Pumputis Leads Day 2 with Silver at ACC’s

Thursday Results | Friday Heat Sheet

GREENSBORO, N.C. – For the second time this week and sixth time in his career, junior Caio Pumputis made the podium as he took silver in the 200 IM on Thursday night of the ACC Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

“Today was another good day for us,” said Toni M. and Richard L. Bergmark Swimming and Diving head coach Courtney Shealy Hart. “It was great to see lifetime-best swims out of Dylan Scott as a freshman and Corben Miles in the 50 free. Our guys battled hard in the 200 free relay and got the second-fastest time in school history and the fastest since 2009, which is terrific, and I’m proud of Christian leading that off with a lifetime-best split.”

Shealy Hart continued, “Today was capped by Caio reaching the podium and I thought he did a great job as he continues to work toward NCAAs and Olympic trials. As we look toward tomorrow, the guys know they have to come out and take advantage of opportunities afforded to us by our hard work in the mornings and we’re looking forward to getting back out there.”

Pumputis swam hard to second place, getting edged out by just 0.04 seconds, swimming a 1:43.13 – good for an NCAA B qualifying time and below the average time invited to 2019 NCAAs.

https://twitter.com/GTSwimDive/status/1233195720385159168

Then in the 50 free C final, Corben Miles swam a career-best 19.56 (NCAA B qualifying time) to finish second in the heat, 18^th overall. Following him was another career-best performance as freshman Dylan Scott touched the wall sixth in the C final of the 500 free (22^nd overall), swimming a NCAA B qualifying time of 4:21.87.

Finishing the night, the 200 free relay team of Christian Ferraro, Austin Daniel, Kyle Barone and Miles swam a 1:18.15 to finish eighth – the time good enough for second-best in program history and the fastest since 2009. Ferraro’s opening 50 free leg ignited the race as he turned in a personal-best 19.79.

The Yellow Jackets return on Friday, March 28 as the ACC Men’s Championships continue. Prelims are slated to begin at 10 a.m. with finals following at 6 p.m. Finals are broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.

Post-Meet Quotes

Caio Pumputis

On 200 IM silver medal performance and outlook on second half of ACCs:

“I got the silver medal today, but I know I can do better than that. I got gold last year in that event. I have two more events left in the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke. Team-wise, we are looking good, however, we lost some points today. We can do better as a team. Tomorrow we need to keep the energy up and get as many points as possible.”

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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