Hokie ClubCOLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Virginia Tech H2Okie women’s swimming and diving team concluded the second day of competition at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships in College Park, Md, on Thursday. Tech raced in the 50 and 500 free and the 200 IM. The women divers took part in the 1-meter dive, while the relay team competed in the 200 free relay. The H2Okie men’s diving team also competed in the 3-meter event. Tech sits in third place with 172 points, while Virginia continues to lead at the championships with 292 points.
Senior Sara Smith topped her previous ACC best time in the 50 free of 22.18. The McGaheysville, Va., native rewrote the H2Okie record book and set a new ACC standard, touching in at 21.96 in the preliminary race. The senior captured the 50 free title in 22.14 and tallied 20 points for Tech while edging the competition by .21 seconds. Fellow senior Jordan McHorney scored seven additional points, coming in 10th and finishing the race in 22.88.
Meanwhile, freshman Erika Hajnal shattered a previous Tech-best time in the 500 free, after crossing the finish line in 4:40.30, while coming in second place for Tech. The freshman bettered her preliminary time by 1.20 seconds and claimed 17 points, while earning an NCAA “B” cut in the event.
In the same race, junior Kelly deMarrais and sophomore Lauren Ritter combined to add an additional 16 team points to the H2Okies score. In the consolation finals, the former crossed the finish line in 4:45.99, while the latter posted a 4:47.11 showing.
The team of Smith, McHorney and fellow senior Megan Newell, along with sophomore Steffi Drechsel scored 32 points and a third-place finish in the 200 free relay. The squad broke an H2Okie record in the event, finishing the race in 1:29.73.
In men’s diving, junior Mikey McDonald scored a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter dive. McDonald posted a score of 407.15 in preliminary action, while following with a 403.90 score in the finals.
Tomorrow the H2Okies will take part in the third day of action. Tech will race in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breaststroke and 100 back. The women divers will compete in the 3-meter event, while the men will look to score in the 1-meter dive. Preliminary action begins at 11 a.m., with the finals taking place at 7 p.m. Live results can be viewed at http://www.theacc.com/livestats/c-swim.