Cavaliers Now

Virginia Wins Three More Titles on Friday at ACC Swim & Dive Championships

The UVA women maintained their lead and the Virginia men joined the party with an ACC title on Friday as well

Matt Newton

Friday at the 2023 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships saw the Cavaliers win three ACC titles, including a clean sweep in both the women's and men's 100-yard breaststroke events, and the Virginia women took one step closer to claiming their fourth-consecutive ACC Championship entering the final day of the meet. 

UVA junior Abby Harter began the fourth night of competition with a third-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly. Harter was one of three swimmers named Abby to own the podium in the 200-yard butterfly, as her time of 1:54.51 wasn't fast enough to beat Louisville's Abby Hay (2nd in 1:53.51) or NC State's Abby Arens (1st in 1:52.91). 

NC State also took the ACC title in the 100-yard backstroke, as Katharine Berkoff won her fourth-consecutive championship in the event, beating UVA's Reilly Tiltmann, and the rest of the field, by nearly two seconds (49.45). Tiltmann took second place in 51.20, while Virginia freshman Carly Novelline was just off the podium in fourth place with a time of 51.89. 

Virginia went 1-3 in the 100-yard breaststroke, with Alex Walsh winning her second individual ACC title of the week, finishing first in 57.64. NC State's Heather MacCausland took second in 58.22 with UVA's Emma Weber behind her in third place, finishing in 58.61. 

Finally, Virginia wrapped up the night with yet another record-breaking relay performance. UVA's team of Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Kate Douglass, and Aimee Canny won the ACC title by nearly five seconds over the rest of the field. The Cavaliers' time of 3:21.80 broke their own NCAA and US Open record, which they originally set at the 2022 ACC Championships and then matched at the 2022 NCAA Championships. 

With NC State's strong performance on Friday, winning two ACC titles and adding two runner-up finishes, the Wolfpack (942 points) narrowed UVA's lead from 213.5 to 186 points entering the final night of competition. Still, Virginia maintains a healthy lead with 1,128 team points and is in good position to make it four ACC Championships in a row on Saturday night. 

ACC Women's Swim & Dive Championships Standings (after day four):

  1. Virginia - 1128
  2. NC State - 942
  3. Louisville - 822.5
  4. North Carolina - 687
  5. Duke - 574
  6. Virginia Tech - 468
  7. Florida State - 461
  8. Notre Dame - 408
  9. Georgia Tech - 308
  10. Miami - 299
  11. Pittsburgh - 249.5
  12. Boston College - 137

On the men's side, Virginia had a solid night on Friday and moved up one spot to fourth place in the team standings.

Virginia's Josh Fong earned a podium finish in the 200-yard butterfly, finishing third with a time of 1:42.45, just behind NC State's Noah Bowers and Aiden Hayes. Matt Brownstead swam the 100-yard backstroke in 45.35 to notch a second-place finish behind NC State's Kacper Stokowski, and UVA's Max Edwards placed fifth in 45.73. 

The Cavaliers completed the sweep in the 100-yard breaststroke as Noah Nichols won the ACC title with a time of 50.82, a time that broke the meet and ACC record. Ethan Malone placed seventh in the event. 

To conclude the night, Virginia's team of Jack Aikins, Noah Nichols, Tim Connery, and Matt Brownstead secured a second-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay. NC State won the title by more than two seconds, but the Cavaliers finished runner-up by a margin of less than a tenth of a second over third-place Louisville. 

That result thrust Virginia into fourth place in the ACC standings with 659 team points. There's no catching the Wolfpack, who are running away with the ACC Championship with 1,163 points, but the Cavaliers are now trailing third-place Virginia Tech (688 points) by just 29 points. If UVA can chase down the Hokies on the final day of competition on Saturday, the Hoos will secure a point for Virginia in the 2022-2023 Commonwealth Clash. 

ACC Men's Swim & Dive Championships Standings (after day four): 

  1. NC State - 1163
  2. Louisville - 727.5
  3. Virginia Tech - 688
  4. Virginia - 659
  5. Notre Dame - 585.5
  6. Florida State - 474
  7. North Carolina - 459
  8. Pittsburgh - 438.5
  9. Georgia Tech - 335
  10. Duke - 228
  11. Miami - 150
  12. Boston College - 123

The final day of the 2023 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships includes the 1650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, men's platform diving, and the 400-yard freestyle relay. 

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Published
Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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