Tweet

BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech men’s and women’s swimming teams concluded the first day of competition at the Virginia Tech Invitational Saturday night at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. Two Tech freshmen earned NCAA B-cut times, and multiple swimmers broke personal records in the evening finals to highlight the night.

“I was really excited about the way our non-conference team stepped up today,” head coach Ned Skinner said. “We had a couple of guys - Peter Conzola and Eric Delmonte - make NCAA B-cuts, which bodes really well for our future. Grayson Smith also did well, and seniors Jayme Katis and Emily Ryczek led us in the pool on the women’s side.”

The meet began Saturday morning with preliminary competition before concluding in the evening with the finals. There was no team scoring for the event and no diving competition.

Women’s Meet

To start off the finals competition, Ryczek took second in the 200 free (1:49.63) ahead of Katis, who took sixth (1:50.65), before M.J. Ulrich set a new personal best and grabbed fourth in the 200 breast (2:18.16).

Katie Rogers swam in the 500 free B final a few races later, winning the B final and grabbing ninth place (4:58.62).

In the 200 IM, Tech finished in the second and third spots. Kelly Henry took second with a personal-record time of 2:04.70, and Katis took third (2:04.83).

Men’s Meet

Tech grabbed two one-two finishes in the early portion of the finals. In the 200 breast, Delmonte hit the wall in an NCAA B-cut time of 1:58.72 for a new personal best to take second place, and Brandon Tutty clocked in at 2:00.39 for third, also setting a new personal best.

In the next race - the 100 back - Conzola scored an NCAA B-cut time of 47.96 in his second-place finish, and Smith grabbed third with a personal-record time of 48.57.

Christopher Wang earned himself a sixth-place finish in the 500 free after clocking in at 4:33.65.

Smith added to his third-place finish by winning the 200 IM with an NCAA B-cut time of 1:48.99 ahead of teammate Delmonte, who took third with another personal-record time of 1:53.55.

Action continues tomorrow in the final day of the Virginia Tech Invitational. Preliminary races will begin at 10 a.m. and finals will start at 4 p.m.

Live results can be found here.

For updates on Virginia Tech swimming & diving, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_SwimDive