Canes Shine on Final Day of ACC Championships
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Miami Hurricanes swimming & diving team saved its best for last, finishing off the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships with its most successful day of action at the Greensboro Aquatic Center Saturday.
A night after the Miami women’s divers put on a show in the 3-meter springboard, redshirt sophomore David Dinsmore and freshman Zach Cooper dominated the platform at the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships, capturing the top two finishes.
Two more school records fell in between the lanes Saturday, as Miami’s younger swimmers impressed once again on the final day of competition.
“There was a lot that we accomplished and I think a lot that we will accomplish in the future. I think this really set us up for that,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said. “We set five school records and those were some pretty good records that were broken. We only broke one last year, so five this year was impressive.”
Dinsmore, the reigning NCAA national champion in the platform, defended his gold medal at conference championships with a dazzling performance to capture his second straight title.
Dinsmore finished with an eye-popping final score of 500.10 points, while Cooper was behind him with 429.50.
“I felt pretty solid throughout the night,” Dinsmore said. “I missed my second dive but kept my head in the right place and stayed consistent after that.”
The gold medal was the second for the Hurricanes on the week, after redshirt freshman Alicia Blagg won the 3-meter springboard Friday night. Senior Wally Layland came in second to capture silver, marking the second straight night Miami earned the top two finishes on the boards.
“It’s always an amazing experience representing the University of Miami,” Dinsmore said. “I hope this momentum continues for Zach and me throughout NCAA Zone qualifiers and hopefully to the NCAA Championships.”
Freshman Annie Kyriakidis set the school record in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:12.01 in the morning preliminaries. She posted an NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 2:12.14 in the night’s finals, taking seventh in the “A” final of one of her signature events.
“We ended up with nine NCAA ‘B’ cuts, which is pretty good,” Kershaw said. “I think when the season is all over, we had, up to this point, 44 lifetime bests, so there was definitely a lot of success and a lot of development throughout the season.”
Kyriakidis became the first freshman to qualify for the “A” final of an event at the conference championships since 2013.
“It certainly shows the brightness of our future when all of our points on the swimming end were scored by one sophomore and otherwise, all freshmen,” Kershaw said. “Certainly good things ahead.”
Kershaw said that it wasn’t only the younger swimmers who made a difference, though.
“I was proud of how the seniors led us through all of this. Jess Hurley battled the whole way and finished with her signature 200 butterfly today,” he said. “Unfortunately Julie Suarez was unable to compete for most of the season due to injury, but it was amazing to see how she stuck with the team and was able to transition to a new role. I’m extremely proud of them two.”
Sophomore Manon Viguier also set the Miami mark in the 100 freestyle. Viguier, who represented her native France at the World University Games this past summer, set the school record with a time of 49.06 in the 400 freestyle relay.
“An exciting night to finish with. We had Manon in the 100 free and we’ve been shooting at that record for quite a while now,” he said. “She didn’t quite get it in the individual event and then led off the relay and got our school record. I know that meant a lot to the entire team, I know everyone was really excited about it. I think her teammates may have been even more excited than she was, and she was pretty excited.”
