November 13, 2010
H2Okies finish second at No. 9/11 Virginia
Hajnal led the Hokies with two titles, NCAA B cuts

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia Tech swimming and diving teams finished out their weekend in Charlottesville with a pair of second-place finishes. The Cavaliers came out on top in both competitions, while Princeton finished third. The No. 11 Virginia men earned 939.5 points, followed by No. 23 Tech with 718 and No. 25 Princeton with 478.5. The No. 11 Lady Cavaliers earned 968 points, followed by a 619.5-point effort from the Lady H2Okies and a 567.5-point score for the Lady Tigers. The H2Okies earned eight individual titles in the meet, winning all four diving events, and Erika Hajnal earned two swimming titles for the women with NCAA B cut qualifying times.

The H2Okies held onto their number-two spot from the first day in both competitions. Trey Stewart picked up the first H2Okie title of the morning, winning the 200-yard butterfly in 1:51.09. Matt Baumler came in right behind him at 1:51.58, and Gregory Mahon finished fourth with a 1:52.95.

Erika Hajnal followed Friday morning’s 400 IM title with a first-place finish in the 1650 freestyle. Hajnal swam it in a B-cut time of 16:35.67 to qualify for the NCAAs in her third event of the season. In addition to her two titles, Hajnal finished third in the 500 free, swimming a 4:49.37, and fourth in the 200 butterfly (2:03.77).

For the men’s team, Matt Baumler and Ryne Francis both had two finishes in the top three. Baumler placed in both butterfly events, taking second in the 200 and third in the 100. Ryne Francis earned a silver medal in the 100 backstroke shortly after taking third in the 50 free. Francis also swam the third leg of the second-place 200 free relay effort.

On the women’s side, Keri Sink had a strong outing, earning a medal in both breaststroke events. Sink came in second in the 100 (1:04.69) and followed with a third-place finish in the 200 (2:20.32).

The H2Okies return to action on Thursday, when they head to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama in the Volunteer Invitational on Nov. 18-20.

For updates on Virginia Tech swimming & diving, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_SwimDive).

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