Hokie ClubATLANTA - The Virginia Tech women’s swimming & diving team moved into third place at day three of the ACC Championships on Friday at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. Logan Stevens won a silver medal and Klaudia Nazieblo and Fiona Donnelly won bronze medals to highlight the Tech success.
The H2Okies have a team score of 664.5 after three days of competition. They lead Louisville by a slim margin of 3.5 points and trail Virginia by 175 points.
“It was a total team-swimming effort today,” head coach Ned Skinner said. “We had 16 opportunities to score in swimming tonight, and we converted on 15 of them. I’m so proud of our women and the fight they showed today. With no women’s diving, we knew we had to bring the best in the pool, and they delivered, especially in the morning. The proof is in the results with three medals for the ladies and one from Logan Stevens in the men’s diving.”
Donnelly won her first career medal in the first race of finals - the 400 IM - when she broke her own school record with a time of 4:08. 30 for the bronze medal. After sitting in third for most of the race, Donnelly held off a late push from UNC’s Emma Nunn to earn Tech their first swimming medal of the championships. Laura Schwartz also finished 11th (4:16.25) in the event.
In the 100 fly, Maggie Gruber finished seventh, clocking in an NCAA B-Cut time of 53.27.
In the 200 free, Jessica Hespeler earned fifth place after touching the wall in 1:46.09. Gabrielle Bishop wasn’t far behind her, taking tenth with a time of 1:46.95.
Two H2Okies tied for fourth in the 100 breast when Weronika Paluszek and Mackenzie Stewart both hit the wall after 1:00.36. Alyssa Bodin finished in 11th with a time of 1:01.59.
Tech got on the podium again in the 100 back event when Nazieblo finished third with an NCAA Invite and school-record time of 52.53. Holly Harper was just behind her, taking sixth-place after a time of 53.23.
The swimming concluded with the 400 medley relay, where Nazieblo, Paluszek, Gruber and Hespeler won the bronze medal with a time of 3:34.75. After a rock-solid day that included three bronze medals and nine top-10 finishes for the women’s swimmers, Tech bumped into third place in the team standings heading into the final day of competition.
In one of the most surprising stories of the week, Stevens won the silver medal in the men’s 3-meter with a score of 384.75. Throughout the regular season, Stevens never finished higher than third-place in any diving event, but he performed on the big stage to earn the Tech men some valuable team points.
“What a great story this is,” Skinner said. “Basically a walk-on, Logan showed up to Virginia Tech and developed into the elite diver that he is. That’s what it is all about in the sport of swimming & diving.”
Three other Tech divers barely missed out of the evening finals, but still placed in the top 12 to give Tech quality team points. Kyle Butts finished ninth with a score of 352.75, Thomas Shinholser finished tenth with a score of 351.10 and Mauro Castro-Silva finished 12th with a score of 336.10.
The final day of the ACC Championships begin Saturday at 10 a.m. with the prelims for the 200 back, the 100 free, the 200 breast, the 200 fly, the 1650 free and the men’s and women’s platform diving. Finals begin at 6 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN3. Live results will available here.
There is no charge for admission to the 2015 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships. Parking is available for $10 for a single day or for $36 for a four-day pass. Details on parking can be found here.
Please visit the official championship website for all championship information including a full event schedule and live results.