Men's Swimming and Diving Jump Into Second at ACC Championships

Friday, February 26

Greensboro, N.C.

TBA

University of Louisville

ACC Championships (Men)

Men's Swimming and Diving Jump Into Second at ACC Championships

February 26, 2016 | Swimming & Diving

Two gold, a silver and bronze buoy the Cards.

By: Nancy Worley

Two gold medals, a silver and a bronze helped the University of Louisville men's swimming and diving team move into second place and put some distance between the Cardinals and the rest of the field after three days of racing at the 2016 ACC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships Friday night at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

NC State extended its lead, sitting in first with a total of 928 points. Louisville took over second with 785.5 points, and North Carolina is in third with 639.5. Virginia Tech (600) and Virginia (483) round out the top five.

"We had a phenomenal prelim session which set us up to capitalize on team points tonight," said UofL head coach Arthur Albiero. "To win two ACC titles tonight and establish a new ACC record, and three new school records put a cap on a very good day."

In the first event of the finals, the 400-IM, Virginia Tech's Robert Owens jumped out to an early lead, but Louisville's Nolan Tesone edged ahead during the backstroke leg and then continued to extend his lead throughout the breaststroke. Tesone was still ahead by a second heading into the final 50. But Owen had the stronger kick, out-splitting Tesone 25.12 to 26.24 over the last 25 yards and touched first to defend his crown and set a new pool record, 3:41.08. Tesone set a new school record with a 3:41.41 for silver. Also in the A-final, freshman Zach Harting was fifth in 3:47.86, and Ryan Massey touched seventh in 3:48.8.

In the 100-fly, UNC's Sam Lewis built an early lead and never looked back, posting a time of 45.77, a NCAA A-cut, with the fastest first and second 50s in the field. Notre Dame's Justin Plaschka, had the second fastest back half of the race and dropped .71 from prelims to take second in 46.37. Last year's champion, Pedro Coutinho, took third in 46.46 for the Cardinals. Teammate Josh Quallen was fifth in 46.8 and David Boland sixth in 47.00.

In the 200 freestyle, NC State Simonas Bilis won, going 1:32.46. Trevor Carroll was the Cardinals' top finisher, touching fourth in 1:33.52. Matthias Lindenbauer was right behind in fifth with a 1:34.98. In the B-final, Jonathan Zoucha touched second with a 1:36.32 and Max Grodecki was sixth in 1:37.24.

In the 100-breast, NC State's Derek Hren, last year's runner-up won, finishing in 52.27 which was just .01 ahead of Virginia Tech's Brandon. Louisville's Carlos Claverie, took the bronze in 52.41. In the B Final, Louisville native Todd Owen finished seventh in 54.56 and Brennen Berger was eighth in 54.71.

Louisville's Grigory Tarasevich had the fastest split in the second half of 100 back, touching in 45.28, almost a second faster than his winning time from last year and set a new school record and got an NCAA A-cut. Aaron Greene touched third in the B-final in 47.62 and Ryan Massey was 6th in 47.71. Nick Hasemann touched seventh in the C-final in 48.31.

The Louisville 400 medley relay squad took gold in the event for the second straight year and booked a new school record of 3:04.90 set by Grigory Tarasevich (45.81), Carlos Claverie (51.97), Pedro Coutinho (45.45), and a Trevor Carroll anchor of 41.67.

The 2016 ACC Men's Swimming Championships resume Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries in the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, and the 200 butterfly. The finals for those events, in addition to the final heat of the 1650 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay begin at 6 p.m.

For more details on today's results, visit the ACC blog at http://theacc.co/SD16recap0226.