Canes Impress on Day 2 at ACCs in Atlanta
ATLANTA – The University of Miami women’s swimming & diving team continued its momentum at the 2017 ACC Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center Tuesday.
“I think we’re certainly showing a lot of improvement on the clock – we’re one of the hottest teams in that regard,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said. “I’m happy to see a lot of improvement. We have to keep scoring the points.”
Led by some strong performances in between the lanes and the third diving medal in the last two days, the Hurricanes women find themselves in eighth in a loaded ACC field with 228 points.
“We have some teams knocking on the door behind us, and that’s where you want to be when you’re in a conference championship,” Kershaw said. “You want to be in that position where it’s about the team first and the individual second. Our team is getting into that and I think they’re performing well because they know it’s for the good of the Hurricanes, and that’s what’s good for them as well.”
Given the nature of Tuesday’s events, and the promise of Wednesday, Kershaw is encouraged by the early results.
“We were rolling pretty good on Day 2,” he said. “Today, the events on the swimming end, don’t line up quite as strong for us as the other days. Considering how well we did today, it’s promising for what’s ahead.”
Two juniors led the way on the second day of competition: diver Wally Layland and swimmer Julie Suarez.
Layland, who finished first in preliminaries with a score of 313.05, finished the 1-meter in second place with a score of 308.50 to pick up Miami’s third silver medal. Sophomore Marcela Marić, who finished second in the 3-meter on Monday, finished fourth with 287.85 points.
“I couldn’t be more proud of how Wally performed,” head diving coach Randy Ableman said. “She has the heart of a warrior.”
Suarez shaved six seconds to set a personal-best time of 4:47.41 in the 500-yard freestyle and was among the Hurricanes’ top swimmers.
“Certainly a highlight today, as far as individually, was Julie, who had a huge drop in the 500,” Kershaw said. “She made it to the finals tonight and had another great swim. That really rallied the team.”
Other impressive performances included an NCAA “B” cut time by Christina Leander in the 200 IM (2:01.32) and an equal distinction from freshman Iliana Oikonomou in the 50 free (22.95).
Senior Cameron Davis delivered another strong showing in the 500 free (4:52.88), while senior Angela Algee was strong on the 200 free relay, which finished in 1:31.91.
“We had some swims I was pretty proud of this morning,” Kershaw said. “We put some NCAA ‘B’ cut times on the board. That was great to see and an important step in the whole process. Now as we turn into tomorrow, we start looking at, ‘Let’s get those people to the meet so they can swim those ‘B’ cuts.”
The 2017 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships resume Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., with preliminaries for the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke. The finals for those events, in addition to the men’s 3-meter diving and the 400 medley relay, will get underway at 6 p.m.
