Hokie ClubCOLLEGE PARK, Md. – In the final day of the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships the Virginia Tech H2Okie women claimed third place and scored 451 points, compared to 362 in last years competition. Virginia captured the conference title with 848 points with North Carolina coming in second place with a 602.5 scoring output.
The women’s squad had an impressive showing at the championships, breaking 13 team records and posting two conference top-times. Senior Sara Smith led the way with two individual titles in the 50 and 100 free and claimed third place in the 100 fly event. Freshman Erika Hajnal made her presence felt in her first appearance at the ACC Championships, posting three third place finishes.
"This was a fantastic effort by our women swimmers and both diving squads," said head coach Ned Skinner. "I am so proud of the way our team and especially the way our seniors performed. Coming in third place in the ACC and breaking so many team records is an amazing accomplishment for our program and it something we look to build off of in the future."
The H2Okies swam in the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast and the 200 fly events, in the final day of action in College Park, Md. The relay team raced in the 400 free relay, while the men and women’s diving teams competed in the platform event.
To get the evening started, Hajnal garnered her third NCAA “B” cut along with another third place finish at the ACC Championship meet. The freshman scored 16 points in the 1650 free, touching in at 16:00.16, while rewriting the team record book for the third time at the competition.
In the 200 back juniors Kelly deMarrais and Sara Shapiro combined for 11 points for the H2Okies. The former swam the race in 1:57.50, a new team record in the event, while the latter crossed the line in 1:59.39.
Meanwhile, Smith went out in style in her last conference finals. The senior secured the top spot in the 100 free finals after finishing the preliminary race in 48.10, another new ACC top-time. Smith added the 100 free ACC title to her impressive resume, swimming to the pace of 48.39 in the finals for 20 points.
Sophomores Steffi Drechsel and Sarah Losinger each posted ninth place finishes in the 100 free and the 200 breast, respectively. Dreschsel claimed nine points for Tech after finishing the event in 49.60, while Losinger registered a time of 2:13.85, also scoring nine points. Both swimmers times were good for NCAA “B” cuts.
The H2Okies broke another school record in the 200 fly event. Senior Megan Newell swam the preliminary race in 1:58.40 and in the finals touched in at 1:59.60, scoring 12 points and a seventh place finish for Tech in her final championship meet.
In the final event on the evening, the 400 free relay, the H2Okies team of senior Jordan McHorney, Smith, Newell and Drechsel registered a second place finish and set a new record in the event with a time of 3:16.33. The relay teams shattered the record books at the championships, setting five new team records.
In diving action the women divers, added 19 points in the platform event, with freshman Cara Murnan leading the way with a 247.65 showing for a fifth place finish and 14 points. Sophomore Sarah Milton scored 202.35 and tallied five additional points.
For the men, junior Mikey McDonald scored a third place finish in the platform dive with a score of 357.40, while sophomore Daniel Martin qualified for the diving finals after a preliminary score of 276.75. Martin finished the event in eighth place.
The H2Okie divers continued to display impressive showings each day at the ACC Championships. Tech had a combined six of its eight divers score at the meet, highlighted by McDonald’s two third place finishes.
“All of our divers had amazing performance this weekend,” said head diving coach Ron Piemonte. “I am extremely happy with the way they all performed with the ACC being an extremely tough conference to score in. It speaks volumes about our divers as athletes and as individuals.”
Next weekend the men get their shot at the ACC Championships. The meet will take place in College Park, Md., on February 25-28. Preliminary action begins on Wednesday at 6 p.m.