Feb. 20, 2009

• Friday Finals Results
• Friday Prelims Results
• 2009 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships Site

COLLEGE PARK, MD. – The Virginia Cavaliers earned a title hat trick, taking three individual ACC Championships in the third night of competition at the 2009 ACC Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday night at Maryland’s Eppley Recreation Center. Virginia also struck relay gold in the 400 medley relay in the session. Clemson, North Carolina and Duke also earned individual titles on Friday night. Virginia leads the way with 581 points, followed by North Carolina (384) and Virginia Tech (312).

Virginia’s Claire Crippen kicked off the evening by breaking the league record in the 400 IM with a first place time of 4:08.78 and defending her title from a year ago. She bested the ACC record mark which she posted earlier in the day. North Carolina’s Laura Moriarty earned second while Virginia Tech’s Erika Hajnal took third. The Wahoos also won the 100 fly when Megan Evo touched the wall in 52.60. In Friday’s prelims, Evo set the meet record at 52.48 seconds. Maryland’s Jen Vogel finished second while Virginia Tech’s Sara Smith earned All-ACC honors in third.

Clemson’s Michelle Parkhurst successfully defended her title in the 200 Free with a time of 1:45.11. In the prelims, she posted a new league record to secure the top seed entering the finals. Virginia’s Jenna Harris finished second while North Carolina’s Ketura Harvey took third place. North Carolina freshman Layne Brodie won her first career league title in the 100 breast with an ACC record breaking time of 1:00.02. Virginia took the other two spots on the podium with Katherine McDonnell in second and Ellie Freeman in third.

Mei Christensen, from Virginia, swam an NCAA “A” cut in the 100 Back to take first place in 52.02. She was followed by teammate Laruen Smart and Maryland’s Annie Fittin. Christensen broke the league record in the prelims at 51.79 seconds.

On the 3-meter board, Duke’s Abby Johnson secured the Blue Devils’ first ever league title on the boards. Her score of 414.45 bested Miami’s duo of Jenna Dryer and Brittany Viola which finished in second and third, respectively. Johnson’s win also ended Viola’s string of four consecutive diving event victories and Miami’s run of six straight titles.

In the final event of the evening, Virginia won its fourth relay of the Championships in the 400 medley relay in a time of 3:33.49. Virginia Tech’s squad finished second and North Carolina finished third. Virginia’s record breaking time bested the previous league mark by three and a half seconds. Overall, the ACC record has been broken in 11 of the 12 swimming events.

The ACC Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships will continue on Saturday with a full day of action. Preliminary swimming rounds begin at 11 a.m. and finals starting at 7 p.m. Diving platform events will take place at nearby Montgomery Aquatic Center. The Men’s event will start at 11 a.m. while the Women’s competition commences at 2:25 p.m. Live video streaming of the final evening of events will start at 7 p.m. on ACC Select. For more information, please visit www.ACCSelect.com.