ATLANTA – Duke University freshman Leah Goldman captured the first All-ACC honors of her career to highlight a record-breaking day of action at the 2015 ACC Women's Swimming and Diving Championship at Georgia Tech's Aquatic Center.
Blue Devil swimmers took down four program records and featured an All-ACC performer in the 100-yard butterfly for the second consecutive year on the third day of the conference championship. Goldman broke 2014 graduate Lauren Weaver's 100 butterfly record in Thursday morning's preliminaries with a 52.82 swim, earning a spot in the championship final. The evening session saw the rookie from Burlingame, Calif., go even faster, as she touched at 52.28 to surpass her own school record and garner the bronze medal in the event.
“We're extremely proud of Leah for her accomplishments throughout the meet thus far,” said head coach Dan Colella. “For her to come home the way she did in that last 25 and to finish third and break the school record again was quite impressive. Everybody was very excited for her.”
Freshman Isabella Paez (54.17) and sophomore Maddie Rusch (53.87) joined Goldman in scoring for Duke in the 100 butterfly finals, with Paez finishing 16th overall and Rusch 21st. In addition, Paez posted the fifth-fastest mark on the program's all-time top-10 chart in the event preliminaries with a personal-best 53.97 showing.
Earlier in the day, the Blue Devils placed four swimmers in the 400 IM finals. Junior Kiera Molloy turned in personal bests in both sessions while breaking the Duke record in the 'B' final at 4:17.41, which placed her 15th in the field. Freshman Lizzie Devitt tapped the wall 18th in 4:19.20 to rank third in program history and fellow rookie Verity Abel (4:20.74) and sophomore Liza Bragg (4:23.14) were just behind in 19th and 20th, respectively.
“We got tonight off to a really great start, having the four girls in the 400 IM,” Colella said. “They were able to score a number of points. We're very thrilled for Kiera and the work she's put in, and to have that pay off. Her last couple years going into ACCs, she's had a variety of obstacles that didn't allow her to perform at her highest level. She came into this year's meet healthy and we saw the results of that tonight.”
Sophomore Brittany Friese added a fourth school record in the 200 freestyle 'C' final, registering a time of 1:48.85 to shave over five-tenths of a second off of her morning swim and finish 20th in the conference.
“Brittany has been performing really well,” Colella said. “With every swim she seems to get stronger and better. Tonight's 200 free was a great race for her. I know she wanted that record really badly and she went out and got it.”
Fellow sophomore Jessie Sutherland advanced to the 'C' final in the 100 backstroke, coming in 24th at 55.88.
The Blue Devils' 400 medley relay of Sutherland, sophomore Ashleigh Shanley, Goldman and Rusch combined for a mark of 3:32.29 to take ninth in the final event of the evening.
The Duke women sit in 10th place in the team standings (325 points) with one full day of swimming and diving remaining in Atlanta. North Carolina leads the conference with a team score of 862 points, with Virginia in second (839.5) and Virginia Tech in third (664.5).
Saturday's events include preliminaries and finals of the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and women's and men's platform diving. The final day of competition will also feature the 1,650 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay.
Top Duke Finishers by Event:
Women's 400-Yard Individual Medley: Kiera Molloy (15th), 4:17.41
Women's 100-Yard Butterfly: Leah Goldman (3rd), 52.28
Women's 200-Yard Freestyle: Brittany Friese (20th), 1:48.85
Women's 100-Yard Breaststroke: Ashleigh Shanley (26th), 1:03.87
Women's 100-Yard Backstroke: Jessie Sutherland (24th), 55.88
Women's 400-Yard Medley Relay: Jessie Sutherland, Ashleigh Shanley, Leah Goldman, Maddie Rusch (9th), 3:43.29
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