MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University men’s and women’s swimming and diving team finished the final day of the Big 12 vs. ACC Weekend today against Virginia Tech at the WVU Natatorium.

 

Today, the WVU men were edged by the Hokies, 155-145, while the women lost 173.5-118.5. The Mountaineers were coming off a win by the women and a loss by the men to Georgia Tech in the Big 12 vs. ACC Weekend opener last night.

 

“They responded very well,” coach Vic Riggs said. “I talked to them after about defining moments, which they had today. I think they did a great job. Today we talked with the men’s team about how we responded to last night’s close loss. We got a little fractured during last night’s meet, and some of the things we felt were important, we needed to do today. We did more than that today, I like how they responded.”

 

Against the Hokies on Saturday, the men won nine of the 16 events, and the women won four.

 

Two WVU pool records were set by WVU’s men’s swimming squad. The first was set by Nate Carr in the men’s 200 individual medley with a time of 1:49.81. The second was set in the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay with Andrew Marsh, Carr, Ross Glegg and Frank Csonka, touching the wall in 3:01.62.

 

“For us to be breaking pool records this early in the season, is great for us,” said Riggs. “We need to continue doing what we’ve been working on, and that’s taking things week-by-week, day-by-day. I would say the biggest change that I’ve noticed is the togetherness as far as our desire to succeed.”

 

The Mountaineers started off with relay competition. The WVU men won the 200-yard medley relay with Marsh, Chase Williams, Max Spencer and Glegg, finishing in 1:31.17. The WVU women placed second with Courtney Miller, Natalie Johnsen, Marah Bieger and Jaimee Gillmore (1:46.99).

 

In the women’s 1,000-yard freestyle, WVU Emma Mitchell placed second, touching the wall in 10:27.63. For the men, Lucas Fasulo finished in second place with a time of 9:34.38, and James Koval placed fifth (9:55.63).

 

WVU took three top-five finishes in the men’s 200-yard freestyle. Carr won the race with a time of 1:40.61, followed by Glegg in second (1:42.25) and Drew Damich in fifth (1:44.38). The WVU women saw Amelie Currat, place second (1:54.55) and Sydnee Karam in fifth (1:56.07).  

 

Courtney Miller swam to a second-place finish in the women’s 100 back (57.12), followed by her sister Maggie Miller in fourth (58:03) and Taylor Gill in fifth (59.33). For the men’s 100 back, Marsh won, touching the wall in 48.29.

 

Bieger finished third in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke in 1:07.23, for a career-best time, and Emma Harris placed fourth (1:08.14). For the WVU men’s squad, Spencer won the 100 breast, touching the wall in 56.10. Aidan Fumagalli tied for second (57.89) with Tech’s Brandon Fiala.

 

The WVU women’s team earned three of the top-five finishes in the 200 fly. Johnsen took second with a time of 2:06.08, Baldus placed fourth (2:08.57) and Mackenzie Braden was fifth (2:09.72).

 

On the men’s side of the 200 butterfly, Williams finished in second place (1:53.78) and Nathan Howells placed fifth in 1:54.62.

 

Glegg finished strong, winning the men’s 100-yard free in 45.95, followed by Csonka in third (46.80). In the women’s 100 free, Mitchell swam a career-best time of 53.81 and placed fifth.

 

On the springboard, the Mountaineers fell short to the Hokies. The men’s 3-meter event was secured by VT’s diver Logan Stevens, as he set a WVU pool record with a 397.40. VT’s Ashlynn Peters recorded a mark of 312.45 on the women’s 1-meter board, also a WVU pool record.

 

Alex Obendorf placed fourth on the men’s 3 meter (320.40), and Logan McHenry placed fifth (308.30) to lead WVU. On the women’s 1 meter, Lindsay Schmidt placed second (265.60) and Julia Calcut was third (242.55).

 

“Overall this team has an incredible amount of fight in them right now,” said Riggs. ”I think we’re moving in the right direction. We’ll get the opportunity next week to see where we are again, and we’ll get ready for that. I’m very pleased, and I think if we take it one day at a time, we’ll be able to do something pretty cool this year.”

 

Following this weekend, the Mountaineers will host their fourth home meet of the season, with the Big 12 vs. Big East Weekend on Friday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. Butler, Seton Hall and Xavier will be the Mountaineers’ competition.