Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 4 | March 2019

44 Inside Hokie Sports the process, and he also swam the third leg of that 800 freestyle relay team that came in third. Freshman Antani Ivanov also impressed. Ivanov won a bronze medal in the 200 butterfly (1:41.28), breaking a school record twice—once in the preliminary when he snapped Morgan Latimer’s mark and then again in the final when he broke his own record. He also swam the leadoff leg of the 800 freestyle relay team and the third leg of the 200 medley relay team that swam the fourth-fastest time in school history (1:25.75) Other medalists included steady seniors Norbert Szabo and Ben Schiesl. Szabo finished third in the 200 individual medley (1:43.17), while Schiesl earned a bronze medal in the 1-meter diving event (357.40 points). In addition, Sam Tornqvist swam well, finishing in the top seven in three events (200 backstroke, 200 IM, 400 IM), and Ian Ho came in seventh in the 50 freestyle, while freshman Noah Zawadzki was fifth in the platform diving event. The 400 freestyle relay team of Jake Lamparella, Ho, Thomas Hallock and Stone finished fourth with a time of 2:51.23—good enough to qualify for the NCAA Championships. On the women’s side, the Hokies’ most notable performances came from a couple of swimmers—junior Reka Gyorgy and sophomore Joelle Vereb. Gyorgy, from Ullo, Hungary, came in fourth in the 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 4:41.51 and shaved nearly two seconds off of her preliminary time. The mark places her third all-time at Tech. In addition, Gyorgy finished fifth in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:08.72. Vereb, a sophomore from Williamsburg, Virginia, finished fourth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 48.50 seconds, less than two seconds behind winner Mallory Comerford of Louisville. She just missed a top-five finish in the 100 butterfly, coming in sixth with a time of 52.28—less than a second from earning a bronze medal. Members of both Tech swimming and diving teams now await possible NCAA competition. The NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships will be held March 20-23 and the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships on March 27-30, both in Austin, Texas. C Lane Stone, Norbert Szabo, Ben Schiesl and Antani Ivanov all won bronze medals for the men’s team, while Reka Gyorgy and Joelle Vereb swam well for the women’s team by Jimmy Robertson oaching in his first ACC Swimming and Diving Championships as the Hokies’ head coach in late February, Sergio Lopez Miro went into both the men’s and women’s meets with no expectations. Yet he came away reasonably pleased with what transpired. “Most importantly, it was not about one person or winning, but about supporting one another as best we can,” Lopez Miro said. “They came to Virginia Tech to be Hokies, and they have really bought into the team thought process we have, and it really showed in this meet. We had no expectations of anything, and we just kept pushing to get better every session.” The Tech men’s team finished in fourth place in the team standings with 820.5 points, marking the 12th time that the Hokies have finished in the top five since joining the league for the 2004-05 season. On the women’s side, the Hokies came in eighth with 477.5 points. NC State swept the team titles on both sides. On the men’s side, Lopez Miro felt great about how his team performed and about its future. Two of the four individual medalists return, along with three of the four members of the 800-yard freestyle relay team that won a bronze medal. Perhaps the best performance came from sophomore Lane Stone, who set school records in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 1,650 freestyle at the meet. He won a bronze medal in the 500 free with a time of 4 minutes, 13.10 seconds, breaking his own previous record in Lane Stone set three school records at the ACC Swimming and Diving Championships to headline the Hokies’ performances.