CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The No. 21/19 Virginia Tech H2Okies picked up their first losses of the season, falling to ACC foe No. 19/NR North Carolina in a dual meet at Koury Natatorium. The 19th-ranked men’s team fell 166-134 while the 21st-ranked women dropped a 178.5-121.5 decision to No. 19 UNC.
"We were not as strong in the pool as we wanted to be today," said head coach Ned Skinner. "UNC did a good job of capitalizing where we struggled. I am so proud of senior Jack Gigliotti getting his first collegiate win in dramatic fashion. Norbert Szabo, Ian Ho and Klaudia Nazieblo all did a great job getting us key wins to keep us in the meet We have some work to do, but I am confident that we will be better at the Purdue Invitational in two weeks."
Highlighting the day was Klaudia Nazieblo’s pair of NCAA B times and the men’s sweep of the 50 free.
Nazieblo finished first in the 200yd fly with a qualifying time of 1:56.96 and followed up with a first place finish and B time of 54.33 in the 100yd fly. On the men’s side Ian Ho recorded a B time of 19.94 in the 50 free, leading a trio of Hokies to a sweep in the event. Thomas Hallock finished second (20.57) and David Herbert was third (20.63).
Maggie Gruber also had strong fly events, taking third in the 200 (2:01.77) and second in the 100 (54.55).
Reka Gyorgy recorded the top time in the 200 free (1:49.83) and claimed a pair of second place finishes on the day. The Tech sophomore was the runner-up in the 1000 free (9:57.37) and the 500 free (4:52.10). Eleanor Matheson finished just back of Gyorgy in the 200 and 500 event, claiming third in both with times of 1:50.06 and 4:56.88, respectively.
The Hokies were also strong in the backstroke. Emily Meilus had a first place time of 1:59.33 in the 200 and claimed second in the 100 (55.14). Her teammate Chloe Hicks was second with a time of 2:00.44 in the 200 event and third (55.28) in the 100.
Adriana Grabski tallied top-3 finishes in the sprit frees, finishing second in the 100 (51.13) and third in the 50 (23.46).
On the boards, Ashlynn Peters had a first place score of 300.98 in the 1-meter while Ashley Buchter took third in the 3-meter with a score of 311.55.
For the Tech men’s team, Ho added to his top finishes, taking first in the 100 free with a time of 44.59.
Norbert Szabo had three top-three finishes, claiming first in the 200 fly (1:48.93) and 200 IM (1:51.28). He had a second place time in the 200 free (1:38.96). Hassler Carroll added a second place finish in the 200 fly with a time of 1:49.42.
The Hokies took the top two spots in the 1000 free with Michael Craddock out touching teammate Lane Stone with a time of 9:17.17. Stone added a second place finish with a time of 4:29.58 in the 500 free.
Justin Edwards tallied a pair of third place finishes in the breaststroke finishing with a time of 2:03.08 in the 200 and 55.99 in the 100. Sean Workman was second in the 200 back and 100 back with respective times of 1:47.73 and 49.96.
In diving, Jack Gigliotti recorded his first collegiate win, taking first in the 3-meter with a score of 369.45. The Hokies took first and third in the 1-meter with Ben Schiesl’s 362.48 and Thomas Shinholser’s 340.28.
The H2Okies will be back in the pool Nov. 16-18 at the Purdue University Invitational.