Hokie ClubATLANTA - After earning eight medals and posting 26 top-ten finishes, the Virginia Tech swimming and diving team finished in third place at the 2015 ACC Women’s Championships on Saturday night at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. In the final day of competition, Kaylea Arnett won her sixth career gold medal and was named Most Valuable Diver for the fourth-straight time, and Klaudia Nazieblo and Emma Villarreal won bronze medals.
Tech’s men’s divers also competed exceptionally, dominating the platform diving event with four top-eight finishers including bronze-medalist Thomas Shinholser and fourth-place finisher Logan Stevens.
“I’m very proud of this women’s team,” head coach Ned Skinner said. “After finishing fifth last year, these girls went home and established some goals and some standards and tonight we saw them come to fruition with the move up to third even with the addition of Louisville - a quality program. I just can’t say enough about the overall environment this swimming and diving team has put together. It’s really humbling to be a part of it.”
The day began with the H2Okies in third place, and a stellar morning made way for Tech to hold their position against the vying fourth-place Louisville squad. Tech qualified seven A-finalists and numerous B and C-finalists in the prelims, but the most astonishing, an incredible three female divers and four male divers qualified for the platform finals.
Record-setting senior diver Kaylea Arnett added to her gold and bronze medals earned earlier in the week by winning another gold medal in the platform final after posting a score of 295.3. It is Arnett’s sixth career gold medal, the most by any diver in ACC history and the most by any Virginia Tech swimmer or diver.
With the gold, Arnett completed the career sweep, having won gold medals in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform events. Arnett was also named the ACC’s Most Valuable Diver for the fourth-straight year.
Freshman Emma Villarreal wasn’t far behind Arnett, winning the bronze medal in the platform with a score of 279.95. Kelli Stockton was just behind her in fifth after posting a score of 277.20.
Another newcomer, Klaudia Nazieblo, added a second bronze medal to her stash from the week after finishing third in the 200 fly with a new school-record time of 1:55.16. Nazieblo earned another top-five finish in the 200 back, after clocking in at 1:54.84 for another school record and a fifth-place finish.
Weronika Paluszek barely missed the podium for the second-straight day when she finished fourth in the 200 breast with a time of 2:08.57. Mackenzie Stewart was right behind her, taking fifth with a time of 2:10.69.
In the opening race of the evening finals, Jessica Hespeler garnered another top-10 finish after swimming the 1650 free in 16:30.50 for sixth place.
In total, the Tech women finished the meet with a score of 1018. Virginia won the ACC team championship with a score of 1308.5, and North Carolina was the runner-up with 1255 points. The H2Okies edged out fourth-place Louisville, who finished with a score of 918.
In the men’s platform prelims, Tech qualified all four of their divers for the evening final where they comprised half the field. Shinholser finished as the top performer, earning the bronze medal after posting a score of 370.00. Logan Stevens - who won the silver in the 3-meter on Friday - was just behind him in fourth with a score of 361.75.
Mauro Castro-Silva took sixth place with a score of 325.3 in his first-ever ACC platform event. Kyle Butts rounded out the finals competition, finishing in eighth with a score of 285.35.
In the men’s platform alone, Tech’s divers earned 99 team points. In all the diving competition, they earned 267 points. These team points are included in Virginia Tech’s swimming total as part of the men’s ACC Championships, which will conclude on Saturday, February 28. This score gives Tech a large boost in points going into the swimming portion of the championships.
“This scoring gives us tremendous energy,” Skinner said. “I know our men have been at home watching it and they are excited about it. They are good friends with these divers -they hang out and room together - so we all share in this success together. It really makes our men hungry to get down to Atlanta and see what they can do.”
The H2Okie men return to the pool for the 2015 Men’s ACC Championships on Wednesday, February 25 at 6 p.m. at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. Live results will be available online, and there will be a live video stream on ESPN3.
Medals:
Gold - Kaylea Arnett, 3-meter
Gold - Kaylea Arnett, Platform
Bronze - Kaylea Arnett, 1-meter
Bronze - Emma Villarreal, Platform
Bronze - Fiona Donnelly, 400 IM
Bronze - Klaudia Nazieblo, 100 back
Bronze - Klaudia Nazieblo, 200 fly
Bronze - Nazieblo, Paluszek, Gruber, Hespeler; 400 Medley relay
School Records:
100 back - Klaudia Nazieblo (52.53)
200 back - Klaudia Nazieblo (1:54.84)
200 fly - Klaudia Nazieblo (1:55.16)
200 IM - Fiona Donnelly (1:58.36)
400 IM - Fiona Donnelly (4:08.30)