North Carolina Hosts First Day of Nike Cup

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, November 16. CAROLINA's annual Nike Cup is a meet that traditionally showcases record-breaking performances. By that standard, Day One of the 2006 version of the event certainly didn¹t disappoint. In the morning session, Kentucky¹s Jenny Bradford broke a four-year old meet and pool record in the 50-yard freestyle, out-sprinting the field with a time of 22.24. Then in the finals, Bradford broke her own records with a 22.09 time and had a hand in another record-breaking performance as she anchored Kentucky's 200-yard freestyle relay that also broke Nike Cup and Koury Auditorium records.

Despite Bradford's career day, the Wildcat women sit in fourth place, three spots behind leader Florida State. The Seminoles won just one event, the 400-yard medley relay, but benefited from a deep squad that produced four other top-four finishes. Florida State will enter the second day of the meet with a 31- point lead on the host Tar Heels.

Like Florida State, the Carolina women benefited from a deep team that was able to cop five top-five finishes despite not championing an individual winner. Freshman Alison Clemens garnered the team¹s top finish with a second place showing in the 200-yard individual medley. Clemens used a strong breaststroke split to move up one spot from the preliminaries and clock in a season-best 2:02.68. Junior Kristin Oxford and sophomore Whitney Sprague had the team¹s other two top-five individual finishes, both in the 500-yard freestyle. Oxford took fourth place in the Super Final while Sprague won the Final to take home fifth.

Joining their female counterparts, the Florida State men will also enter Day Two in first place. The Seminoles won four of the day¹s six events to take a commanding 195-point lead on the second place Kentucky Wildcats. Florida State won both relays and got individual titles from senior Steve Roof in the 500-yard freestyle and sophomore Dan Frebel on the one-meter springboard. Clemson ended the day in third place, four points back of Kentucky, while North Carolina sits in fourth place, seven points back of the Tigers.

Carolina's top individual performance on the men¹s side was shared by senior captain Jon Fox and freshman Chip Peterson. Fox took third place in the one-meter diving competition and was the only Tar Heel to reach the finals in the event. Peterson swam to third place in the 500-yard freestyle Super Final with a season-best 4:27.75. Sophomore Hank Browning also made the Super Finals in the 500 free, taking fourth.

The second day begins tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the preliminary heats, followed in the evening by the finals starting at 6 p.m.

WOMEN¹S TEAM SCORES
1. Florida State 260
2. North Carolina 229
3. Clemson 209
4. Kentucky 181
5. Virginia Tech 169
6. Miami 87
7. East Carolina 71
8. Syracuse 27
9. N.C. State 7

MEN¹S TEAM SCORES
1. Florida State 402
2. Kentucky 207
3. Clemson 203
4. North Carolina 196
5. Virginia Tech 141
6. James Madison 29
7. East Carolina 28
8. N.C. State 17
9. Miami 15
10. Syracuse 2

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