Sprinters Dominate on Day 2 of ACC Championships

Thursday, February 25

Chapel Hill, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day Two

Swimming Heads to Clemson for Season Finale

Sprinters Dominate on Day 2 of ACC Championships

2/26/2010 1:00:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Thursday's session of the ACC Championships was arguably the best collective performance of the Duke men in the Colella-era. The evening was highlighted by several top-ten finishes which helped the Blue Devils jump into sixth place by the conclusion of Day 2 with 123 points. Duke trails Virginia Tech by just three points for fifth and has placed a substantial gap between itself and seventh-place Georgia Tech.

Freshman Matt Carder had the best swim of his young career on Thursday. Swimming the 500 freestyle, Carder posted a time of 4:30.51 in prelims, missing the school record by just tenths of a second. He duplicated the performance in finals with a time of 4:30.72 which was good enough for a 21st-place finish. Fellow freshman Alex Harmon also competed in the event. Harmon missed qualifying for finals but registered his best time and Duke's second-best time of the season with a 4:35.43.

While the 500 freestyle featured two Duke freshmen, the 200 IM was all about experience. Swimming the event for the Blue Devils were seniors David Hahn and Eric Ness. Hahn's prelims time of 1:51.13 was Duke's best time of the year and qualified him for finals. Hahn wrapped up Thursday evening with a 23rd-place finish in the event. Ness missed the finals but took 40th place in a season-best time of 1:53.92.

Head coach Dan Colella best summed up the highlight of the night, however. “The guys we were real proud of tonight were our sprinters; six of the 24 swimmers in the [50 freestyle] finals were from Duke.”

Nick Garvy led the way for the Blue Devils in the 50 free with a time of 20.03, which was an NCAA 'B' cut and sixth place in the conference. Garvy was just two-tenths off of his own school record in the event. Freshman Ben Hwang was 11th after prelims, excluding him from the top heat at finals. He blew out the second finals heat and even posted a faster time than one of the swimmers in the top heat. Hwang ultimately finished in ninth place with a 'B' standard and season-best time of 20.15. The other four Blue Devils competing in finals were Murillo Adrados (17th, 20.47), Sean Smith (20th, 20.67), Andy Osterland (22nd, 20.77), and Ben Tuben (23rd, 20.91).

The Blue Devils sprinters closed out the evening in top form. In the 200 freestyle relay, the team of Garvy, Hwang, Booth, and Murillo crushed the previous Duke record with a time of 1:19.67. They finished in fourth place, dropping an elite squad from Virginia Tech and a fast Clemson team. The time was good enough for an NCAA 'B' cut and the fourth place relay finish is among the tops in Duke men's team history.

Things will heat up on Friday as five individual conference titles will go up for grabs. The top Duke contender in the 400 IM will be sophomore Alex Kluge whose in-season time of 4:02.84 was good enough for an 18-seed. Booth and Garvy will compete in the 100 butterfly, entering the meet as the 15- and 16-seeds, respectively. A host of Blue Devils will challenge for the 200 freestyle title led by Smith and Booth. Then, in the 100 breaststroke, it will be Duke's youth which provides the best scoring opportunity. The freshman, Jim Zuponeck, is seeded 17th while David Carlson, Alex Kluge, and David Hahn are all within the top-26 seeds. The final individual event of the evening will be the 100 backstroke. The Blue Devils that figure most prominently in the title contention are Booth and Adrados who are the 25th and 26th seeds, respectively.

Live video and commentary of the championships will be available Thursday through Saturday from 7-9 p.m. at http://www.theacc.com/championships/10-sd-championship.html. Live results can be found at http://www.theacc.com/livestats/m-swim/.

GoDuke.com will also be updated at the end of each day of competition with results, standing, and meet highlights.