Cavaliers Break Five Pool Records in Sweep at Duke
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Jan. 20, 2017
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DURHAM, N.C.-The Virginia swimming and diving teams broke five pool records on the way to sweeping Duke Friday evening (Jan. 20) at the Taishoff Aquatic Pavilion in Durham, N.C.
The No. 5 Virginia women (5-0) defeated No. 22 Duke, 175-125, and the No. 13 Cavalier men (4-1) were victorious, 164-135. Virginia won 19 events overall.
“I am happy for the teams to get the win tonight, but there are many things we need to improve upon,” UVA head coach Augie Busch said. “Our overall focus and attention to good warm-up and warm-down was subpar and needs to be way tomorrow (at North Carolina). Our energy and support for one another needs to improve as well. Tomorrow offers a much stiffer challenge with UNC. After pointing these shortcomings out to the team after tonight, I’m confident we will be improved in those key areas tomorrow. Our men and women can’t wait to race the Tar Heels.”
Senior Leah Smith (Pittsburgh, Pa.) broke three pool records, capturing the women’s 1,000-yard freestyle in 9:34.77, the 500 free in 4:43.28 and the 400 IM in 4:14.44. Junior Jennifer Marrkand (Westford, Mass.) set a new pool record in the women’s 200 butterfly in 1:57.13, while redshirt sophomore Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) set a new pool mark in the men’s 200 backstroke in 1:46.00.
Marrkand also won the women’s 200 back in 1:58.24 and Casey touched first in the men’s 400 IM in 3:55.87.
Senior Laura Simon (Simmern, Germany) swept the women’s breaststroke events, winning the 100 in 1:01.67 and the 200 in 2:13.76, while freshman Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.) won the 200 free (1:48.97) and the 100 free (50.34).
Other men’s winners included senior John Denning (Chesapeake, Va.) in the 200 fly (1:48.20), senior Austin Quinn (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) in the 200 free (1:39.95), sophomore Dan Golczweski (Bel Air, Md.) in the 500 free (4:30.23), sophomore Bryce Keblish (Fairfield, Conn.) in the 100 fly (48.58) and sophomore Sam Magnan (Bethlehem, Pa.) in the 1,000 free (9:18.31). Freshman Joe Clark (Worcester Park, Great Britain) won the 100 back in 48.63 and fellow freshman John Whiteside (Fairfield, Conn.) captured the 100 free in 45.10.
The women’s 200 free relay of Hill, senior Ellen Thomas (Guildford, United Kingdom), junior Caitlin Cooper (Atlanta, Ga.) and sophomore Eryn Eddy (Loveland, Colo.) won in a time of 1:31.31.
In diving, freshman Bryce Shelton (Vienna, Va.) placed second in men’s 3-meter (342.30) and platform (346.28), while sophomore Kylie Towbin (New Canaan, Conn.) was third on women’s 3-meter (287.33).
“We had a solid evening,” UVA head diving coach Jason Glorius said. “We hit some dives we don’t usually hit and got some more new dives off in competition. We just need to keep working hard and do a better job of carrying over our practice performance into meets.”
The Cavaliers return to action Saturday (Jan. 21) at noon.