Johnston Wins ACC Title On Three-Meter Board

Friday, February 20

College Park, Md.

All Day

Duke University

Day Three

Diver Enters Speedo USA Spring Championships

Johnston Wins ACC Title On Three-Meter Board

2/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving

By: Duke Sports Information

COLLEGE PARK, Md. ? Freshman diver Abby Johnston became Duke's first ACC champion on the boards, as she won the three-meter tonight at the 2009 ACC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships at the University of Maryland's Eppley Recreation Center.

Johnston's score of 414.45 gave her the conference title and a new school record, as she broke her own Duke record by 19 points. Fellow freshman Jessica Lyden placed fourth in the finals behind her teammate, scoring a personal-best 344.25.

On the men's side, Cody Kolodziejzyk was sixth in the one-meter with a score of 339.05.

In the team scoring after three days, Duke remains in seventh place with a total of 217, but made up significant ground on its ACC rivals. Duke is just five points off Clemson and eight behind Maryland with one day left.

“We did another great job today ? we are obviously so proud of our diving team and of [diving coach] Drew Johansen and what he has done with that program in such a short period of time.”

“We had an outstanding morning today [during prelims], we did our job, and came back in a lot swims this evening in the finals. We will see where we finish up tomorrow night, but it's been exciting not only for us but for the whole conference. Everyone is swimming well ? it may be the fastest meet for the ACC ever.”

In the pool, junior Shannon Beall took sixth in the championship final of the 100 butterfly in a school record and personal-best 53.66. In the 100 breaststroke, junior Meredith Bannon placed sixth in 1:02.35, as she also broke the school record.

The Blue Devils 400 medley relay team of Meghan Dwyer, Bannon, Steffi Niessl, and Beall was sixth in a Duke-record 3:40.97, more than three seconds faster than the record set last year.

Tomorrow's prelims begin at 11 a.m. once again, while the finals kick off at 7 p.m. on the final night. Saturday's events feature the 1650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, and 400 free relay in the pool, while the divers are set for the men's and women's platform. Keep up with the meet with live stats page, as well as the live coverage on ACC Select at the attached links.

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