Virginia Concludes Third Day of NCAA Championships
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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Virginia men’s swimming and diving team finished the third day of the NCAA Championships on Friday (March 23) at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center with three swimmers earning All-America Honorable Mention honors.
In the team standings, the Cavaliers are in 29th place with 10 points. Indiana leads the field with 325 points, while Texas ranks second with 306 points and California ranks third with 291.5 points.
In the 400-yard individual medley, sophomore Ted Schubert (Ashland, Va.) finished 14th with a time of 3:41.72, while freshman Robby Giller (Wilton, Conn.) placed 15th with a time of 3:42.52.
Schubert and Giller captured All-America Honorable Mention honors in the event as Giller earned the program’s first individual All-America honor by a freshman since Luke Papendick in 2013.
In the preliminary race, Giller dropped over three seconds in the event to record the second-best time in Virginia history, finishing with a time of 3:41.56.
Sophomore Joe Clark (Worcester Park, Great Britain) swam a time of 45.65 in the 100-yard backstroke, placing 14th in the event. With the finish, Clark captured the program’s first All-America honor in the 100-yard backstroke since Shamek Pietucha recorded the honor 1999.
“It was a great day for us,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “We are getting stronger as the meet goes. It was great to score in a couple of individual races today with Ted Schubert and Robby Giller in the 400 IM. Robby, as a first year, dropped a lot of time this year, eight seconds, getting himself into scoring position. Joe Clark made it into the 100 backstroke. We were excited about that.
“We are just trying to exceed the expectations of what this program has done in the recent past and build on it for the future. The exciting thing is the three young men who scored points for us tonight are all freshmen or sophomores. Like I said, the future is bright and we are looking forward to the day tomorrow.”
In the morning races, juniors Zach Fong (Moorestown, N.J.) and Bryce Keblish (Fairfield, Conn.) qualified as alternates in the 100-yard butterfly. Fong set a school record with a time of 45.73, placing 17th in the event, while Keblish recorded a time of 45.74, finishing 18th overall.
The Cavaliers finished 19th in the 200-yard medley relay. Clark, freshman Keefer Barnum (Louisville, Ky.), Keblish and sophomore Ryan Baker (Arlington, Va.), respectively, recorded a time of 1:25.39.
Redshirt junior Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) placed 22nd in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 3:43.10.
Virginia returns to action tomorrow for the conclusion of the NCAA Championships. The preliminary races will begin at 11 a.m., followed by the preliminary heats for the 1650-yard freestyle at 4:45 p.m. The finals will start at 7 p.m. All times are in Eastern.