic Center record