Virginia Finishes Third at ACC Championships
Feb. 24, 2018
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Saturday’s Results | Full Results
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The No. 23 Virginia men’s swimming and diving team finished third in the team standings at the 2018 ACC Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center on Saturday (Feb. 24) with 983.5 points, recording the program’s best finish since 2013.
NC State recorded its fourth consecutive ACC Championship with 1,457 points, while Louisville finished second with 1,170.5 points.
Sophomore Ted Schubert (Ashland, Va.) led the team, tying for second place and earning All-ACC in the 200-yard butterfly. His time of 1:41.35 set a school record and qualified for an NCAA A Standard.
Including Schubert’s All-ACC honor, the Cavaliers captured four individual All-ACC accolades during the meet. Senior Luke Georgiadis (Jacksonville, Fla.) finished second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:33.78, while redshirt junior Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) finished third in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 3:41.94 and sophomore Joe Clark (Worcester Park, Great Britain) finished third in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 45.54.
“Overall a fantastic competition for us,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “We got 10 guys that will be qualified for the NCAA Championships. That is double what the program had last year. We had an overall team finish of third place, which is a phenomenal team finish after coming in sixth place last year. The men also scored almost 300 more points than they did last year. We are taking a step in the right direction. We are pretty proud of the guys. We are excited for the future and excited about the NCAA Championships in a few weeks. We are excited about where this program is heading. It will be, guaranteed, one of the nation’s elite really soon and it will be a fun ride for all of those involved.”
The men’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Ryan Baker (Arlington, Va.), Georgiadis, Clark and junior Bryce Keblish (Fairfield, Conn.), respectively, finished fourth overall, recording the school’s second-fastest performance in the event with a time of 2:51.28. Additionally, Baker’s leadoff swim of 43.03 ranks fourth in school history for the 100-yard freestyle.
Junior Zach Fong (Moorestown, N.J.) finished fifth in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:42.37, the second-fastest time in program history.
Freshman Robby Giller (Wilton, Conn.) finished fourth in the 200-yard backstroke, recording a time of 1:41.11. His performance ranks second in UVA history. Redshirt junior Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) placed seventh in the event with a time of 1:45.11. Casey swam a time of 1:41.86 in the morning preliminary race, tying for the third-best performance in UVA history.
In the 200-yard breaststroke, freshmen Matthew Otto (Newark, Del.) and Keefer Barnum (Louisville, Ky.) finished fourth and sixth, respectively. Otto recorded a time of 1:53.92, second-fastest performance in school history, while Barnum’s time of 1:54.82 ranks sixth all-time at UVA.
Casey and junior Sam Magnan (Bethlehem, Pa.) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 1650-yard freestyle. Casey recorded a time of 14:50.41, fourth all-time in UVA history, while Magnan finished with a time of 14:54.56, ranking eighth in UVA history.
Four Cavaliers reached the B Final of the 100-yard freestyle, finishing 11th-14th in the event. Baker paced the team with a time of 43.16. Clark followed with a time of 43.21, while Georgiadis recorded a time of 43.38 and Keblish recorded a time of 43.40. Clark’s preliminary time of 43.17 ranks seventh in UVA history, while Keblish’s preliminary time of 43.25 ranks eighth and Georgiadis’s preliminary time of 43.37 ranks ninth.
In the B Final of the 200-yard backstroke, Freshman Cooper Wozencraft (Houston, Texas) paced the heat with a time of 1:42.32, finishing ninth overall. Junior Gust Kouvaris (Troy, Mich.) finished 16th with a time of 1:43.88. Wozencraft’s time ranks fifth in UVA history.
Schubert finished 14th in the 1650-yard freestyle recording a career best time of 15:10.36, while sophomore Jacob Wells (Henrico, Va.) finished 14th in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:57.27.
“It was a great final session at the men’s ACC Championships,” DeSorbo said. “We had some great miles with four out of the five swimmers going lifetime bests. They started the evening off really well for us and narrowed the gap between us and Notre Dame in the battle for third place. The 200 backstrokers had some phenomenal swims, again, out of some of our youngsters. We followed it up with a great group of sprinters in the B Final, all going lifetime bests as well. In the 200 breaststroke, we had two first-years in the championship final. That really bodes well for the future of the program. We finished with the 200 butterfly, and the most amazing thing there was Ted Schubert tying for second place, and that is after swimming the 1650 (freestyle). Just a phenomenal effort by him and just an insane last 50 free to close the gap and finish in second place. We had a great finish in the 400 free relay as well.”
This meet also signified the men’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 -4.5 and Virginia Tech -7.5. Learn more about Virginia529 and this competition at TheCommmonwealthClash.com.
Members of the Cavaliers men’s and women’s swim teams will conclude the ECAC Championships tomorrow at Rutgers’ Sonny Werblin Recreation Center. The preliminary races will begin at 9 a.m. followed by the finals at 4 p.m.