AUSTIN, Texas – Freshman Antani Ivanov set a new Virginia Tech record in the 100 butterfly during the third day of competition at the 2019 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships in Austin, Texas.
Ivanov turned in a time of 46.15 (finishing 29th) to set the new mark for the Hokies, replacing the previous record of 46.22 set in 2013 by Gregory Mahon. Fellow freshman Blake Manoff turned in the third fastest time with a 42nd place finish in 46.61.
"What a great day for the Hokies swim team," said head coach Sergio Lopez Miro. "We are young as I've said before and today we started with two freshman swimming the 100 butterfly in a heat by themselves and they did awesome. Antani swam a school record and dropped almost a second from his time at ACCs. Blake dropped three or four tenths of a second to put himself higher on the all-time list. I am very proud of them and they supported one another very well. It shows that our future is bright."
In the 200 free, Lane Stone placed 27th with a time of 1:34.37. Norbert Szabo was just a few 10ths behind with a 1:34.80 to finish 33rd overall.
"I thought both Lane and Norbert did a very good job. No excuse, but I felt like Lane may have been a little bit tired after the 500s yesterday. He swam a very smart race in a very fast 200 freestyle heat. I believe to get into the top-16 this year was a second faster than it was last year and that is huge. He swam the fourth fastest swim of his career and had a very good time for him. Norbert did a very good job. I am very proud of him for stepping up and really putting together a very smart 200 freestyle. He didn't go out too fast and had very good control of the race. I believe he swam his second fastest time ever."
Sophomore Sam Tornqvist finished 30th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 46.33. He moves into second on the Tech top-five times list with the mark, edging past Morgan Latimer's 46.48.
"Sam had an amazing 100 backstroke. A 46.3 is still about seven-tenths of a second from scoring at NCAAs, but he dropped two and a half seconds from his time this year and I am very proud of Sam."
On the 3-meter boards, senior Ben Schiesl finished his final event as a Hokie with a score of 295.65, placing 37th overall. Freshman Noah Zawadzki was 45th with a tally of 266.00.
"I hope the swims we had today give our guys good confidence for tomorrow. Blake and Antani in the 200 fly and Sam in the 200 back, which are their best events. Very proud of them, I think we took some steps forward today and now we are going to get ready for tomorrow."
The Hokies will be back in the pool to wrap up NCAAs tomorrow with the 1650 free, 200 back, 200 fly, 400 free relay and platform diving. Prelims begin at 11 a.m. ET with the 1650 set to begin at 4:45 p.m. followed by the final session at 7 p.m.
