Hokie ClubATLANTA – After the third of four days at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, the H2Okies find themselves in sixth place with a score of 232. North Carolina retook the lead, scoring 519 points, as Virginia fell back to second with 482. Florida State and Miami remain in third and fourth, with 294 and 269 points, respectively, and Maryland has moved past Tech into fifth with 267. Duke (164.5), NC State (114.5), Georgia Tech (108), Clemson (108) and Boston College (48) hold the final five spots in the conference.
Erika Hajnal started the evening off right, swimming a 4:10.96 in the 400 IM to pick up a bronze medal and earn a spot on the All-ACC team. Keri Sink earned an additional seven H2Okie points with a 10th-place finish in 4:17.21. Virginia’s Claire Crippen won the race in a conference record-breaking NCAA “A” cut time of 4:07.29.
Heather Savage represented the H2Okies in the top finals heat of the 100 fly, swimming a 54.13 and finishing eighth. Meaghan Holloway then earned an 11th-place finish in 54.59. Maryland’s Mary Lafferty won the race with an ACC meet-record time of 52.39. Lauren Ritter had the top finish for the H2Okies in the next race, the 200 freestyle, taking seventh in 1:48.62. Katarina Filova, who missed the top eight by six hundredths of a second in the prelims, had the best time in the B-group final to place ninth with a time of 1:47.34. Virginia’s Lauren Perdue finished first in the race, breaking her own conference record with an “A” cut time of 1:43.73.
Keri Sink picked up a seventh-place finish in the 100 breaststroke, tying North Carolina’s Danielle Jansen with a time of 1:02.40. Miami’s Sofia Johansson took home the gold, swimming a 1:00.85. The H2Okies did not send a swimmer to the finals of the 100 backstroke, the final individual race of the day, which was won by UNC’s Carly Smith (52.39 A).
Over at the diving competition, Ryan Hawkins once again earned a fourth-place finish, scoring a 365.65 on the 1-meter springboard. Logan Shinholser, who placed sixth in the preliminary round, ended up in eighth with a finals score of 317.65. John Trope and Daniel Martin finished 11th and 12th, respectively, scoring a 310.50 and a 309.85 in the prelims. Carissa Santora was the first female diver to make the finals, finishing eighth for the H2Okies with a 277.00. Sarah Milton finished 10th in the prelims, scoring a 282.15. Duke won both diving events, as Nick McCrory and Abby Johnston once again took home the gold.
Tech finished off the night with a fifth-place finish in the 400 medley relay. Steffi Drechsel led off the H2Okies, followed by Keri Sink and Heather Savage, with Katarina Filova holding down the anchor position. The squad swam a “B” cut time of 3:40.64 to pick up 28 points for the H2Okies. North Carolina’s squad won the race, swimming a Georgia Tech Aquatic Center record time of 3:33.60.
The Atlantic Coast Conference Championships will conclude tomorrow with the final eight events of the meet. The day will begin with the prelims of the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast and 200 fly at 11 a.m. The women’s platform prelims and finals will start at 1 p.m. The 1650 freestyle and the men’s platform prelims will then go at 4 p.m., with the rest of the finals beginning at 7 p.m. The 400 freestyle relay will cap off the meet for the final race of the championships.