More School Records Fall on Final Day of ACC Meet

Saturday, February 28

Atlanta, Ga.

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Duke University

Day Four at Men's ACC Championship

More School Records Fall on Final Day of ACC Meet

2/28/2015 11:45:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

By: Duke Sports Information

ATLANTA – The final day of the 2015 ACC Men's Swimming and Diving Championship at Georgia Tech's Aquatic Center saw the Blue Devils register school records in four more events to conclude the four-day meet in strong fashion. Sophomore Peter Kropp reached the championship final in the 200-yard breaststroke and three Duke rookies shined in the mile to highlight the last day of action in Atlanta.

The squad received outstanding contributions from the trio of freshmen in the mile Saturday afternoon. Matt Johnson kicked off the session by going nearly six seconds under the previous program record in the event at 15:17.88. He broke the Blue Devils' 1,000 freestyle record in the process (9:16.58) and surpassed the NCAA provisional standard while finishing 13th overall. Alex Peña was also under the previous school record at the 1,000-yard mark (9:18.42) and clocked a mile time of 15:27.63 for an NCAA 'B' cut and the third-fastest mark in Duke history, while Marco Hosfeld moved up to seventh on the all-time performance list with a 15:45.55 swim.

Kropp advanced to a championship final for the second consecutive evening, posting the third-fastest time of the morning in the 200 breaststroke. He broke former Blue Devil Hunter Knight's program record during preliminaries at 1:55.34, and went even faster in the 'A' final, touching fourth at 1:55.05 to lower his own record.

Three Blue Devils reached finals in the 200 butterfly, led by sophomore Michael Miller, who won the consolation final with a 1:44.77 showing. That time broke his own school record of 1:45.18, set at last year's ACC Championship, and represented an NCAA 'B' cut. Junior Kenny Ng and sophomore Kaz Takabayashi competed in the bonus final, placing 20th and 21st, respectively. Ng went a career-best 1:46.71 in preliminaries to rank second all-time at Duke and Takabayashi dropped time from his morning performance for a career-best in the final at 1:47.43, good for the fourth-best mark on the program's all-time top-10.

In the 200 backstroke, sophomore Bradley Cline took third in the bonus final at 1:45.84. He also surpassed the NCAA provisional standard while scoring for Duke in his third individual event of the meet.

Senior Stefan Knight, junior David Armstrong, Miller and sophomore James Peek capped the meet with a strong effort in the 400 freestyle relay, combining for the second-fastest time in program history at 2:56.14 in an eighth-place finish.

At the conclusion of the conference championship, the Blue Devils were ninth out of 12 teams with a total score of 435 points. NC State captured its first team title since 1992 with 1,331 points, while ACC newcomer Louisville was second (1,178.5), Virginia Tech third (1,123), North Carolina fourth (1,062.5) and Notre Dame fifth (675).

Over the course of the four days of action, Duke swimmers broke school records in 11 events and garnered one podium finish as Takabayashi, Kropp, Armstrong and Peek took second in the 200 medley relay. Their time of 1:25.03 solidified the group a trip to next month's NCAA Championship in Iowa City, Iowa.

Top Duke Finishers by Event:
Men's 1,650-Yard Freestyle: Matt Johnson (13th), 15:17.88
Men's 200-Yard Backstroke: Bradley Cline (19th), 1:45.84
Men's 100-Yard Freestyle: James Peek (28th), 44.47
Men's 200-Yard Breaststroke: Peter Kropp (4th), 1:55.05
Men's 200-Yard Butterfly: Michael Miller (9th), 1:44.77
Men's 400-Yard Freestyle Relay: Stefan Knight, David Armstrong, Michael Miller, James Peek (8th), 2:56.14

School Records Broken During 2015 ACC Championship:

500 Free	Matt Johnson	4:26.32/4:24.29
1,000 Free	Matt Johnson	9:16.58
1,650 Free	Matt Johnson	15:17.88
100 Back	James Peek	47.94
200 Breast	Peter Kropp	1:55.34/1:55.05
200 Fly	Michael Miller	1:44.77
200 IM	Michael Miller	1:45.33/1:45.26
400 IM	Michael Miller	3:45.53
800 Free Relay	Miller, Cline, Bigot, Peña	6:27.07
200 Medley Relay	Takabayashi, Kropp, Armstrong, Peek	1:25.03
400 Medley Relay	Takabayashi, Kropp, Armstrong, Peek	3:11.71