Blue Devils Kick Off Season at Quad Meet

Friday, October 21

Christiansburg, Va.

5:00 PM

Duke University

Virginia Tech

Blue Devils Kick Off Season at Quad Meet

10/21/2016 8:44:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Team Scores Results

By: Duke Sports Information

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – A number of individual performances highlighted the Duke swimming and diving teams' first day of competition in a season-opening, two-day quad meet hosted by Virginia Tech.

Through one day of action, the Blue Devil men and women lead both West Virginia and William & Mary but trail the Hokies. The Virginia Tech women hold a narrow 86-81 advantage heading into day two, while the Hokie men lead Duke by a 96.5-70.5 margin.

“Everybody was excited to be finally starting the season,” said head coach Dan Colella. “It was a little bit of a letdown not competing a couple of weeks ago. For our first session of this meet, I thought we did a really solid job. We had a lot of great racing going on. From the upperclassmen, we had a lot of in-season best times. We're going to get a good meal tonight, get some sleep and we're going to be a lot better tomorrow.”

Junior Leah Goldman got the Blue Devils started in the individual events, coming from behind to claim the 200-yard IM in 2:01.39, which was under the NCAA provisional standard. Classmate Verity Abel was second in the women's 500 freestyle field, clocking 4:53.28 in her first swim of the season, before seniors Ashleigh Shanley and Peter Kropp swept the 100 breaststroke events. Kropp earned an NCAA 'B' cut at 54.63 while Shanley touched at 1:03.05.

Sophomores Mickayla Hinkle (2:01.33) and Maddie Hess (2:01.34) finished second and third, respectively, to pick up points in the 200 backstroke, while Max St. George was second in the same event on the men's side at 1:48.84. Duke also featured a strong showing in the 100 freestyle, with senior Maddie Rusch winning the women's race (50.36). Freshman Alyssa Marsh was just behind her in second (50.73), and sophomore Yusuke Legard tied for second on the men's side (45.73).

Two more upperclassmen led the way in the 200 butterfly, as junior Isabella Paez dipped under the NCAA provisional standard to place second (1:59.43) and senior Michael Miller was third (1:51.38).

The Blue Devils received a boost in diving, with freshman Nathaniel Hernandez notching a win in his collegiate debut. He turned in an impressive showing to best the field in the men's 1-meter springboard competition with a score of 333.

In the final event of the evening, the quartet of St. George, Kropp, senior Dylan Payne and Legard touched first in the 400 medley relay (3:16.74), while fellow Blue Devils Bradley Cline, Michael Seaberg, Miller and Miles Williams followed suit in second (3:19.04).

Duke resumes action against the Hokies, Mountaineers and the Tribe Saturday in Christiansburg, with events beginning at 11 a.m. Live results can be found on the Meet Mobile app.

Team Scores:
Duke Women 127, William & Mary Women 37
Duke Women 129, West Virginia Women 38
Virginia Tech Women 86, Duke Women 81

Duke Men 116, William & Mary Men 48
Duke Men 138, West Virginia Men 29
Virginia Tech Men 96.5, Duke Men 70.5

Top Duke Finishers by Event:
Women's 200-Yard Freestyle Relay: Maddie Hess, Alyssa Marsh, Jessie Sutherland, Maddie Rusch (2nd), 1:33.58
Men's 200-Yard Freestyle Relay: Dylan Payne, Sean Tate, Eric Strickland, Peter Kropp (4th), 1:24.32