Duke Women, Virginia Tech Men Victorious in ACC Swimming Clash
The Duke Blue Devils and Virginia Tech Hokies met in a dual meet Friday afternoon in Christiansburg, Va., as Duke made the three-hour trip north from Durham. Duke’s women won 170-130 as freshman Yixuan Chang swept the 1000, 200 and 500 freestyle after the team opened with an impressive effort in the 200 medley relay. On the men’s side, Virginia Tech dominated and placed first in every single event, winning by a final score 209-88.
Full results for the meet are available here.
Read the full press release from Duke:
The Duke swimming and diving team split meets with Virginia Tech on Friday at Christiansburg Natatorium to open the 2021-22 season. The 24th-ranked Duke women topped No. 18 Virginia Tech, 170-130, while the men lost to the 12th-ranked Hokies 209-88.
“I’m really proud of how we raced today in our season opener,” head coach Dan Colella said. “There were a lot of highlights, but I have to say that Yixuan Chang had a great first collegiate meet. There are always things to build on as a team, but it was a great way to head into the coming weeks of competition.”
Chang started strong in her first collegiate meet as she took first in a trio of races, the 200 (1:48.77), 500 (4:53.48) and 1000 freestyle (10:00.57). Her time in the 1000 freestyle placed seventh in program history while her mark in the 200 freestyle missed the top-10 times by one hundredth of a second.
A trio of Blue Devils were dominant in the breaststroke events. Duke swept the top three spots in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke as sophomore Sarah Foley, junior Kayle Park and sophomore Catherine Belyakov placed first, second and third in both events.
On the boards, freshman Margo O’Meara made program history in her first appearance as a Blue Devil, scoring a school-record 371.48 in one-meter diving. Junior Ali Watson was not far behind, recording a career-best 307.05 for the fifth-highest score in program history. O’Meara also placed second in the three-meter competition, scoring 316.35.
Junior Emma Shuppert took first in the 100 backstroke for the Blue Devils, clocking 54.78. Rookie KyAnh Truong placed second in the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly with times of 23.63 and 56.34, respectively.
Duke opened the meet strong as the women took first and second in the 200 medley relay. Shuppert, Foley, Truong and Hollander placed first in the event with a time of 1:40.40. Sophomore Emily Lenihan, Park, sophomore Aleyna Ozkan and freshman McKenna Smith followed closely, placing second in 1:42.41.
On the men’s side, senior Cole Reznick led the way for Duke, securing 12 points. He placed second in the 100 breaststroke (54.98), 200 breaststroke (2:02.37) and 200 individual medley (1:50.67).
Junior Brendan Driscoll notched two second-place races. He was second in the 500 and 1000 freestyle events, touching in 4:38.88 and 9:32.10, respectively. Classmate Coleman Kredich finished second in the 100 freestyle (45.07) and third in the 50 freestyle (20.68).
Read the full press release from Virginia Tech:
Virginia Tech Swim and Dive hosted its first in-conference meet of the season against Duke on Friday. The Tech men dominated the Blue Devils winning 209-88. The Hokie men’s team won every event from beginning to end, including the two diving events. Noah Zawadzki and Taj Cole had a strong hold on first and second during the 1M and 3M events. The Hokie women fell just shy, losing 130-170.
Head Coach Sergio Lopez Miro
“It was very exciting, as always, racing Duke. They do a really good job. I’m very happy with the results. We won on the guys side but lost the on the girls, but I think what is most important is to understand is what we’ve done and where we are with training. It has been a pretty good period of training and we still have a couple more weeks before the invitational, so we are going to keep going hard. Next week we are going to compete against Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana so it’s going to be very interesting. Today was a very good warm up for our men’s and women’s teams. We’ll just keep working.”
Head Diving Coach Rio Ramirez
“The divers were incredible for this time in the season. A lot of great things came through that we have been practicing. They competed on their next level, achieving great things. Freshmen are stepping up and upperclassmen are showing the way and leading. We have great leadership in the group and I’m really excited. I’m looking forward to keep training hard, competing and giving them the chance to get to know me as we make progress. It’s been great.”
Tech Women
Emma Atkinson had a strong swim in the 200 backstroke earning a time of 1:58.10 which puts her in the Top 25 for college swimming. She also contributed to a relay win in the 400 freestyle relay as the second leg. She was accompanied by teammates Sarah Shackelford, Caroline Bentz and Rose Pouch finishing with a time of 3:25.12.
Shackelford had a strong performance in the freestyle events. She started the afternoon with a first place finish in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.06. After the break, she was right back in the water for the 100 freestyle where she earned another first place finish (50.45). To close out the day, Shackelford contributed to a relay win in the 400 freestyle relay as the lead-off.
Bentz showed endurance late in the meet. After winning the 200 individual medley (2:02.39), she quickly turned around to help her team win the 400 freestyle relay as the third leg. Earlier in the day, she came in second place for the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.36.
Tech Men
Antani Ivanov dominated in the water. Not only did he win both of his events, but he broke into the Top 25, twice. To start out the afternoon he swam in the 1000 freestyle, finishing with a time of 9:14.69. Ivanov’s second event was the 200 butterfly, where he finished with a time of 1:45.83. AJ Pouch earned his spot in the nation’s best after his performance in the 200 breaststroke. He finished with a time of 1:58.53 putting him 22nd.
Carles Coll Marti and Youssef Ramadan also broke into the Top 25, multiple times. Coll Marti finished second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:37.03. He earned his second Top 25 spot after winning the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.02. In the final event of the night, Coll Marti’s lead off leg of the 400 freestyle relay (43.80) earned him a spot in the Top 5. Ramadan earned his first Top 25 spot in the 100 butterfly with a time of 47.30. In the 100 freestyle, he earned Top 5 with a time of 43.87.
Blake Manoff had an excellent showing, as well. He helped both of his relays finish first. He started out the day in the 200 medley relay as the first leg followed by Coll Marti, Ramadan and Thomas Hallock (1:26.30). His other relay was the 400 freestyle relay where he served as the last leg with Coll Marti, Ramadan and Hallock (2:57.78). He placed second in the 200 back (1:46.97) behind teammate Sam Tornqvist. In his 200 freestyle, Manoff broke into the Top 25 with a time of 1:36.15. In addition, Manoff takes the ninth-place position in Virginia Tech’s Top 10.
The Hokies men’s relays both placed in the Top 25 of the nation. At the beginning of the competition, the 200 medley relay with Manoff, Coll Marti, Ramadan and Hallock secured sixth in the country. The 400 freestyle relay with the same swimmers, Coll Marti, Ramadan, Hallock and Manoff, earned 13th in the nation.