Swimming and Diving in Third After Day 1 ACC Finals

Wednesday, February 17

Greensboro, N.C.

TBA

University of Louisville

ACC Championships (Women)

February 17, 2016 | Swimming & Diving

Cards' 200 Medley Relay time is fastest in the nation this year.

By: Nancy Worley

The 2016 ACC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships started with two medals and two records for the University of Louisville swimming and diving team Wednesday night at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

The Louisville 200 medley relay and Virginia 800 freestyle relay squads set ACC records in the two swimming events of the night, and Cavalier junior Leah Smith posted a meet record in the 200 freestyle.

"It was a great first session," said UofL head coach Arthur Albiero. "Two relays and two school records. The 200-medley relay was better than what we did at NCAA's last year and the 800-free relay was a four second improvement over our previous record. More importantly, the team displayed incredible energy and it showed in our performance."

After three events in the women's meet, Miami leads with 155 points followed by North Carolina with 154, Louisville with 146.5, and NC State with 142. Virginia (140), Notre Dame (138), Duke (118), Virginia Tech (101), Pitt (99) Florida State (95), Georgia Tech (85.5), Boston College (60), and Clemson (28) round out the field.

In the first event of the evening, the Cards set a conference record in the 200-medley relay when they boarded a gold medal time of 1:35.43 posted by the foursome of Alina Kendzior (24.78), Andrea Kneppers (26.35), Kelsi Worrell (22.42),and Mallory Comerford (21.88).

In the women's 1-meter diving event, NC Sta te's Rachel Mumma claimed her first ACC title with a score of 331.85. In the men's 3-meter event, Miami's Briadam Herrara successfully defended his title with a score of 440.00 to close out Wednesday night's competition. Louisville's Andrea Aquista held her qualifying position and finished 7th with a score of 288 points.

"We got a good start for our divers," said Albiero. "It was our first ACC Top 8 finish by Andrea Acquista and all four divers scored valuable points."

Virginia became the first squad in ACC history to break seven minutes in the 800 freestyle relay in 6:59.9. The Cardinals crushed their own school record by four seconds with a bronze medal time of 7:01.01 put up by Andrea Kneppers (1:46.08), Abigail Houck (1:44.97, Marah Pugh (1:46.32) and Mallory Comerford (1:43.64).

Thursday's action gets underway at 10 a.m. with the prelims for the 500 free, 200 individual medley, 50 free, and men's 1-meter, with doors open to spectators at 9 a.m. The finals for those events, in addition to the 200 freestyle relay, will begin at 6 p.m.