McCrory Sets ACC All-Time Mark, Johnston Second Title

Friday, February 19

Chapel Hill, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day Three

At 17, McCrory Dives Headfirst Into World Competition

McCrory Sets ACC All-Time Mark, Johnston Second Title

2/19/2010 11:00:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – To say that diving was Duke's strength on day three of the Women's ACC Swimming and Diving Championships would be a severe understatement; the Blue Devil divers could do no wrong.

The performances of Nick McCrory and Abby Johnston were the talk of the evening. In the one-meter competition, McCrory was in the zone. He won the conference title by 68.25 points, shattered the pool record by 122.65 points, erased the previous ACC Championship meet record and established a new ACC all-time best.

Johnston took McCrory's lead and had a career-night of her own. In two nights of competition, Johnston won as many conference titles, taking the three-meter crown on Friday with a score of 439.70. While the numbers may have been a bit more impressive for McCrory, Johnston was substantially more dominating of her opponents. The second-place finisher ended up 123.75 points behind the Duke's sophomore who had the title won before even attempting her final dive. En route to her second individual championship of the meet, Johnston broke her own meet and pool records by 25.25 points.

And although the spotlight shined brightest on the divers, the Duke swimmers turned in some impressive performances of their own. In the evening's first event, the 400 IM, freshman Haley Read took 18th place in a time of 4:22.34 while junior Kaitlin Ray followed close behind in 4:22.88 for 20th place.

Shannon Beall recorded Duke's best swimming result of the 2010 ACC Championships so far with a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly. Her time of 53.79 was good enough for an NCAA 'B' cut and Duke's fastest time of the year in the event. Senior Elizabeth Bellew also qualified for finals in the event, taking 14th place in a time of 55.27.

In the 100 breaststroke, senior Meredith Bannon had her best race of the season, taking seventh in the conference in a 'B' cut time of 1:02.51. Freshman Emily Barber swam to a ninth-place finish in 1:03.13.

Emily Kintz and Meghan Dwyer represented the Blue Devils in the 100 backstroke. Kintz finished in 23rd with a time of 56.59 while Dwyer posted a 56.74 for 24th place.

The Blue Devil quartet of Cara Vogel, Meredith Bannon, Shannon Beall, and Kirstie Jeffrey closed out the night for Duke in the 400 medley relay. Vogel paced the corps with a 56.64 split in the 100 backstroke and helped the Blue Devils secure seventh place with a time of 3:43.24.

Live video and commentary of the championships will be available Thursday through Saturday from 7-9 p.m. at http://www.theacc.com/championships/10-sd-championship.html. Live results can also be found at this site.

GoDuke.com will also be updated at the end of each day of competition with results, standing, and meet highlights.