2025 ACC Swimming and Diving Championships
Two swimmers were faced with a tall task during the opening preliminary session of the 2025 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships on Wednesday.
Louisville senior Gustavo Saldo and Virginia freshman Dillon Wright tied for 24th in the men’s 500 free heats in a time of 4:20.80, leading them to a swim-off for the last lane in tonight’s ‘C’ final.
In the prelims, Saldo had more front-half speed, and was a second and a half clear of Wright at the 400-yard split, with Wright rocketing home with 26.04/25.55 closing 50s.
In the swim-off, the two swimmers stayed much closer together than their splits from the prelims, flipping within three-tenths of each other at the 300, and at the 400, Wright was up by 44 one-hundredths.
Wright then made a big move on the penultimate 50, splitting 25.84 to Saldo’s 26.38 to open up nearly a full second lead (0.98), but Saldo had saved up for the push for home. Saldo blasted his way to a closing split of 23.93, catching Wright on the last stroke as the two swimmers incredibly tied again, putting up matching times of 4:21.63.
Saldo owns a personal best of 4:17.06, set at the 2022 Purdue Invitational, while Wright set his career best at 4:18.69 at the 2024 Tennessee Invitational this past November.
It’s not yet clear if the two swimmers will swim-off again or how they’ll decide who advances to the final, though Saldo is notably listed in 24th on the results page with Wright in 25th.
Cal fifth-year Lucas Henveaux led the heats this morning in a time of 4:12.42, with NC State’s Owen Lloyd (4:14.13) and Virginia’s David King (4:14.18) ranking 2nd and 3rd.
