Podium Finish Highlights Day Three At ACC Championship
March 1, 2017
Day Three – Final Results | Schedule of Events | Championship Central
ATLANTA – A silver medal and new school records in three events highlighted day three for No. 14 Virginia at the ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
Freshman Joe Clark (Worcester Park, Great Britain) set a new school record in the 100-yard backstroke, winning his heat and earning a spot in the A finals with a time of 45.86. The freshman then broke his own record, taking silver with a time of 45.63 in the finals.
Bryce Keblish (Fairfield, Conn.) set a school record in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing third in his heat in the prelims with a time of 46.58 and earning a spot in the A finals of the event. Keblish finished eighth overall in the event, touching in 46.70 in the finals.
The Cavaliers also set a school record in the 400-yard medley relay as the quartet of Clark, Alex Albracht (Mission Hills, Kan.), Keblish and John Whiteside (Fairfield, Conn.) finished fifth with a time of 3:08.32.
Albracht finished fourth in the C finals of the 100-yard breaststroke with his time of 54.54, marking the 10th all-time in the event in Virginia history.
Whiteside also turned in a top-10 program finish in the 200-yard freestyle, taking ninth overall and winning the B finals with a time of 1:34.96. It was the sixth-best time by a Virginia swimmer in the event.
Virginia is in sixth-place after the third day of competition with a score of 463.
“The highlights today were breaking three school records, which the men are very excited about,” said Virginia head coach Augie Busch. “These guys are so young and learning so much from this experience. Their attitude and effort are in a great place. Tomorrow is definitely our best day on paper. We look forward to laying down some great swims.”
The squad currently features 20 swimmers and divers who are sophomores or younger.
The Cavaliers had three finalists in the 400-yard individual medley, with Austin Quinn (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) swimming in the C finals, and Ted Schubert (Ashland, Va.) swimming in the B finals. Quinn finished first in the C finals, taking 17th overall with a time of 3:46.73. Casey’s time of 3:51.28 earned him a fifth-place finish in the C finals of the event.
Schubert finished 14th overall as he took sixth in the B finals of the 400-yard individual medley, touching in 3:49.12.
Three Cavaliers swam in the 100-yard butterfly with Keblish making his appearance in the A finals, and Zach Fong (Moorestown, N.J.) and Matt Lockman (Charlottesville, Va.) swimming in the B finals. Keblish turned in his eighth-place finish, while Fong took 11th overall with a third-place finish in the B finals in a time of 46.95. Lockman finished 14th overall with a sixth-place finish in the B finals, touching in 47.28.
In the 200-yard freestyle finals, Whiteside turned in his career-best time in the event and the sixth-best all-time at UVA event with a time of 1:34.96 to lead the competitors from Virginia. Luke Georgiadis (Jacksonville, Fla.) finished 13th overall and fifth in the B finals with a time of 1:35.74. Sam Magnan finished fifth in the C finals of the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:36.81.
In addition to Clark’s finish in the 100-yard backstroke, the Cavaliers also got finals finishes from Ryan Baker (Arlington, Va.) and Gust Kouvaris (Troy, Mich.). Baker finished 13th overall and fifth in the B finals with a time of 47.69. Kouvaris finished eighth in the C finals with a time of 48.61.
Virginia will return to action on the final day of the ACC Championships on Thursday with preliminaries in four events beginning at 10 a.m. The final day features the 200-yard backstroke, the 100-yard freestyle, the 200-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard butterfly. The 1,650-yard freestyle preliminaries will begin at 4 p.m. The finals will begin at 6 p.m. with the 400-yard freestyle relay also being added to the schedule.