University of Louisville
ACC Championships (Men)
Men's Swimming and Diving Finish Second at ACC Championship
February 28, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
On the final day, University of Louisville men's swimming and diving team reached the podium six times on the final night, including a sweep in the 200-breast led by Thomas Dahlia's gold medal performance as UofL finished second in its first ACC Men's Championship after four days of competition at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
In all, Louisville won gold in five events - 100 butterfly, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, and 400 medley relay - and finished with 16 medals, the second most of any team.
For the 25th time in league history, NC State is ACC Men's Swimming & Diving champion. The Wolfpack has won 22 outright championships and held a share of the team title three more times. The championship is the first for NC State since 1992.
The Wolfpack amassed 1,331 points followed by the Cards' 1,178.5. Virginia Tech was third with 1,123 followed by North Carolina (1062), Notre Dame (675), Georgia Tech (663.5) , Florida State (619) Virginia (618), Duke (435) Pitt (369.5), Boston College (179) and Miami (105).
"As a staff, we are very proud of the way we competed all weekend," said UofL head coach Arthur Albiero. "This group of men showed great resilience and that will bode well as we set our sights on our NCAA Championships preparation. We are honored to be part of the ACC, as the competition brought out the best from our team. We will learn and get better."
In the first event of the evening, Cardinal freshman Marcelo Acosta won bronze in the 1650-freestyle with a 15:03.17. Senior Bryan Draganosky was 8th in 15.09.59 to add points for the Cardinals. NC State's Anton Ipsen finished the 1650 freestyle in 14:48.52 for the gold just ahead of Virginia Tech's Jakes Ores' silver medal time of 14:57.58.
In the 200-backstroke, Grigory Tarasevich won silver with an A-cut time of 1:40.86. Aaron Greene was 3rd with a 1:41.38, and Tesone was 7th in 1:44.48. NC State's Hennessey Stuart broke the his own ACC record in the 200 backstroke, finishing in 1:39.37 as the first ACC swimmer to break the 1:40 mark and the win.
Louisville took two of the podium spots in the 100 breaststroke on Friday night. On Saturday, the Cardinals did one better, sweeping the podium in the 200 breaststroke. Thomas Dahlia (1:53.51) led the trio with an NCAA A cut to win his fifth medal the week and third gold. Addison Bray (1:54.60) and Carlos Claverie (1:54.80) grabbed silver and bronze, respectively. In addition to the three at the top, freshman Todd Owen finished in seventh to give the Cardinals 110 points in the event, solidifying their position in second in the team race.
In the 100-free, NC State's Simonas Bilis, the defending champion, led wire-to-wire and finished in 41.94, breaking his own ACC record in the event that he set last year. UofL's Trevor Carroll touched in 43.79 in the A-final for eighth. UofL's Matthias Lindenbauer won the B final, going 43.50. Rudy Edelen was 12th in 43.99 and teammate Aaron Young was 14th in 44.30.
Josh Quallen put up a 1:45.26 in the A-final of the 200-fly for eighth. Florida State's Connor Knight touched in 1:41.66 for the win.
In the final event of the Championships, UofL's 400-free relay touched fourth when Matthias Lindenbauer (43.46), Thomas Dahlia (43.03), Rudy Edelen (43.84) and Trevor Carroll (43.48) combined for a time of 2:53.81. The Wolfpack squad of Ryan Held (42.79), Simonas Bilis (41.38), Soren Dahl (42.69), and David Williams (42.06) led through every transition and combined to finish in 2:48.92, breaking their own league record set last year.
NC State's Simonas Bilis was voted as the 2015 ACC Championship Most Valuable Men's Swimmer by the league's coaches. A junior from Panevezys, Lithuania, competed in seven events during the meet, winning six golds and one silver en route to becoming the first Wolfpack male swimmer to win the award since Cullen Jones in 2006. He set two individual ACC marks and helped break three relay records in the process.He became the first ACC swimmer to sweep the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle events since Virginia's Scot Robinson accomplished the feat in 2010.
"We are so happy to be part of the ACC and add to the level of competition here. Our guys really stepped up all weekend. Our philosophy for our program is to be ready for ACCs and NCAAs. We came ready to fight and qualify our guys and get ready for NCAAs. We want to be at our very best there," said Albiero.
