Fiala wins silver on day two of the ACC Championships

Three H2Okies place in the A final of the 200 IM

February 28, 2017

ATLANTA – Senior Brandon Fiala placed second in the 200 IM, the highest finish of three H₂Okies in the A final of the event, to help pace the Virginia Tech men’s swimmers on the second day of the ACC Championship.

Tech currently sits in third place in the team standings with a score of 384. NC State leads the way after day two with 471 team points.

“Today was our strongest first day of individual racing we have had in three years,” head coach Ned Skinner said. “Our men are so close knit and they feed off each other. Ian Ho, Harrison Pierce and Hassler Carroll are some new names emerging for us and we are set up for a great day tomorrow.”

Fiala’s 200 IM finals time was the the fifth fastest in the country this season and an NCAA automatic qualifying time. Fiala swam a 1:42.09 while senior Robert Owen placed sixth with a time of 1:44.63 and sophomore Norbert Szabo finished seventh with a 1:44.80.

In the 50 free, junior Ian Ho, who swam the sixth fastest time of the prelims with a 19.58, finished eighth in the A final with a time of 19.71. Junior Harrison Pierce competed in the C final of the 50 free and nearly got his time under 20 seconds, swimming a 20.16.

Freshman Hassler Carroll, who came into the C final of the 500 free with a prelim time of 2:24.18, swam a season-best time of 4:23.39. Sophomore Michael Craddock swam a 4:20.14 after a final push in lane one to also improve on his prelim time of 4:23.27.

The H₂Okies’ 200 free relay swam a 1:18.69 to place sixth and earn 48 team points.

Tomorrow’s prelims start at 10 a.m. with the prelims of the 400 IM. The evening session will be streamed on WatchESPN via the ACC Digital Network.

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