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Virginia Captures ACC Men's Swimming & Diving Championships

Feb 25, 2001

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The University of Virginia men's swimming and diving team won its third consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Saturday (Feb. 24) at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. The Cavaliers' 883.5 points were the most all-time at an ACC Championship meet, breaking the record set by North Carolina in 1991 with 852. Virginia won 13 of 20 events en route to its first-place finish, including all the swimming events on the last day of competition. North Carolina finished second in the team standings for the second straight year with 594.5 points, 289 behind the Cavaliers. Georgia Tech was third with 434.5 points, while Florida State finished fourth with 401.5. Clemson (360), N. C. State (346.5), Maryland (397.5) and Duke (141) rounded out the team scores.

Virginia's Ian Prichard-who won the meet's most valuable swimmer award-swam away with the night's first event, the 1650-yard freestyle, shattering the ACC meet, ACC conference and UVa pool and school record times by finishing in 14:51.70. Prichard's 1000-meter split time of 9:01.03 also set an ACC conference record at that distance, and his total time bettered the NCAA automatic qualifying time of 15:06.92 by more than 15 second. Georgia Tech's Shilo Ayalon (14:58.27) finished second, followed by UVa's Jamie Grimes (14:58.45) and Dan DeMarco (15:06.83). All three swimmers also met the NCAA "A" qualifying standard.

In the night's second event, the 200-yard backstroke, the Cavaliers finished 1-2, as Luke Wagner won his second event of the championship, capturing the 200-yard back title in 1:44.64. Wagner set the UVa pool record in the preliminaries with a time of 1:44.25, which also bettered the NCAA automatic qualifying time. His teammate Chris Mousetis finished a second behind him in 1:45.60, followed by Scott Lenyk of Georgia Tech (1:47.93).

The Cavaliers also captured the third event of the night as Luke Anderson won the 100-yard free in a pool-record time of 43.65. Florida State's Greg Main-Baille came in second at 44.03, while Virginia's Adam Kerpelman took the bronze with a time of 44.81. Kerpelman just out-touched teammate Troy Johnson, who swam 44.82 to take fourth.

UVa's Gary Marshall continued the Cavaliers' solid final-night showing, winning the 200-yard breaststroke in an ACC meet record time of 156.42. Marshall's time also bettered the NCAA automatic qualifying standard, as did the second-place finisher, Sean Quinn of North Carolina (1:57.82). Georgia Tech's Tomonori Tsuji finished third with a time of 1:58.46.

Daniel Zurowski gave Virginia its fifth win in five events by out-touching North Carolina State's Tim Haley in the 200-yard butterfly. Zurowski finished the race in 1:47.35, while Haley touched in 1:47.46. The Cavaliers' Michael Fuller came in third in a time of 1:48.25.

Florida State's Josh Edelman won his second title of the Championships by taking the 3-meter title with a score of 550.80. Stephen Krebs of North Carolina was second (533.15) while Joe Piorkowski from Virginia was the bronze medalist with a score of 486.60.

Edelman was named the Diver of the Meet by virtue of his sweeping the diving titles, becoming only the second diver since 1993 to win both events in an ACC Championship meet. Prichard, the meet's most valuable swimmer, won two individual events (500 free, 1650 free)-with ACC record times in both-and was a member of the 800 free relay championship team.

The Cavaliers won the final event of the Championships, the 400-yard free relay, with a pool record of 2:55.60. With the title, Virginia swept the relay events at the 2001 ACC Championships and won all of the swimming events on the final day of competition. The Cavalier quartet of Luke Anderson, Jonathan Haag, Adam Kerpelman, and Troy Johnson clinched the relay sweep for Virginia. FSU finished second (258.32) while Maryland was third (258.69).