Layland Highlights Day 1 of ACC Championships

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Senior Wally Layland’s fourth-place finish in the 1-meter springboard highlighted Miami’s Day 1 at the 2018 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships Wednesday.

Layland, who qualified for the finals with a 269.50 score in preliminaries, just missed out on a trip to the podium at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Layland finished the event with 292.10 points,  just behind Louisville’s Molly Fears (294.35), who took third.

Redshirt freshman Alicia Blagg (247.30) and junior Marcela Maric (238.65) also scored points for the Hurricanes in the 1-meter.

Making his ACC Championships debut, true freshman diver Zach Cooper finished eighth in the 3-meter springboard event with a finals score of 318.60. He scored 331.90 points in preliminaries to qualify for the finals.

The first swimming event of Day 1 was the 200 medley relay, and the Hurricanes’ entry, comprised of three freshmen and one sophomore – Karolina Hajkova, Annie Kyriakidis, Alaina Skellett and Iliana Oikonomou – finished in 1:40.36.

Miami’s team in the 800 freestyle relay – Kyriakidis along with sophomore Manon Viguier, freshman Sydney Knapp and freshman Carmen San Nicolas – finished in 7:20.35.

Thursday’s morning preliminaries include the women’s 500 freestyle, 200 IM and 50 freestyle, along with the men’s 1-meter springboard.