The University of North Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving squads continued their ACC season on Friday with day one of a two-day meet at Ralph Wright Natatorium against the University of Louisville. The Carolina women’s team is currently leading 84-83 while the Tar Heel men are trailing the Cardinals 98-69.
“Louisville was really talented tonight. It is their first year swimming in the ACC. We swam them last year at home and had a pretty good meet, but we were able to come out victorious,” said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm.
Three swimmers won individual events Friday: Emma Nunn (500 free) and Hellen Moffitt (200 back) for the women and Ben Colley (200 fly) for the men.
The Tar Heel divers competed in two events- the women’s three-meter and the men’s one-meter- emerging victorious in both. Jack Nyquist won with a score of 342.37 and Elissa Dawson was awarded a score of 384.08.
“We’ve got a great diving corps. It is great fun watching our divers compete. Diving has become a strong point of ours, and we are really having fun with it. Coach Abel Sanchez has done a great job with the program,” said DeSelm.
The first half of the meet was highlighted by six season best times and one season best diving score.
On the men’s side, Patrick Myers had a season best time in the 200 IM (1:51.88) while Michael McBryan had a season best time in the 100 breast (55.42). For the women, Emma Nunn had a season best 500 free at 4:49.77. Maddy Burns had a season best time in the 200 IM (2:03.49). Hellen Moffitt had a season best time in the 200 back (1:57.62). Ally Hardesty had a season best time in the 100 free at 50.18. Elissa Dawson had a season best performance in the three-meter diving competition.
“Tomorrow’s competition is going to be a test. We’ve got a challenge ahead of us, but it really is an opportunity too. Let’s see how we respond and what we can do when things aren’t going our way. We’ll get some rest tonight and get up and go at 10 a.m.,” said Coach DeSelm.
North Carolina will be back in action tomorrow morning for the second half of competition against the University of Louisville.
MEN’S TEAM SCORE
North Carolina 98, Louisville 69
WOMEN’S TEAM SCORE
North Carolina 84, Louisville 83
The University of Louisville men’s and women’s swimming and diving team split the first day of competition with the North Carolina Tarheels. The women narrowly trail 84-83, while the men hold a 98-69 advantage.
“It was a good start,” head coach Arthur Albiero. “It’s always our goal to continue to progress, and I think we saw some adjustments that we’ve been working on in practice come together in racing. This is not a meet about one or two people, it’s a team effort all the way. Everybody plays a huge role. We have great respect for North Carolina, and we’ll continue to have fun and race tomorrow.”
The both the women and men started the day strong with a wins in the 200-free relays. Maggie Patterson (23.72), Kelsi Worrell (22.10), Andrea Kneppers (23.20) and Rachel Grooms (23.14) combined for a time of 1:32.16, while Thomas Dahlia (20.53), Caryle Blondell (19.30), Matthias Lindenbauer (19.72) and Trevor Carroll (19.55) finished with a total time of 1:19.10.
Tanja Kylliainen won the women’s 200 IM with an NCAA B-cut time of 1:58.48, while Erica Belcher touched second with a time of 2:03.34. Nolan Tesone finished first in the men’s race with an NCAA B-cut time time of 1:48.34. Josh Quallen finished second, touching in 1:50.60.
In the women’s 500-free, Abbie Houck finished just over four second behind the winner to come in third place with a time of 4:53.67. Trevor Carroll won the men’s 500-free behind a time of 4:27.85, narrowly edging his competition by less than half a second.
Andee Cottrell won the women’s 100-breast with an NCAA B-cut time of 1:02.42, while Maggie Patterson touched at 1:03.93 to finish third. Thomas Dahlia finished first for the men with an NCAA B-cut time of 54.41, while Carlos Claverie finished in third place with a time of 55.66.
In the women’s 200-back, Erica Belcher finished third behind a time of 2:01.22. Aaron Greene touched first in the men’s 200-back, finishing with an NCAA B-cut time of 1:45.10. Teammate Grigory Tarasevich finished in 1:45.12 to also earn an NCAA B-cut time and come in second.
Kelsi Worrell won the women’s 100-free with an NCAA B-cut time of 49.08. Caryle Blondell won the men’s race behind an NCAA B-cut time of 43.49, while Matthias Lindenbauer finished in 44.81 to place third.
Tanja Kylliainen recorded her second NCAA B-cut time of the night when she finished in 1:56.37 to win the women’s 200-fly. Josh Quallen finished third in the men’s 200-fly with a time of 1:50.32.
In the final swimming event of the night, the team of Tanja Kylliainan (54.46), Andee Cottrell (1:02.24), Kelsi Worrell (51.94) and Andrea Kneppers (50.18) won the women’s 400-medley relay with a combined time of 3:38.82. In the men’s race, the team of Grigory Tarasevich (48.46), Thomas Dahlia (53.29), Pedro Coutinho (48.11) and Caryle Blondell (43.57) finished first with a total time of 3:13.43.
In the men’s 1-meter diving competition, Sean Piner finished in third place with a score of 327.00. Ryan Bohn finished sixth behind a score of 219.15.
Andrea Acquista finished third in the women’s 3-meter diving competition with a score of 307.05, while Emily Stalmack finished fifth with a score of 296.32 and Alessandra Murphy finished seventh with a score of 261.37.
The Cardinals will return to the pool Saturday morning at 10 a.m. for the second half of competition with the Tarheels.
