Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. -The Virginia Tech swimming and diving teams will host their first dual meets of the season on Friday and Saturday at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center, including their annual Margaret Soulen Gilbert Breast Cancer Awareness meet.
Friday, the team will hold their annual Marget Soulen Gilbert Breast Cancer Awareness meet as the Hokies welcome Queens University (N.C.) and Richmond. Gilbert is a 2001 inductee into the Virginia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame after a stellar swimming career in which she earned All-American honors. She later served as a swimming coach in Georgia, specifically in the suburbs of Atlanta in the area in which she attended high school. Gilbert passed away in 2009 after battling breast cancer.
The Hokeis will face Queens with Richmond on Friday and Gardner-Webb with the University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Saturday. Friday, There will be pink rally towels and t-shirts given out to the first 75 fans in attendance. Saturday, there will be a free children's swimming clinic following the meet on Saturday afternoon. Children are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes prior to changing for the clinic.
Tech opened their 2015-16 regular season last week as they travel to Penn State on Friday and West Virginia Saturday. The men's team went 2-0 on the weekend while the women went 1-1.
Freshman diver Ashlynn Peters made her collegiate debut, winning the 1-meter and 3-meter events at both dual meets hitting four NCAA Zone A qualifying dives. Her performance earned her ACC Women's Diver of the Week. The men's diving team also put in a strong performance at WVU Saturday as they were able to take the top three spots in both the 1-meter dive and the 3-meter. Logan Stevens, Ben Schiesl and Mauro Castro-Silva placed in that order for the Hokies in the 3-meter.
At WVU, The women dominated the the 200-yard backstroke with the trio of Fiona Donnelly, Auriane de Premilhat and Sydney Pesetti taking the top three spots. Donnelly won with a time of 2:02.04. The Hokies also took the top two spots in the 100 and 200-yard breast as Weronika Paluszek and Alyssa Bodin posted times of 2:17.96 and 2:22.31 in the 200. In the 100-yard, Mackenzie Stewart and Kelly Henry finished first and second with times of 1:05.76 and 1:07.17.
At Penn State, Jessica Hespeler won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.75. Klaudia Nazieblo also had a first place finish in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:59.11. Nazieblo wasn’t done yet as she also won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:59.14. Maggie Gruber won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.72.
The meet will begin Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at noon.