As the Duke women swimming and diving teams and the men’s diving team closed the ACC Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center Saturday, they popped more than a few swims.
During the four-day meet, the women’s team set 13 program records and finished seventh in final team standings—two spots above last year. The men’s diving squad also featured the most decorated diver in the history of the conference: Junior Nick McCrory, who earned the Most Valuable Male Diver recognition for the third time in his career this weekend.
“We had an absolutely terrific weekend, obviously breaking 13 school records speaks to the kind of performance we were having all weekend,” head coach David Colella said. “We had a number of NCAA provisional times, and things that we can build on as we go into the future. And we’ve got a great recruiting class coming in next year, and a lot of people are returning, so we’re pretty excited about the performances and equally excited about the future.”
For junior Christine Wixted, the magic number was two. The Colorado native broke two school records in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke with two silver medal finishes, and she earned two All-ACC accolades during the meet. Beyond her individual accomplishments, Wixted also helped the Blue Devils earn two school records in relays.
Wixted, alongside junior Lauren Weaver and freshmen Kathryn Eckhart and Chelsea Ye, broke a school record in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:21.43. The relay team also broke the school record in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:30.56.
Weaver took All-ACC accolades for her third-place—and also school-record setting—performance in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.27. She also broke the school record for the 100 freestyle twice during the weekend, with times of 50.20 and 50.18.
Sophomore Megan McCarroll collected program records in the 100 backstroke and two relays. She started off the 200-medley relay, which also included Eckhart, Wixted and Weaver, which ended with a record-setting time of 1:39.80. McCarroll and Weaver, with senior Emily Barber and sophomore Ali Horn, also set a school record in the 400 medley relay.
Freshman Kiera Molloy broke the school record for the 400 individual medley twice with times of 4:20.53 and 4:19.76. Molloy was on the 800 freestyle relay with junior Kelly Hagerty, Horn and Ye, which grabbed another school record with a time of 7:22.12.
On the men’s side, McCrory became the first male diver to earn a sweep of three diving crowns in the men’s platform competition. He also dove for first-place finishes in the 1- and 3-meter springboard, bringing him up to a total of seven ACC diving crowns.
“Nick McCrory sweeping the boards is the first time ever in ACC history that any diver has done that… [and] has more individual titles for any diver in ACC history,” Colella said. “It’s obviously great to have someone like Nick be back with the program. We missed him last year, and it was a nice way to get a good start on the coming week.”
The Blue Devil men’s swimming team will return to Greensboro Wednesday for the Men’s ACC Championships.
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