Week In Review: Behind the Tech women's top five finish at ACCs

Tech broke 10 school records, won five individual medals in Atlanta last week

February 24, 2017

BLACKSBURG – The women’s squad of the Virginia Tech swimming and diving team broke multiple school records and saw four different athletes reach the podium as part of a fifth-place finish at the 2017 ACC Swimming and Diving Championships last week in Atlanta.

A total of 10 new school records were set en route to the H₂Okies surging past ranked foes Notre Dame and Duke on the final day to place in the top five. The women have finished fifth or better at every conference championship since joining the ACC in 2004-05.

"That was a hard fought fifth place team finish. We had to pass three top 25 programs in Duke, Notre Dame, and Florida State to do it,” head coach Ned Skinner said at the conclusion of the competition. “Incredible leadership along with very gifted swimmers and divers is why we excelled. Jess Hespeler and Klaudia Nazieblo were outstanding tonight. The men's divers also did a tremendous job all week and they have set up the men's swimmers for a great meet in a week and a half.”

On the diving side, sophomore Ashlynn Peters started the first day by winning gold in the three-meter event with a score of 365.95. Also scoring for the H₂Okies were redshirt junior Ashley Buchter on three meter and platform and freshman Miranda Eberle on one meter and platform. Sophomore Ben Schiesl was a finalist on one meter on the men’s side and junior Thomas Shinholser and junior Mauro Castro-Silva were finalists on platform. Those performers, along with sophomore Eduardo Castro-Silva and junior Jack Gigliotti, also finished with key high B Final results that added up to the Virginia Tech men being the highest scoring diving program for the seventh year in a row – scoring 194 points.

Here’s a list of all the athletes that reached the podium last week:

Reka Gyorgy: 400 IM, 4:04.97 (Gold)
Ashlynn Peters: Three meter, 365.95 (Gold)
Klaudia Nazieblo: 200 fly, 1:54.80 (Silver)
Jessica Hespeler: 200 free, 1:44.37 (Bronze); 1650 free, 16:05.26 (Silver)

Below is a list of all of the new records that were set:

Jessica Hespeler: 200 free, 1:44.07
Jessica Hespeler: 500 free, 4:39.40
Jessica Hespeler: 1000 free - 9:39.02
Klaudia Nazieblo: 50 back, 24.14
Klaudia Nazieblo: 100 back, 51.86
Klaudia Nazieblo: 200 back, 1:53.04
Reka Gyorgy: 200 IM, 1:57.22
Reka Gyorgy: 400 IM, 4:04.97
200 Medley Relay: Klaudia Nazieblo, Kelly Henry, Fiona Donnelly, Adriana Grabski, 1:38.02
800 Free Relay: Jessica Hespeler, Fiona Donnelly, Adriana Grabski, Klaudia Nazieblo, 7:04.63

Below is a list of where each swimmer finished by event:

500 Free:
Jess Hespeler - 4th
Jenna Beattie - 20th

200 IM:
Reka Gyorgy - 4th
Fiona Donnelly - 6th

400 IM:
Reka Gyorgy - 1st
Fiona Donnelly - 8th
Laura Schwartz - 13th

200 Free:
Jess Hespeler - 3rd
Adriana Grabski - 14th

100 Breast:
Kelly Henry - 13th
Laura Schwartz - 18th

100 Back:
Klaudia Nazieblo - 5th
Chloe Hicks - 11th
Auriane de Premilhat - 24th

200 Back:
Klaudia Nazieblo - 4th
Fiona Donnelly - 8th
Rekay Gyorgy - 9th
Chloe Hicks - 10th

100 Free:
Adriana Grabski - 24th

200 Breast:
Laura Schwartz - 15th
Kelly Henry - 19th
MJ Ulrich - 21st

200 Fly:
Klaudia Nazieblo - 2nd
Leah Rogers - 20th

1650 Free:
Jess Hespeler - 2nd
Grace Kowal - 12th
Jenna Beattie - 18th

The Tech women will be back in action on March 15 for the first day of the NCAA Championship in Indianapolis. The Tech men will kick off their postseason with the men’s ACC Championship from Feb. 13-16. The H₂Okies will also be hosting the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships from March 6-8 at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.

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