North Carolina
The University of North Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both placed second in the 2014 Janis Hape Dowd Nike Cup Invitational at Koury Natatorium. After three days of competition ended Saturday, the women had 1,685 points while the men had 1,490 points.
“It was an action-packed weekend,” said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. “We loved hosting this meet. Our staff did a great job, and the team loves being able to swim in its home pool. It was a great competition. There were some really great teams.
“There were a lot of great individual performances. I am very proud of the team for responding tonight after a tough session this morning.”
Six men’s swimmers placed in the Top 10 of individual events tonight, highlighted by Ben Colley’s second-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly (1:45.34).
Patrick Myers placed ninth in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:47.08. Logan Heck finished 10th in the 100-yard freestyle at 44.46. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Kurt Wohlrab took sixth with a time of 2:00.77 while Michael McBryan finished 10th at 2:01.20. Dom Glavich also placed sixth in the 200-yard butterfly at 1:46.85.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay Saturday, Heck, Lewis, Nic Graesser and Colley took fourth with a time of 2:56.70. Lucas Popp, Philip Perdue, Chris Gondek and Nick Lowe also finished 10th in the 400 free relay at 2:59.47.
For the women, nine swimmers placed in the Top 10 of individual events tonight, with Emma Nunn finishing in the top eight for two events.
Nunn took third in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:33.86, the sixth fastest time in the nation for that event this season. Caty Hulsey also placed 10th in the 1650 free at 16:59.78.
In the 200-yard backstroke, Hellen Moffitt took third with a time of 1:57.44, Annie Harrison finished fourth at 1:58.44 and Sarah Hitchens placed 10th at 1:58.47. Ally Hardesty finished fifth in the women’s 100-yard freestyle at 50.41. In the women’s 200-yard breaststroke, Katie Munch placed fifth at 2:16.79 while Maddy Burns finished seventh at 2:17.57. Nunn also placed seventh in the 200-yard butterfly at 2:00.92, and Madison Boswell finished tenth with a time of 2:01.35 in the same event.
Hardesty, Hitchens, Caroline Baldwin and Lauren Earp placed third in the 400-yard freestyle relay Saturday at 3:19.44.
In the 10-meter platform diving, completed at Duke University earlier today, Ryan Fox won the event with a score of 297.10 points. Ozzie Moyer also finished fifth with 253.30 points. On the women’s side, Kelly Corish placed ninth in the event with a score of 205.30 points.
“Our divers did very well,” said DeSelm. “We have really good divers and an outstanding coach who is working them really hard and teaching them new things. The diving program is in great hands with Coach (Abel) Sanchez.”
The Tennessee women finished on top with 2,059 points. NC State was third with 1,396.5 points followed by Duke with 1,206.5, East Carolina with 862.5, Old Dominion with 620.5, Michigan with 252, James Madison with 85 and Air Force with 45.
On the men’s side, NC State placed first with 1,521 points. Tennessee was third with 1,388.5, followed by Air Force with 1,373, East Carolina with 855, Navy with 845.5, Duke with 708, Old Dominion with 509 and Michigan with 174.
UNC will be back in action Saturday, Jan. 10, 2014, against Navy in Annapolis, Md.
Duke
The Blue Devil women placed five swimmers in championship finals and featured a strong contingent in the 10-meter platform diving competition to conclude the 2014 Janis Hape Dowd Nike Cup Invitational in fourth place Saturday, Nov. 22. The squad totaled 1,206.5 points over the three days of action at North Carolina’s Koury Natatorium, while the Duke men accounted for 708 points to finish seventh in the program’s final event of the fall season.
“This weekend a lot of people saw what came of all their hard work this fall,” said head coach Dan Colella. “One of the big things we’ve focused on is staying composed in a high-pressure situation, and I think they did a really great job of that ... There’s definitely things to work on, things to develop. But that’s why we’re here – to learn and be able to compete in an environment with a lot of great teams and get that feel of conference and NCAAs. We couldn’t be any prouder of what they accomplished over the course of the weekend. There’s some great stuff to build on.”
Freshman Isabella Paez gave the Blue Devils their second individual event winner in as many days, closing with speed to best the field in the 200-yard butterfly championship final with a mark of 1:57.58. That clocking broke the previous program record, which Paez set in the morning preliminaries at 1:58.60, and surpassed the NCAA provisional time standard in the event. Sophomore Colleen Wixted joined Paez in the ‘A’ final, racing to a fourth-place finish in a career-best 1:59.82 to rank third on Duke’s all-time top-10 chart.
“Isa is really a back-half swimmer,” Colella said. “Going back to staying composed, it takes a mature athlete to swim that way. She was in fifth or sixth place at the 100 and then just slowly reeled it in on the next 50 and crushed it on the last 50. It was huge for her and her confidence.”
The women also picked up numerous points in the 10-meter platform diving event, as all four Blue Devils placed within the top-eight. Junior Jaimee Gundry led the way in second with an award of 253.15 while freshman MaryEllen Targonski was third (249.00), junior Kendall McClenney fifth (238.50) and sophomore Kirby Quinn eighth (206.00).
“That was huge,” Colella said. “Their results solidified the fourth-place finish, moved us closer to almost there in third place. For Jaimee to lead the way and finish second was definitely a big boost.”
Sophomore Maddie Rusch headlined the sprint group with a fourth-place performance in the 100 freestyle. Rusch touched at 50.38 for a season-best time and freshman Leah Goldman went 50.24 in the ‘B’ final for the third-fastest mark in program history and a ninth-place finish overall. Fellow rookie Verity Abel earned a sixth-place showing in the 1,650 freestyle at 16:44.43, a time that ranked her fifth all-time at Duke. Alex Peña was the top finisher in the men’s mile, leading a quartet of freshmen in the event with a 15:49.48 swim to rank sixth on the program’s all-time list.
The men’s 200 butterfly ‘A’ final saw sophomore Kaz Takabayashi come in seventh at 1:48.69. Takabayashi also posted a career-best time of 1:48.39 in Saturday morning’s preliminaries for the fifth-best mark in school history. The Blue Devils also advanced a pair of swimmers to the 200 backstroke championship finals, with sophomore Bradley Cline finishing sixth for the men (1:48.09) and classmate Liza Bragg also taking sixth in 1:58.80 for an NCAA ‘B’ cut.
A day after solidifying a trip to the 2015 NCAA Championship, sophomore Peter Kropp was also in top form Saturday, recording a season best 1:56.73 in the 200 breaststroke preliminaries. That performance moved him up to second on Duke’s all-time top-10 and surpassed the NCAA provisional standard in the event. Kropp went even faster in the evening’s championship final but had his swim disqualified.
In the final event of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay, Rusch, junior Chelsea Ye, junior Kathryn Eckhart and Goldman placed fourth (3:21.72) and Cline, junior David Armstrong, Takabayashi and senior Stefan Knight combined for a sixth-place showing (3:01.54).
Over the course of the three days in Chapel Hill, the Blue Devils broke one ACC record, one meet record, one facility record and three program benchmarks.
The Tennessee women came out on top in the final team standings with 2,059 points, followed by host North Carolina (1,685), NC State (1,396.5) and Duke (1,206.5). The Wolfpack men (1,521) edged the Tar Heels (1,490) while the Blue Devils placed seventh of nine teams.
The Duke men and women resume competition in 2015, hosting South Carolina and Harvard Saturday, Jan. 10 at Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion.
N.C. State
After trailing behind Tennessee the first two days of the Nike Cup Invitational, the sixth-ranked NC State men’s swimming and diving team had an impressive day three showing to claim the team title of the Nike Cup Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The men’s squad’s victory of 1521 points inside the Maurice J. Koury Natatorium marked its fifth straight win of the season to remain undefeated.
The women’s team finished third, respectively, with 2059 points behind Tennessee and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Holloway’s Statement
“Overall it was a good team experience and competition for us- both the men and women fought hard all weekend and I saw a lot of positives to take away from the meet. Tonight we got into a good rhythm with a lot of positive energy and support for one another.
“There were several women that had great performances- particularly Alexia Zevnik and Krista Duffield. Alexia had a breakthrough in two events and Krista, a true freshman, really stepped up in the 400 free relay tonight to help get the win in the ‘A’ final.
“For the guys it was a back-and-forth battle with UNC-Chapel Hill today. It came down to the ‘A’ and ‘B’ relays to determine who was going to win the meet and I’m very proud of our guys for giving it their all to win both relays. It was a great team victory for the men, everyone played their part and I’m excited for us to get back to work and capitalize on the great performance from this weekend.”- Braden Holloway, head coach
Radman’s Recap
On Rachel Mumma’s Nike Cup Showing
“Rachel (Mumma) showed true signs of a champion this weekend; she battled through some demons to have a great showing in the three-meter dive and an impressive school record-breaking performance in the one-meter dive. She shows great promise with her talent and competitive edge, and it is apparent she has the determination to be the best.”- Yahya Radman, head diving coach
Record Breaker
Freshman Anton Ipsen broke his second record of the invitational Saturday in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 15:04.71. Olympian and All-American Dan Harrigan set the record previously in 1978. Ipsen also broke the 500 free school record Thursday, which was previously set by teammate Alex Hamilton last season.
Wolfpack Relays
The team of Alexia Zevnik, Ashlyn Koletic, Krista Duffield and Riki Bonnema won the women’s 400 freestyle relay event swimming a time of 3:18.15, while the quartet of Ryan Held, Simonas Bilis, Andreas Scheillerup and David Williams won the men’s 400 free relay with a time of 2:53.80.
Back It Up
Zevnik and Hennessey Stuart both placed second in the 200 backstroke, as Zevnik swam a time of 1:56.12 and Stuart finished with a time of 1:43.66.
Freestyle Watch
-Bilis garnered first place honors in the men’s 100 free with a time of 43.21 to capture the top title in all three freestyle sprint events at the Nike Cup.
-Bonnema and Zevnik finished second and third in the women’s 100 free, both breaking 50 seconds for the first time in the 2014-15 season to post NCAA ‘B’ standard times.
Fly Into The Sky
Christian McCurdy swam a time of 1:45.38 to place third in the men’s 200 fly.
Wolfpack Improvement
28 swimmers and four relay teams recorded top times for the 2014-15 season on day two of the Nike Cup Invitational. The ‘Wolfpack Top Times’ consists of the top five times in a given season for each individual event, and the top three times in relay events.
Postseason Focus
In addition to Bonnema and Zevnik, three more NC State swimmers recorded NCAA `B' standard marks on the final day of the Nike Cup Invitational.
Ryan Held, 100 free, 44.20
Anton Ipsen, 1650 free, 15:04.71
Matt O’Donnell, 1650 free, 15:28.73
Up Next
The NC State swimming and diving team will return to action Dec. 4-6 when it competes at the Winter National Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C.
Air Force
The Air Force men’s swimming team finished in fourth place at the Nike Cup in Chapel Hill, N.C., with 1,373 points. North Carolina State won the meet with 1,521 points, North Carolina was second (1,490) and Tennessee was third (1,388). East Carolina was fifth (855), Navy was sixth (845.5), Duke was seventh (708), Old Dominion was eighth (509) and Michigan was ninth (174).
In the relay events, several Falcon teams placed in the top five. The men’s 200 free relay team of George Frank, Jordan Dahle, Michael Hannigan and Ryan Dunne was fourth (1:20.07). In the 400 medley, the team of Devon Davis, Michael Barnosky, Ryan Dunne and Jordan Dahle was third in the “A” final (3:14.29). In the 200 medley, Davis, Barnosky, Dunne and Dahle were fourth in the “A” final (1:28.59). In the 800 free relay, the team of Jackson, Dunne, Alex Strom and Dahle was third in the “A” final (6:31.09). The team of Robby Graves, Andrew Antonetti, Michael Hannigan and Andrew Faciszewski won the “B” final (6:35.12). In the 400 free relay, the team of Dunne, Frank, Hannigan and Dahle was second with a finals time of 2:56.11.
Dunne placed in the top five in three events. He was fifth in the 50 free “A” final (20:22). Dunne was also fourth in the 100 fly “A” final (48.24) and was second in the “A” final of the 100 free (43.88). His time of 43.70 in the prelims was the second fastest in the event, just .01 off the leader.
In the 100 back, Devon Davis’s prelim time of 48.40 was the fastest in the meet. In the “A” final, he was seventh (49.25).
Three Falcons finished in the top seven of the 200 breast stroke “A” final as Barnosky was second (1:59.74) and Kevin Fanter tied for third (2:00.37). Sam Wieser was seventh (2:04.47).
Kris Tillery was eighth in the “A” final of the 200 back (1:48.94). Andrew Faciszewski was fourth in the 1650 free with a finals time of 15:14.16, while Jackson was sixth in that same event (15:16.70). Frank was eighth in the “A” final of the 200 free (1:40.31). Barnosky was third in the “A” final of the 100 breaststroke (53.84) while Zach Knoche was eighth (56.02). In the men’s 400 IM, Jackson was fifth in the “A” final (3:54.82).Andrew Faciszewski won the “B” final with a time of 3:53.82. Barnosky was second in the 200 IM “B” final (1:47.63). Frank was fourth in the “B” final of the 50 free (20:53)
In men’s diving, Nathaniel Zillweger was fifth in the “A” final of the one-meter with (306.40) while Dominic Vallejo was seventh in the “A” final (294.95). In three meter, A.J. Eckebrecht was eighth in the “A” final with 221.50. Zillweger was second in the “B” final (3:17.65) while Vallejo was third (304.75). In men’s platform, Vallejo was second (292.10), Eckebrecht was sixth (244.10) and Zillweger was seventh (242.75).
In women’s diving, Jessica Horn was 16th in the one-meter with 230.80. In platform, Lainie Long was seventh with a finals score of 211.80. Horn was 16th with 156.85.
