GREENSBORO, N.C. – Georgia Tech divers Camryn Hidalgo & Ruben Lechuga collected the Yellow Jackets first medals of the 2021 ACC Diving & Women’s Swimming Championships on Wednesday evening at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Both divers had bronze performances at day one, with Hidalgo placing third in the women’s 3m event, while Lechuga finished third in the men’s 1m event.
Hidalgo ended with a score of 347.90 to earn her fourth collegiate career medal at ACCs. She also had a score of 355.75 during the preliminary round, good for an Olympic Trials qualifying score.
“Ruben and Camryn finished where they should have based on the level of competition,” said head diving coach John Ames. “Camryn had the ability to finish higher, but the field of competition was really stacked towards the top. It can be hard to perform as well as she did and finish third, but I think she is good with the performance she had.”
Lechuga grabbed Techs’ first medal at ACC championships in the 1m event with a score of 375.45. His final score was over 30 points higher than his second-place finish in the 1m at last year’s conference championships.
“Ruben was solid,” Ames said. “He missed a dive in prelims but fought back. He did really well in the finals and I was pleased with his effort.”
Senior women’s diver Paige Gohr joined Hidalgo in the 3m and had her highest finish ever at ACCs, tallying up a score of 271.75 to place 12th during the preliminary round.
“I was extremely happy with Paige,” Ames added. “She had her best ever finish at ACCs as a senior and I am proud of her.”
On the women’s swimming end of things, the Jackets finished sixth in the 800 free relay backed by the efforts of Brooke Switzer, Morgan Johnson, Kyrsten Davis and Arianna Sakellaris. The quartet clocked in at 7:12.81, making it the fifth fastest mark in school history in that event. Switzer posted a time of 1:45.62 during her leg of the relay, giving her an NCAA ‘B’ cut.
At the conclusion of day one the Yellow Jacket women are in three-way tie for sixth-place with Louisville and Miami at 124 points. Day two of the championships is slotted to begin with preliminaries at 11 a.m. (EST) tomorrow.
Techs’ women’s swimming crew will take on the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free events, while the diving squad will face the women’s 1m event and men’s 3m event.
The entirety of the 2021 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
NOTE: ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) programming is available online via the ESPN app or WatchESPN.com. Viewers must subscribe to a cable/satellite/digital provider that carries the ACC Network to view ACCNX programming.
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