BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Virginia Tech men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams competed in their first home meet on Wednesday at War Memorial Pool, falling to top-ranked conference rival, Virginia. The Cavalier men posted a 177-123 victory over the H₂Okies, while the UVa women earned a 180-120 victory.

Mikey McDonald, Charlie Higgins and Jonathan Huss led the Tech men with first-place finishes while Sarah Milton, Natalie West and Erika Hajnal earned titles for the women. The men’s 200 medley relay team and the women’s 800 free relay team also notched top finishes.

“Our men’s team came out swinging today,” said the H₂Okies head coach Ned Skinner. “Going 1-3 in the first relay [200 medley relay], 1-2 in the 100 back and finishing first in the 100 breast really put us in a good position to begin with. Virginia showed why they are the dominant team in the ACC today; they raced hard and cheered hard. They are a very strong team.”

Both the men and women showed a strong beginning, placing first and second, respectively, in the 200 medley relay to open the meet. Higgins, Huss, Gregory Mahon and Richard Ulatowski teamed up to post the winning time of 1:31.46 and earn 11 points. Steffi Drechsel, Sarah Losinger, Abby Barney and Emily Ferguson raced for the women, securing a second-place spot.

Higgins and Stephen Hawkins led in the 100 backstroke, placing first and second, respectively, with only two-hundredths of a second between them, while Huss added a victory in the 100 breast (56.81). The Tech men finished 2-3-4 in both the 200 butterfly and 50 freestyle. However, Virginia first- and second-place finishes in the 100 free, 200 breast, 500 free and 400 IM helped propel the UVa men to victory.

Gregory Mahon and Karl Botha placed second and third, respectively, in the 100 butterfly with times of 50.50 and 50.58. Botha finished second in the 50 freestyle (21.22).

Erika Hajnal led the way in the women’s 400 IM (4:23.22), setting a new record time for War Memorial Pool. Hajnal also placed second in the 1650 freestyle event (16:41.20), while Sara Shapiro added a second-place finish in the 200 backstroke (2:04.70). Shapiro, Kelly deMarrais, Addie Carne and Lauren Ritter led the women’s 800 freestyle relay team to victory, winning with a time of 7:37.71, also posting a new best time for War Memorial Pool.

The Tech women were strong in the freestyle events as Emily Ferguson posted two top-three finishes in the 50 (23.78) and 100 (52.00) free events, and Kelly deMarrais added a second-place finish in the 200 free.

The Hokies excelled in the diving events, sweeping both UVa squads in the one- and three-meter events. Mikey McDonald took the titles in both men’s events, scoring 392.40 points in the three-meter and 376.65 points in the one-meter. Freshman Logan Shinholser added two second-place performances, and Daniel Martin added a third- and fourth-place finish in the three-meter and one-meter, respectively.

The women earned the top six spots in the one-meter and five of the top six in the three-meter. Sarah Milton (282.75), Sara Mokhtari (280.05) and Carissa Santora (273.08) placed 1-2-3 in the one-meter, while Natalie West took first in the three-meter with a school-record performance, scoring 322.50 points. Mokhtari and Santora qualified for the NCAA Zones.

“Our divers were completely dominant tonight,” said head diving coach Ron Piemonte. “Sweeping the women’s events and the men’s three-meter event, and finishing 1-2-4 in the men’s one-meter is a great accomplishment for us and is very exciting from a diving standpoint. Today we had two freshmen qualify for NCAA Zones, so now in just two meets we already have a good group who have qualified. I’m very proud of that.”

Both Hokie squads fall to 1-2 on the season.

“There is still so much for us to learn after today,” Skinner added. “Now, we look to move forward and prepare for the other strong teams we will face, such as Penn State, Kentucky and Duke.”

The H₂Okie squads will have some time to rest before their next home meet, when they will host Penn State on Oct. 31 at 1 p.m.