Virginia Captures Women's ACC Championship
Feb. 17, 2018
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GREENSBORO, N.C. – The No. 7 Virginia women’s swimming and diving team won the 2018 Women’s ACC Championships on Saturday (Feb. 17) at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, recording the program’s 10th conference championship in 11 years and 15th ACC championship in the team’s history.
Virginia finished first with 1,382.5 points. Louisville placed second with a score of 1,149.5, while NC State finished third with a score of 1,037.
Two Cavaliers won individual championships as senior Caitlin Cooper (Atlanta, Ga.) won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.54 and freshman Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:51.81. Virginia also won three relay events, pacing the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 6:55.77, the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:26.67 and 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:09.45.
“It’s a great feeling to win the ACC title,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “This program has a lot of great history and rich tradition of great swimming and diving. We are just happy to add to the list and continue the tradition. We are even more excited to build on the tradition and history, and try to do some things that this program has never done. That’s winning a national title. Obviously, that is not going to happen overnight, but I think this was a good start and definitely looking forward to the NCAA championships in about three-and-a-half weeks. I think we will have a pretty big army of Wahoos going to that meet. I’m excited to build off the momentum that we have, winning the ACC championships.
“The women had two goals, athletically. They wanted to win every dual meet and go undefeated in the season, and they were able to accomplish that. Second, they wanted to win the ACC title back. I think a lot of people did not think we could do it. We were pretty, heavily, underdogs. I think the women proved everyone wrong. It is fun when you are able to do that and perform at a high level and use that as motivation. We will continue to use that as motivation heading into NCAAs and building into the future of the program.”
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.), Cooper, senior Laine Reed (Austin, Texas) and junior Eryn Eddy (Loveland, Colo.), respectively, finished first, setting an ACC record, a meet record and a school record with a time of 3:09.45.
Madden finished first in the 200-yard backstroke, earning All-ACC with a time of 1:51.81, second-fastest performance in UVA history. Redshirt sophomore Megan Moroney (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) finished third with a time of 1:53.28, capturing All-ACC honors, while freshman Abby Richter (Henderson, Nev.) finished fifth with a time of 1:53.86.
Senior Jennifer Marrkand (Westford, Mass.) earned All-ACC in the 200-yard butterfly with a second-place finish and a time of 1:54.89.
Hill finished third in the 100-yard freestyle, earning All-ACC with a time of 48.02. Her performance ranks second in Virginia history. Cooper finished fourth in the event with a time of 48.05, third best in school history, while Eddy placed sixth with a time of 48.46 and Reed placed seventh with a time of 48.71.
Junior Kylie Towbin (New Canaan, Conn.) finished fourth in the platform with a score of 235.80, while sophomore Sydney Dusel (Naperville, Ill.) placed seventh with a score of 203.80.
In the 1,650-yard freestyle, senior Cece Williams (Tallahassee, Fla.) recorded a time of 16:12.43, finishing seventh overall. Freshman Erin Earley (Orange, Conn.) finished 11th with a time of 16:18.92 followed by junior Rachel Politi (Bexley, Ohio) in 21st place with a time of 16:43.95.
In the B-Finals, Earley paced the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:53.16, finishing first in her heat and ninth overall, while freshman Emma Seiberlich (Audubon, Pa.) finished 11th in the event with a time of 1:54.01. Junior Vivian Tafuto (Hummelstown, Pa.) and sophomore Mary Claire Tansill (Bristow, Va.) finished 10th and 11th, respectively, in the 200-yard breaststroke. Tafuto recorded a time of 2:11.49 as Tansill recorded a time of 2:11.50. Freshman Anna Pang (SINGAPORE) placed 13th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.95. Seiberlich finished 16th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:59.88
Senior Corey Johnson (Ambler, Pa.) finished 12th in the platform with a score of 211.40.
In the men’s platform dive, sophomore Bryce Shelton (Vienna, Va.) finished 19th with 256.75 points. Points from the men’s diving events will be added to the team scores of the men’s ACC championships next week.
“I want to give a huge shout out to the rest of the coaching staff,” DeSorbo said. “They have done some tremendous things for the program this year. Tyler Fenwick, Wes Foltz and Blaire Bachman are all doing a phenomenal job. The kids they coach directly are all smiles. They are all swimming really fast. They are coaching a lot of NCAA qualifiers and ACC champions. Jason Glorius with the divers on the boards. It was definitely a huge team effort. Everyone contributes and that is how great things can happen.”
This meet also signified the women’s swimming and diving matchup between Virginia and Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash, sponsored by Virginia529, the official college savings plan of the University of Virginia Athletics. The score for the Clash is now University of Virginia – 3.5 and Virginia Tech – 5.5. Learn more about Virginia529 and this competition at TheCommmonwealthClash.com.
The No. 23 Cavalier men’s swim team will compete at the men’s ACC championships beginning Feb. 21. The competition will be held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C.