Men's relay teams collect more Duke records at ACCs

The Duke men's swimming team set several records at the ACC Championships that ran from Thursday through Saturday. The relay teams dominated as Duke finished eighth overall in the highly competitive meet in Charlottesville, Va.

"Those records were all at least 10 years old," junior Chris Fleizach said. "The people on the team, the seniors and upperclassmen have been shooting for those records for a long time. To finally get it this year just shows how far we've come recently. We were pretty happy with what we were able to accomplish."

Duke's relay team of Fleizach, sophomore Ryan Spoon, senior Jack Newhouse and freshman Conor O'Brien placed sixth in the 200-yard medley relay Saturday as they established a new Duke record with a time of 1:33.24. The time breaks the 1992 record of 1:33.59. The Blue Devils hit a second consecutive record as the Fleizach, Spoon, Newhouse and O'Brien medley relay team also established a Duke record in the 400-yard medley relay the previous Thursday. Their time of 3:24.16, which qualified for an eighth-place finish, was more than a second faster than the previous record of 3:25.24.

The 200-yard freestyle relay record was set Thursday, by a team composed of O'Brien, Newhouse, sophomore John Samotyj and freshman Trevor Yates. They registered a time of 1:23.80, placing them eighth. The time broke another 1992 record, which was 1:23.90.

O'Brien, with a time of 45.65, placed 10th in the 100-yard freestyle and was the only Duke swimmer who had a top-10 finish. O'Brien also broke his own personal best in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:43.1 and had a 13th-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle, giving him the most points of any Duke swimmer at the meet. Freshman Travis French also turned in a solid performance in the 1,650-yard freestyle, placing 16th with a time of 15:45.73.

"I'm sure some of the other coaches out there are wondering how we managed to get some of these players," Fleizach said. "We're faster than some of the other teams. [O'Brien] tied the best ACC swimmer [in the competition], and that's something that's pretty impressive. UNC doesn't have anyone faster than us in the [200-yard freestyle]."

Virginia finished the championship in first place, leading second-place North Carolina by 289 points. This is the third consecutive ACC championship that the Cavaliers have taken. Their 883.5-point finish is the highest ever at an ACC championship meet, breaking the 852-point record set by North Carolina in 1991. The Cavaliers won 13 of 20 events during the championships and all the swimming events on the last day of competition. North Carolina took second place in the championships for the second consecutive year with 594.5 points. Georgia Tech finished third with 434.5 points, while Florida State finished fourth with 401.5. Duke finished eighth with 141 points.

"The ACC is definitely getting faster," Fleizach said. "The fact that we have done better this year than any of the four years really shows that we've also come a long way. It was a good meet for most everybody; the people who showed up ready to swim really came through."