H2Okies come up short at UNC

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Virginia Tech swimming & diving teams opened up ACC play on Saturday night with a dual meet at North Carolina where the women lost, 186-108, and the men lost, 182-118.

“It was a hard fought meet tonight,” head coach Ned Skinner said. “I was proud of our team’s fight and energy in the pool deck. We had some real strong performances for this time of year, and I know the team will bounce back and race hard tomorrow.”

The H2Okie women (3-1, 0-1 ACC) were in for a tough battle from the start, swimming against the fifth-ranked team in the country, UNC (2-1, 1-0 ACC). In the team events, Tech was victorious in the 200 yard freestyle relay, winning with a time of 1:34.70 with Klaudia Nazieblo, Margaret Parcell, Jessica Hespeler and Caroline Buscaglia swimming for the H2Okies.

Hespeler also made an impressive showing in the 1650 yard freestyle, where she won with a time of 17:02.36. Weronika Paluszek also earned a win at the meet, taking home the 200 yard breaststroke with a time of 2:14.14.

In the women’s diving events, Kaylea Arnett won the 1-meter with a score of 321.23 and Emma Villareal finished third. In the 3-meter dive, Kelli Stockton took second after posting a score of 336.38.

On the men’s side, battling against North Carolina (2-1, 1-0 ACC), one of the toughest opponents in all of the ACC, the H2Okie men (2-1, 0-1 ACC) put up a good fight but where unable to pull away the win in the end.

In the 1-meter diving event, Thomas Shinholser and Kyle Butts finished second and third. In the 3-meter dive, Shinholser won the event and broke his personal-best score by posting a 379.50.

In the 1650 yard freestyle event, Michal Szuba won with a time of 15:24.54 and Jake Ores finished second. In the 200 yard freestyle, Owen Burns won the event, touching the wall in 1:38.70, with Lucas Bureau right behind him in the second spot.

Tech also performed well in the 100 yard backstroke where Collin Higgins finished first in 48.75 and Robert Owen finished third. In the 200 yard backstroke, Robert Owen won with a time of 1:47.02 and Collin Higgins took second place.

Tech continues their weekend in North Carolina tomorrow when they battle Duke at 11 a.m. Live stats will be available online.