The cold temperatures and snow on the ground yesterday did not chill the heated atmosphere at the Aquatic & Fitness Center last night. Day one of the 2001 Men's ACC Swimming and Diving Championships ended with Virginia in the lead after six events with 256.5 points. North Carolina is in second place with 211 points and Florida State rounds out the top three with 142.5.
Cavalier freshmen Jonathan Haag and Luke Anderson, junior Matt Lee and senior Troy Johnson gave the Cavaliers their first win of the evening in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1 minute, 20.20 seconds. Florida State and North Carolina came in second and third, respectively.
Virginia freshman Ian Prichard shined in the next event when he won the 500 free. His winning time of 4:16.32 seconds broke his own ACC and pool records that he set in preliminaries earlier in the day. Prichard's first place swim, which he described as "awesome", also gave him an NCAA qualifying time.
Prichard had "a spectacular first season," Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said. He "has a "brilliant future in long-distance swimming."
Virginia senior Jamie Grimes touched third in the 500 free behind Prichard and North Carolina's Yuri Suguiyama.
Clemson took first place in the 200 individual medley when junior Matt Wilson touched just ahead of North Carolina's Chris Helin. Virginia sophomore Guy Yimsomruay finished third, though he finished first in the preliminary. Cavaliers Gary Marshall and Luke Wagner finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Florida State senior Greg Main-Baillie took the 50 free in 20 seconds. Finishing a close second was Anderson, and Haag placed sixth in the event.
The Cavalier 400 medley relay team rounded out a winning evening for Virginia. In an extremely tight race, Cavalier senior captain Troy Johnson took the lead after the last turn to beat out teams from Florida State and North Carolina. Juniors Chris Mousetis and Matt Lee and sophomore Jonathan Baird joined Johnson to win with a time of 3:15.64 seconds.
The youngest athletes at the championships dominated the one-meter diving competition. Florida State freshman Josh Edelman won the event, and Clemson sophomore Craig Thomas placed second. Sophomore Stephen Krebs of North Carolina took third. Virginia junior Joe Piorkowski placed fifth in the event.
The championships continue today at the AFC with preliminaries at 11 a.m. and finals at 7 p.m.
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