Miami Making History on Second Day at ACC Championships
Feb. 17, 2011
Complete Day Two Results | Complete Day Two Results (PDF) 
Atlanta, Ga. – University of Miami junior Carrie Dragland finished in second place on the 1-meter springboard and teammate Kelsi Hall turned in a school record in the 50 freestyle on Thursday evening, helping keep the Hurricanes in fourth place at the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships inside the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center.
After putting Miami in its highest opening-day position ever for the ACC Championships on Wednesday, the `Canes swimmers/divers continued making history for UMiami on Thursday. With 159 points and a fourth place showing after the second day of competition, swimming head coach Christie Shefchunas and diving head coach Randy Ableman have combined to put the `Canes in their highest position ever, once again, on the second day of action.
Junior diver Carrie Dragland scored 329.10 in the finals of the 1-meter event to hurl herself into a second place finish behind defending ACC 1-meter champ Abby Johnston of Duke. Miami freshman Lindsay Lester placed fourth (302.05) and redshirt senior Brittany Viola was fifth (299.10). Fellow freshman Thea Vock completed the UM scoring in eighth place (275.75), catapulting the UM team score with a combined effort of 58 points.
In the swimming lanes, junior transfer Kelsi Hall registered a fifth place time of 22.59 – an NCAA “B” cut performance and new UMiami school record, in the 50-yard freestyle. The Kentucky transfer went 22.60 in the prelims in what is considered one of the fastest pools in the ACC. Teammate and senior Annika Saarnak was third in the consolation finals of the 50 free, touching the wall in 22.98 – also an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
UM’s 200 free relay team completed the evening’s events with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark and new `Canes school record of 1:31.86. The team finished fifth overall in the event, breaking a school record that has stood since 2001 by more than two seconds. The school record-breaking team was comprised of Annika Saarnak, Kelsi Hall, Whitney Stephenson and Lauren Jacoby.
Through two days of events, Virginia leads with 263.5 points. North Carolina is second with 236, followed by Florida State in third with 195 and Miami in fourth with 159. Virginia Tech is fifth with 113.5, while Maryland is sixth with 113 and Duke is seventh with 105. Tied at eighth are Clemson and NC State with 73 each. Georgia Tech (61) and Boston College (30) round out the field at 10th and 11th, respectively.
Championship action continues Friday at 11 a.m. with preliminaries in the 400-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard backstroke. Finals in those events, along with the 400-yard freestyle relay, will begin at 7 p.m. The men’s one-meter diving preliminaries are scheduled for 1 p.m., followed by the finals at 5 p.m. Women’s three-meter diving prelims will start at 2:45 p.m., with the finals at 7 p.m.
Live coverage is available on the ACC Network on TheACC.com Friday, and Saturday beginning at 7 p.m. Follow all the 2011 Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships action on the official championship website, http://www.theacc.com/championships/11-swimming-diving-championship.html.
For more information on the University of Miami swimming & diving team, please log on to HurricaneSports.com. Once there, you will find up-to-date news, stats and information regarding the Hurricanes swimming & diving program.
You can keep up-to-date with all UM Athletics via twitter at Twitter.com/HurricaneSports. You can also become a fan of the ‘Canes on Facebook at Facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes.
