Blue Devils Suffer Setbacks to ACC Opponents

Saturday, October 29

Christiansburg, Va.

12:00 PM

Duke University

UNC Wilmington

Blue Devils Suffer Setbacks to ACC Opponents

10/29/2011 8:04:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

By: Duke Sports Information

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. - The Duke men's and women's swimming and diving teams traveled to Virginia Tech Saturday for a tough test against the Hokies, Florida State and UNC Wilmington. The Blue Devil women went 1-2 on the day, posting a victory over the Seahawks, while the men also defeated UNC Wilmington to go 1-2.

The day began with the men's one-meter and women's three-meter diving events. Senior Jessica Lyden started off the meet in winning fashion, taking first on the three-meter board with a personal-best score of 312.60. Lyden also took fifth in the one-meter event later in the event, scoring 267.30. Both of her scores on the day qualified Lyden to the NCAA Zone Diving Championships.

The Blue Devil women got the swimming events underway shortly after, with freshman Megan McCarroll, sophomore Christine Wixted, senior Steffi Niessl and sophomore Lauren Weaver combining for a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay at 1:44.01.

Wixted also shined in her individual events, winning the 100 breast (1:02.05), 200 breast (2:15.95) and the 200 IM (2:05.47). After sharing ACC Women's Swimming and Diving Female Performer of the Week honors last week, Wixted posted times in both the 100 and 200 breast that met NCAA 'B' cut standards.

"Christine made an improvement in the 100 breast from last week, which was once again another great swim," said head coach Dan Colella. "She's obviously off to a great start."

Senior Rose O'Connor continued her strong start to the 2011-12 season with a second-place finish in the 500 free, clocking 4:57.82. McCarroll notched a third-place showing in the 100 back at 2:02.23, while fellow rookie Ali Horn posted a season-best time of 2:05.22 in the 200 fly to grab fourth overall.

The Duke women wrapped up the meet on a positive note, as junior Francesca Tocci, sophomore Kelly Hagerty, Weaver and senior Meghan Dwyer won the 400 free relay with a time of 3:30.23. The Blue Devils picked up their first win of the season, defeating UNC Wilmington, 183-115. However, they were unable to knock off ACC opponents Virginia Tech (146-152) and Florida State (115-179), falling to 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the conference.

On the men's side, Duke recorded a victory over the Seahawks (206-92), but fell to Virginia Tech (98-202) and Florida State (121-177).

After earning ACC Men's Swimming and Diving Performer of the Week as well as Ronald McDonald House Charities Duke Student-Athlete of the Week honors, junior Ben Hwang once again posted a pair of victories in his individual events. Hwang took first in the 50 free in NCAA 'B' cut fashion, clocking 20.21, and also won the 100 free with a mark of 45.51.

Other Blue Devil winners included graduate student Piotr Safronczyk in the 100 breast (56.95) and senior Ben Tuben in the 100 fly with a season-best clocking at 50.19. Sophomore Steven Gasparini posted a second-place finish in the 200 IM at 1:53.60, while sophomore Hunter Knight took second in the 200 breast (2:06.13) and junior Jim Zuponeck was second in the 100 breast (57.01).

Senior Cody Kolodziejzyk led the Duke divers with a fifth-place performance on the one-meter board, scoring a season-best 310.50 to qualify for the NCAA Zones meet. Kolodziejzyk also took fourth in the three-meter event with a score of 332.95, which also met the NCAA Zone Diving standard. Meanwhile, junior Jordan Long took eighth in both events while posting a season-best and NCAA Zone Diving-qualifying score of 321.45 on the three-meter board.

Duke placed third in the 400 free relay and took fourth in the 200 medley relay.

The Blue Devil men now move to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in ACC action after facing three conference opponents in their first two meets of the season.

"We had some mixed results today," Colella said. "I thought we started off a little bit rough in the first half and then the team really buckled down and swam with a lot more heart in the second half of the meet ... I think that just helps us be a better team in the long run."

Duke returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 5 when they travel to Raleigh, N.C. to face Savannah College of Art and Design and ACC opponent NC State. The meet will begin at 11 a.m. at the Wolfpack's Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center.

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