Men?s 200 Medley Relay Punches Ticket to NCAAs

Wednesday, February 24

Greensboro, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at Men's ACC Championship

Swimmers Wrap Up Phillips 66 National Championships

Men?s 200 Medley Relay Punches Ticket to NCAAs

2/24/2016 5:50:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Live Results Watch Thursday's Finals on ESPN3 Results

By: Duke Sports Information

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Duke men's swimming and diving team qualified its 200-yard medley relay to the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive year on the opening day of action at the 2016 Men's ACC Championship.

After surpassing the automatic standard last season in a second-place finish, junior Kaz Takabayashi, junior Peter Kropp, senior David Armstrong and junior James Peek secured another trip to NCAAs Wednesday. The Blue Devil quartet turned in a mark of 1:25.00 to break its own program record of 1:25.03 and finish under the NCAA 'A' cut time of 1:25.30.

“It definitely wasn't the perfect race for any of us,” Peek said. “But we still went the fastest we've ever been, still broke the school record, still made the 'A' cut. The fact that we made the time and still had all those things happen to us, that is fantastic, so we're really happy.”

The 1:25.00 clocking placed Duke fourth out of 11 relays, with the top four squads all coming in under the 'A' standard.

“They always want more – they medaled last year,” said head coach Dan Colella of the group. “But we're excited to get the 'A' standard. I think what they were probably upset about was there were some things that occurred during the race that if we clean them up, we'll be a lot faster. The great news is we made NCAAs and broke the school record and we know we can be a lot faster come Atlanta.”

In the 800 freestyle relay, junior Michael Miller, junior Bradley Cline, freshman Sean Tate and sophomore Nick Bigot combined for a season-best time of 6:31.06 to take eighth. Miller posted a split of 1:37.31 as the leadoff leg, good for the Blue Devils' fastest 200 freestyle mark of the season.

Duke also picked up points Wednesday as a result of last week's 1-meter springboard diving competition. Freshman Evan Moretti finished 18th in preliminaries with an award of 292.10 while fellow rookie Josh Owsiany also scored in 20th place (284.75). Freshman Lee Christensen totaled 258.70 points to come in 28th.

“It was a great start, things to build on and we're just excited to come away with what we did in the 200 medley and the 800 free relay,” Colella said.

Through three events, the Duke men are tied for eighth place with 108 points.

Thursday features a full day of competition in Greensboro, beginning with preliminaries at 10 a.m. The 6 p.m. finals session will be broadcast on ESPN3. Events on tap include the 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle and the 200 freestyle relay.

Team Scores:

1) Virginia Tech 169, 2) North Carolina 149, 3) Virginia 146, 4) Georgia Tech 131, 5) Louisville 128, 5) NC State 128, 7) Pitt 117, 8) Duke 108, 8) Notre Dame 108, 10) Florida State 84, 11) Boston College 70, 12) Miami 32

Top Duke Finishers by Event:

Men's 200-Yard Medley Relay: Kaz Takabayashi, Peter Kropp, David Armstrong, James Peek (4th), 1:25.00

Men's 1-Meter Diving: Evan Moretti (18th), 292.10

Men's 800-Yard Freestyle Relay: Michael Miller, Bradley Cline, Sean Tate, Nick Bigot (8th), 6:31.06

#GoDuke