Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech swimming and diving teams held their annual Margaret Soulen Gilbert Breast Cancer awareness on Friday night at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center as they hosted Richmond with Queens University of Charlotte.
The No. 26 Virginia Tech men defeated Queens by a score of 172.00-90.00 while the No. 24 Hokie women knocked off Queens 188.00-106.00 and Richmond 237.00-62.00. The men are now 3-0 on the season while the women are 3-1.
“We were very solid today knowing the work our team is putting in. We had multiple performances that we are quite please with. Lucas and Weronika are showing why they are two of our best all-time. The divers were very strong and I am looking forward to see how we come back tomorrow with another full slate,” head coach Ned Skinner said.
The men’s diving team, although their scores did not count towards the team score, had all four divers hit NCAA Zone Qualifying scores in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. Ben Schiesl, Mauro Castro-Silva, Logan Stevens and Jack Gigliotti all hit the mark. The group all scored north of 333.00 in the 3-meter event.
“I'm really happy with how both the men and women are competing right now. It's still pretty early in the season but they are all putting up some real good scores and showing some great consistency,” head diving coach Ron Piemonte said.
Ashlynn Peters had another great day diving as she hit a 337.58 on the 3-meter and 306.82on the 1-meter. Leah Piemonte hit her first career 3-meter NCAA Zone qualifying score as she posted a 282.00 on the 3-meter.
On the women’s side, Auriane Premilhat and Fiona Donnelly finished first and second in the 400 medley with times of 3:45.77 and 3:49.42. The women took the top three spots in the 100 back with Klaudia Nazieblo, Auriane de Premilhat and Holly Harper.
In the 100 breast, Weronika Paluszek, Kelly Henry and Alyssa Bodin finished in that order with Paluszek winning the event with a time of 1:03.40. Paluszek also took the victory in the 200 breast with an NCAA Zone qualifying time of 2:15.61.
Maggie Gruber won the 100 fly with a time of 55.90, Sydney Pesetti won the 500 free with a time of 5:02.57, and Fiona Donnelly won the 400 IM with a time of 4:26.61.
Michal Szuba continued his dominance of distance events winning the 1,000 free with a time of 9:12.65 and the 500 free with a time of 4:29.27. Zach Switzer, Robert Owen and Brent Benedict finished in that order in the men’s 100 back with Switzer posting a time of 50.94.
Christopher Wang won the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:52.89. In the 50 free, Lucas Bureau, Ian Ho and Drake Becksted beat the field with Bureau coming in first at 20.73 second. Bureau also won the 100 free with a time of 45.20.
Robert Owen won the 200 back with a time of 1:49.34 followed by Sean Workman, Zach Switzer and Peter Conzola. The 200 free relay team finished with a time of 1:22.27 to win the event.
The Hokies will be back in the pool tomorrow as they host Gardner-Webb and UMBC at noon.