H2Okies kick off postseason with first week of ACC Championships

BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech swimming and diving team open their postseason on this week in Atlanta for the first week of ACC Championships at the McAuley Aquatics Center from Feb. 12-16. Women’s swimming and diving and men’s diving will compete during the first week of the conference championship.

A live video stream of event finals will be available on WatchESPN via ACC Network Extra on Tuesday through Thursday, starting at 6 p.m. Veteran ESPN announcer Sam Gore will handle play-by-play, where he will be joined by swimming analyst Brendan Hansen – a six-time Olympic medalist – and diving analyst Jason Baumann, a former collegiate coach and USA Diving Staff member who is now regarded as one of the sport’s top judges.

Psych sheets, live results and other important information can be found in the ACC Swimming and Diving Championship link on the right under “Extras”.

“We are in Atlanta and charged up for a great week of competition,” head coach Ned Skinner said. “The ladies and all of the divers have done a great job preparing themselves this season and we’re excited to see their hard work in action.”

The women H2Okies surged to a fourth place finish at ACCs last season where junior Klaudia Nazieblo earned a silver medal in the 200 fly, Jessica Hespeler finished fifth in the A-final of the 1650 free and sophomore Ashlynn Peters reached the finals of the platform as a true freshman. All three return along with other swimmers and divers that scored at ACCs last season.

Head diving Ron Piemonte’s divers will again look strong on the women’s side and continue to be dominant on the men’s side. Mauro Castro-Silva took home the bronze medal in the platform and was one of three H2Okies to reach the finals in the event last season. Their performance helped the Tech men become the top scoring team at ACCs the last four years.

“I'm really looking forward to starting this meet,” head diving coach Ron Piemonte said. “The men's one meter will be the first event, then the women's three meter. The divers have prepared well and they’re feeling good.”

Freshman Reka Gyorgy will be making her first postseason appearance for the H2Okies this weekend and could potentially be a difference maker. She enters the weekend with the 14th fastest time in the 400 IM and the fifth best time in the 200 IM.

Live updates from the conference championships can also be found on Twitter by following @VT_SwimDive.