Virginia Opens ACC Championships with Meet Record
Feb. 14, 2018
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GREENSBORO, N.C. – The No. 7 Virginia women’s swimming and diving team and the men’s diving team opened the 2018 ACC Championships on Wednesday (Feb. 14) at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C., setting an ACC Championships meet record in the 800-yard freestyle relay.
The relay team of sophomore Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.), senior Jennifer Marrkand (Westford, Mass.), freshman Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) and junior Eryn Eddy (Loveland, Colo.), respectively, came from behind to finish first in the event with a time of 6:55.77. The time is the second fastest in school history and currently ranks second in the NCAA this season.
After the first day of events, the Cavaliers are second in the team standings with 143 points. North Carolina leads the competition with 151 points, while Duke rounds out the top-three teams with 139 points.
“It was a great first night at ACCs for the women,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “We got off to a really good start. Our goals coming in were just to be better than what the psych sheet had us seated at and just try to improve upon our entry times.
“The 200 medley relay team moved up from a fifth-place seed to third and got on the podium. We had a lot of youngsters on that relay, with two first-years on the backstroke and butterfly leg, swimming really well in their first ever ACC championships. We followed that up with a phenomenal 800-yard freestyle relay. It was a great race, come from behind win, against Louisville. We were really excited that the women broke the ACC Championships meet record. It was also really exciting to have a first year right in the middle of that relay. Paige Madden really performed at a high level. She was really excited about being on that relay, and also nervous, but held it together like she has been here and has done it year after year, even though this was her first event. It was a good day on the boards with Kylie Towbin finishing in the top eight on the 1-meter. I’m looking forward to her continued success the rest of the week. Our other divers had a great day as well. Things are going well. Looking forward the next three days.”
Freshman Abby Richter (Henderson, Nev.), junior Vivian Tafuto (Hummelstown, Pa.), freshman Anna Pang (SINGAPORE) and senior Caitlin Cooper (Atlanta, Ga.), respectively, finished third in the 200-yard medley relay. The team recorded a time of 1:36.69, earning an NCAA automatic qualifying time and capturing the seventh-fastest NCAA time this season.
Junior Kylie Towbin (New Canaan, Conn.) advanced to the finals of the women’s 1-meter dive, finishing eighth overall with a score of 277.85.
Sophomore Sydney Dusel (Naperville, Ill.) and senior Corey Johnson (Ambler, Pa.) placed 22nd and 29th, respectively, in the women’s 1-meter dive. Dusel recorded a score of 234.80. Johnson finished with a score of 218.70.
In the men’s 3-meter dive, Bryce Shelton finished 14th with a score of 312.10, while freshman Tristan Gess finished 32nd with a score of 235.75.
The Cavaliers will compete in the second day of competition tomorrow with preliminary races beginning at 10 a.m. The finals will begin at 6 p.m.