Feb. 22, 2014
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The final day of the ACC Swimming & Diving Championship was highlighted by a pair of rookie divers making the finals and collecting top-eight finishes on the platform. Bradley Homza broke a school record by placing sixth and Madison Young was eighth.
The Georgia Tech women, which were in 10th place over the final three days, held that position and completed the championship with 311.5 points. The 55 points accumulated by Homza this week will be applied to the Jackets’ total for next week’s ACC men’s championship in Greensboro.
Young scored 262.35 points to qualify for the finals, and followed that up with a 262.50 in the finals to secure eighth place and add 22 points to the Jackets cause.
Homza posted a score of 410.20 in Saturday’s prelims, which marked a school record and the fifth-best in the preliminary round. He followed that by scoring 366.90 points in the finals and locking up a sixth-place showing in the championship. Tech’s previous platform record was 375.90 points scored by Chris Khosravi in 2011.
Sophomore Sarah Williford put down a time of 16:40.15 in the 1,650 free that was good for a 10th-place finish, while junior Kate Woolbright also scored points with her finish in 21st (17:10.31). That time for Williford was a career-best and stands as the second-fastest in Georgia Tech history.
Erika Staskevicius and Kate Brandus also advanced to Saturday’s finals in the pool. The sophomore Staskevicius posted a 23rd-place finish in the 100 free in a time of 51.03, while Brandus, a junior captain, put down a time of 2:03.65 in the 200 fly to finish 24th.
The final event of the championship – the 400 free relay – saw the Yellow Jackets’ team of Staskevicius, Chiara Ruiu, Katherine Clark and Hailey White claim ninth place and score 40 points. The relay posted a time of 3:24.44.
Virginia won its seventh consecutive women’s swimming & diving championship with 1,433 points. North Carolina, Florida State, NC State and Virginia Tech rounded out the top five.
The 2014 ACC Men’s Swimming Championship will be held Wednesday, Feb. 26 through Saturday, March 1 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. A video livestream of the action be available via theACC.com on Thursday and Friday beginning at 7:15 p.m., and Saturday, beginning at 7 p.m. Dean Linke will call the play-by-play, with Warren Perry adding analysis.
All Championship information, including a full event schedule and live results, can be found at the official championship website, http://theacc.co/SDchamp. Fans can also get updates by following along on Twitter, @ACCSwimDive.
