GREENSBORO, N.C. (theacc.com) – The Virginia women and NC State men captured 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference Swimming and Diving Championship team titles Saturday night at the Greensboro Aquatic Center (GAC) in Greensboro, North Carolina. This marks the fourth straight and 14th title in the last 15 years for the Cavaliers, while the Wolfpack earned their second consecutive crown and eighth in the last nine years.
Virginia's Kate Douglass was named the 2023 ACC Women's Most Valuable Swimmer and North Carolina's Aranza Vazquez earned the 2023 ACC Women's Most Valuable Diver award. Virginia Tech's Youssef Ramadan garnered 2023 ACC Men's Most Valuable Swimmer honors and Miami's Max Flory received the 2023 ACC Men's Most Valuable Diver award.
Saturday's events began with the mile and Deniz Ertan setting two school records for Georgia Tech at the Championship, winning the women’s 1650-yard freestyle in 15:55.77. Maddie Donohoe of Virginia finished in second in 15:59.54 and Liberty Williams of Louisville placed third in 16:03.60.
The NC State men added another podium finish with Will Gallant’s victory in the men’s 1650-yard freestyle, finishing with an NCAA A cut time of 14:34.82. Georgia Tech’s Mert Kilavuz took second in 14:41.50, followed by the Wolfpack’s Ross Dant placing third in 14:45.57.
Kennedy Noble and Emma Muzzy went 1-2 in the women’s 200-yard backstroke for NC State, finishing in 2:50.24 and 2:50.96, respectively. Virginia’s Reilly Tiltmann took third with her time of 2:51.05.
Virginia Tech’s Nico Garcia grabbed first place in the men’s 200-yard backstroke in 1:39.49. Kacper Stokowski of NC State placed second in 1:39.94 and Virginia’s Jack Aikins took third in 1:40.11.
Virginia’s Kate Douglass set another conference and meet record in the women’s 100-yard freestyle with her time of 45.86. She broke teammate Gretchen Walsh’s previous record of 46.05, set at the 2022 ACC Championships. Walsh came in second to Douglass on Saturday, swimming a 46.32, followed by NC State’s Katharine Berkoff in third in 47.02. With Louisville’s Gabi Albiero’s time of 47.06, the top four times earned NCAA A cuts.
Virginia Tech grabbed its second individual gold medal of the night with Youssef Ramadan taking first in the men’s 100-freestyle in 41.33. Matt Brownstead of Virginia placed second (41.72) and Notre Dame’s Chris Guiliano took third (41.85).
UVA's Alex Walsh added another podium finish to her Championships resume, this time taking the gold in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke, touching the wall at 2:03.68. Kaelyn Gridley of Duke took silver in 2:08.37 and Andrea Podmanikova of NC State grabbed the bronze in 2:08.34.
Louisville’s Denis Petrashov set the conference record of 1:50.51 in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke, while Virginia Tech’s Carles Coll Marti placed second in 1:50.90 and Virginia’s Noah Nichols took third in 1:51.97.
Miami’s Max Flory took gold in the men’s platform diving event, scoring 395.60. He is the first men’s diver to sweep all three diving events since Nick McCrory of Duke went back-to-back in 2013 and 2014. Flory’s win on the platform also marks the seventh year in a row a Miami diver finished atop the podium.
Mohamed Farouk took second for the Hurricanes, scoring 390.45, and Virginia Tech’s Noah Zawadski took third with 384.45 points.
The Virginia women's relay team of Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass, Lexi Cuomo and Alex Walsh capped off their showing at the championships by setting another ACC, NCAA, ACC Championship, US Open and American Record, swimming a 3:06.83 in the women's 400-yard freestyle relay. The Cavaliers have won the event four years in a row at the ACC Championships.
Louisville came in second in 3:08.92 followed by NC State in third (3:10.04). Virginia Tech placed fourth in 3:13.62 with all four top times earning NCAA A cuts.
NC State's relay squad of Bartosz Piszczorowicz, Luke Miller, David Curtiss and Noah Henderson took the top spot on the podium in the men's 400-yard freestyle relay, swimming a 2:47.32. Virginia Tech placed second (2:48.06) and Louisville took third (2:48.94).
The top five times of the relay earned NCAA A cuts with Virginia's 2:49.15 and Notre Dame's 2:50.14.
The 2023 Women’s NCAA Championships will be held March 15-18 at the University of Tennessee at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, while the 2023 Men’s NCAA Championships will be held March 22-25 at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at The University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
2023 ACC Women’s Most Valuable Swimmer
Kate Douglass, Virginia
2023 ACC Women’s Most Valuable Diver
Aranza Vazquez, North Carolina
2023 ACC Men’s Most Valuable Swimmer
Youssef Ramadan, Virginia Tech
2023 ACC Men’s Most Valuable Diver
Max Flory, Miami
Women’s Final Standings
1. Virginia, 1536
2. NC State, 1272
3. Louisville, 1077.5
4. North Carolina, 813
5. Duke, 718.5
6. Virginia Tech, 654
7. Florida State, 586
8. Notre Dame, 539
9. Georgia Tech, 388
10. Miami, 382
11. Pitt, 315
12. Boston College, 179
Men’s Final Standings
1. NC State, 1615
2. Virginia Tech, 1008
3. Louisville, 981.5
4. Virginia, 946
5. Notre Dame, 799.5
6. Florida State, 661
7. Pitt, 660.5
8. North Carolina, 514
9. Georgia Tech, 484.5
10. Duke, 321
11. Miami, 210
12. Boston College, 158