Hokie ClubGREENSBORO, N.C. -- The Virginia Tech women’s swimming and diving team sits in fifth place after seven events at the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, as the H2Okies wrapped up their second day of competition at Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Tech sits in the middle one of the deepest fields in ACC Championships history, as the H2Okies lead sixth-place Notre Dame by 8.5 points.
“We feel really good about our position right now,” Head Coach Ned Skinner said. “This is a tough meet with a lot of teams and more parity than ever. We feel good sitting in fifth place right now.”
Junior Kaylea Arnett highlighted the day for Tech, as the reigning ACC Most Valuable Diver captured the gold medal in the 1-meter event for the third consecutive year. After leading the preliminaries with a score of 331.40, Arnett posted a 355.65 in the finals to break her own school record and take the top honors by more than 20 points.
With the victory, Arnett becomes the first ACC student-athlete to win the event three straight years since Virginia’s Laurie Wagner accomplished the feat from 1994-96.
Holly Harper also placed herself into the Virginia Tech record books on Thursday, as the sophomore clocked a 1:58.99 in the preliminaries of the 200 IM to set a new H2Okie record and qualify herself for the championship final, where she captured eighth place.
Freshman Jessica Hespeler earned key points for Tech in her first-ever ACC Championships, touching the wall in fourth place of the 500 freestyle B-final with a season-best time of 4:48.53.
Senior Katarina Filova wrapped up the H2Okies’ first full day at the championships with a 22.89 that won the C-final of the 50 freestyle. The finish earned Tech nine points and qualified as an NCAA “B” cut.
“The energy has been really strong and we feel like we’re starting gain traction moving forward,” Skinner said. “A lot of our girls start their meets tomorrow, so we feel like we have a lot of chances tomorrow. The majority of our women have their best events still to come, so hopefully we can get this show on the road tomorrow.”
The men’s diving team got their competition off to a great start on Thursday evening as well. Ryan Hawkins continued his stellar senior season, earning the bronze medal in the 3-meter event with a score of 448.70.
Junior Kyle Butts gave the H2Okies a pair of divers in the finals, eventually finishing seventh with a score of 386.55. Sophomore Logan Stevens (338.65) and freshman T.J. Shinholser (311.80) rounded out the H2Okie divers in 13th and 18th, respectively.
With the 3-meter event the only completed contest on the men’s side, the H2Okies have placed themselves atop the leaderboard with 71 points. Miami is second with 54, while Florida State has 51 points in third place.
Tomorrow’s action will begin at 11 a.m. at Greensboro Aquatic Center, beginning with the preliminaries of the 400 IM. Finals for tomorrow’s events will begin at 7 p.m.
Complete results, as well as live stats and the championship home page can be found at the attached links.