Day three prelims at the 2017 Men's ACC Championships in Atlanta, Georgia are officially in the books. We saw some great races in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, and 100 back. If this morning's prelims session is any indication, North Carolina State's clean sweep is in jeopardy as North Carolina, Duke, and Louisville all took top seeds. NC State captured the top seed in the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle. The highlight of the morning was certainly ​Brandon Fiala​ of Virginia Tech and ​Peter Kropp​ of Duke trading ACC records in the 100 breaststroke. With five individual events and one relay, there are a significant amount of team points on the line. 

400 IM

ACC Conference Record: 3:38.00 (Gal Nevo - Georgia Tech, 2009)
ACC Meet Record: 3:39.33 (Gal Nevo - Georgia Tech, 2009)
NCAA 'A' Cut: 3:40.75
2016 Invited: 3:45.61

​Henry Campbell​ of UNC came out strong this morning after his disappointing second-place finish in the 500 free on Tuesday night, taking the top seed by a full second in the 400 IM with a 3:42.25. The junior Tar Heel is having himself a heck of a meet, dropping almost six seconds off his seed time this morning. Touching in second was ​Robert Owen ​of Virginia Tech, the defending champion, ​in 3:43.22, and rounding out the top three was ​Etay Gurevich​ of Louisville with a 3:43.93. Tonight's final should be a close race between the top five seeds, with ​Michael Meyer​ of UNC (fourth) and ​Anton Ipsen ​of NC State (fifth) capable of hanging with these guys.

​​1.)​ Henry Campbell (UNC): 3:42.25
2.) Robert Owen (Virginia Tech): 3:43.22
3.) Etay Gurevich (Louisville): 3:43.93
4.) Michael Meyer (UNC): 3:44.24
5.) Anton Ipsen (NC State): 3:44.97
6.) Keegan Foulke (Louisville): 3:46.54 
7.) Adam Linker (NC State): 3:46.55
8.) Zachary Switzer (Virginia Tech): 3:47.03 
16th: 3:49.78
24th: 3:50.93

100 BUTTERFLY

ACC Conference Record: 45.00 (Pavel Sankovich - Florida State, 2014)
ACC Meet Record: 45.12 (Pavel Sankovich - Florida State, 2014)
NCAA 'A' Cut: 45.73
2016 Invited: 46.44

Knock-knock.​ Who's there? ​Ryan Held​. The N.C. State junior took the top seed with a 45.61. He took it out in a blazing-fast 20.63 and held on to finish ahead of his teammate ​Andreas Vazaios​,​ who grabbed the third seed in 45.99. To put Held's first 50 in perspective, when ​Joseph Schooling​ went 44.06 at Big 12s, he was out only two-tenths faster in 20.4. ​Louisville's​ Josh Quallen​ snagged the second spot with a quick 45.81, just shy of an NCAA automatic qualifying time. After his impressive 19.91 split from Monday's 200 medley relay, we knew he was poised to bust loose in the 100 fly. This should be a close race tonight. 

​1.) Ryan Held (NC State)​: 45.61 (NCAA 'A')
2.) Josh Quallen (Louisville): 45.81
3.) Andreas Vazaios (NC State):  45.99
4.) Justin Plaschka (Notre Dame): 46.05
5.) Zach Harting (Louisville): 46.42
6.) Bryce Keblish (Virginia): 46.58 
7.) David Boland (Louisville): 46.62
8.) Coleman Stewart (NC State): 46.80
16th: 47.47 (SWIM-OFF REQUIRED)
24th: 47.85

200 FREESTYLE

ACC Conference Record: 1:32.02 (Simonas Bilis - NC State, 2016)
ACC Meet Record: 1:32.45 (Scot Robison - Virginia, 2010)
NCAA 'A' Cut: 1:33.34
2016 Invited: 1:34.67

​​Soeren Dahl​, the silver medalist from this meet last year, will look to capitalize on the absence of his former teammate ​Simonas Bilis​ to take home an ACC title tonight. Dahl is certainly capable of scaring both the ACC and meet records tonight. He dropped three steady 23s after the first 50 and was the only one in the field to close in under 24 this morning, so he will have the upper hand if it is a close race at the 150 tonight. Bilis' teammate ​Justin Ress​ touched second in 1:33.48, and Louisville's ​Trevor Carroll ​snagged the third seed in 1:33.84.

1.) Soeren Dahl (NC State): 1:32.94 (NCAA 'A')
2.) Justin Ress (NC State): 1:33.48
3.) Trevor Carroll (Louisville): 1:33.84
4.) Rodrigo Correia (Georgia Tech): 1:34.18
5.) Jordan Merrilees (UNC): 1:34.40
6.) Matthias Lindenbauer (Louisville): 1:34.59
7.) Norbert Szabo (Virginia Tech): 1:34.86
8.) Reed Fujan (Notre Dame): 1:34.95
16th: 1:36.42
24th: 1:37.10

100 BREASTSTROKE

ACC Conference Record: 51.83 (Thomas Dahlia - Louisville, 2015) 51.46 (Peter Kropp - Duke, 2017)
ACC Meet Record: 51.86 (Brandon Fiala - Virginia Tech, 2016) 51.46 (Peter Kropp - Duke, 2017)
NCAA 'A' Cut: 51.93
2016 Invited: 52.92

​​All eyes will be on the middle of the pool for tonight's final. ​Brandon Fiala​ of Virginia Tech​ and ​Peter Kropp​ of Duke traded ACC records this morning. Fiala threw down​ a 51.50 and then Kropp said, "not so fast," responding to the challenge by posting a 51.46. Kropp and Fiala's times are the fourth and fifth-fastest times in the country this season, respectively. Nobody in this field has the front-end speed to hang with Kropp as he had the fastest first 50 (23.70) by six-tenths of a second. Watch for Fiala to close, though, as his back half was 27.21 to Kropp's 27.76. ​Trent Jackson​ of Notre Dame grabbed the third seed with a 52.44. The wildcard tonight will be N.C. State's ​Derek Hren​​, who snuck in seventh with a 52.77. Hren is the 2016 ACC champion in this event. 

1.) Peter Kropp (Duke): 51.46 (ACC RECORD)
2.) Brandon Fiala (Virginia Tech): 51.50 (NCAA 'A')
3.) Trent Jackson (Notre Dame): 52.44
4.) Carlos Claverie (Louisville): 52.47
5.) Dylan Payne (Duke): 52.69
6.) Craig Emslie (UNC): 52.73
7.) Derek Hren (NC State): 52.77 
8.) Moises Loschi (Georgia Tech): 52.96
16th: 54.33
24th: 54.75

100 BACKSTROKE

ACC Conference Record: 45.24 (Grigory Tarasevich - Louisville, 2016)
ACC Meet Record: 45.28 (Grigory Tarasevich - Louisville, 2016)
NCAA 'A' Cut: 45.37
2016 Invited: 46.51

​Tonight's A-final in the 100 back is shaping up to be a replica of the final from 2016, with ​Grigory Tarasevich ​of Louisville (45.52) and ​Andreas Schiellerup ​of NC State (45.98) toward the top of the pack. However, Virginia freshman ​Joseph Clark​ will certainly have an answer for the two aforementioned seniors, as he snuck in between them for the second seed in a quick 45.86. Look out for ​Coleman Stewart ​and ​Hennessey Stuart ​of NC State, who are seeded fourth and fifth, respectively, to make an impact in tonight's final and rack up even more points for the Wolfpack.

1.) Grigory Tarasevich (Louisville): 45.52
2.) Joseph Clark (Virginia): 45.86
3.) Andreas Schiellerup (NC State): 45.98
4.) Coleman Stewart (NC State): 46.18
5.) Hennessey Stuart (NC State): 46.21
6.) Robert Whitacre (Notre Dame): 46.53
7.) Henrique Machado (Pitt): 46.58
8.) Connor Kalisz (Florida State): 46.76
16th: 47.49
24th: 48.68