The Virginia Tech men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened the 2017-18 season strong as the H2Okies defeated Duke and Florida State on Saturday at Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion in Durham, North Carolina.
Tech women defeated No. 23 Florida State, 223.5-129.5 and knocked off No. 20 Duke, 214.0-139.0. On the men’s side, the No. 19 H2Okies downed No. 20 FSU 194.5-158.5 and defeated Duke 209.0-144.0.
“We are very pleased with our results this weekend,” said head coach Ned Skinner. “The energy on deck was constant and high and our team really responded to the challenge again today with impressive performances in the pool and on the boards. Reka Gyorgy reminded us why she is an All-American and Danielle Griggs has really emerged as an elite swimmer on our team.”
The Tech women opened Saturday with a third place finish in the 200yd medley relay behind swims from Klaudia Nazieblo, Kelly Henry, Maggie Gruber and Adriana Grabski with a time of 1:42.45. The Hokies followed up with a two, three finish in the 1000yd freestyle as Grace Kowal (10:04.37) and Jenna Beattie (10:16.45) claimed the spots, respectively.
Grabski took third in the 50yd freestyle (23.59) and was followed by a one, two finish from Emily Meilus (55.15) and Nazieblo (55.17) in the 100yd backstroke. Henry claimed third in the 200yd breaststroke with a time of 2:18.79.
The Hokies then had their biggest event of the day, sweeping the top-three spots in the 200yd freestyle as Reka Gyorgy (1:50.45), Danielle Griggs (1:51.12) and Grabski (1:52.34) finished within seconds of each other.
Gruber and Nazieblo claimed two, three in the 100yd fly and Gyorgy took the top spot in the 400yd IM.
Tech rounded out the day with the victory in the 400yd freestyle relay, defeating FSU by .4 seconds with swims from Grabski, Gruber, Abigail Andruisin and Griggs.
Ashlynn Peters took third place in the 1m diving with a score of 269.45 while Ashley Buchter finished just back with a score of 266.95 in fourth.
“Justin Edwards loomed strong for us today and Lane Stone was outstanding as was Michael Craddock,” said Skinner. “We plan to build on this momentum through our home opener next Friday.”
Tech opened the men’s competition with a second place finish in the 200yd medley relay with a time of 1:29.64 from Jake Lamparella, Norbert Szabo, Harrison Pierce and Ian Ho.
Lane Stone and Michael Craddock turned in a one-two finish in the 1,000yd freestyle with times of 9:20.51 and 9:22.58, respectively. Ho followed up with a second place finish in the 50yd free (20.31) while Lamparella took third in the 100yd backstroke (49.43).
The H2Okies finished one, three in the 200yd breaststroke with Justin Edwards taking the top spot (2:02.19) and Simon Shi in third (2:04.95). Stone picked up his second win of the day in the 200yd freestyle with a 1:38.78 time.
Craddock and Samuel Tornqvist led the Hokies to a one, two finish in the 400yd IM with times of 3:59.46 and 4:00.15. Tech rounded out the swimming events finishing third in the 400yd freestyle with Szabo, Thomas Hallock, Pierce and Ho turning in a time of 3:00.45.
In diving, Thomas Shinholser had a score of 369.00 on the 3meter to finish second.
The H2Okies will return to the pool next weekend, hosting Queens, VMI and Liberty women at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20.
–VT Athletics
