Virginia vs. North Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, January 21. LED by individual victories by Dominick Glavich, Steve Cebertowicz and David MacDonald, the 16th-ranked University of North Carolina men's swimming and diving team defeated 12th-ranked Virginia 166-134 Saturday afternoon at Koury Natatorium, giving the Tar Heels their first win over the Cavaliers since 2008 and only their second dual-meet triumph against the Wahoos since 1998.

Despite some stellar individual performances by two seniors — Cebertowicz and MacDonald — and a dominant performance by freshman phenom Glavich, UNC head coach Rich DeSelm said stressing the team concept was the key for the Tar Heels as they held off a Virginia team that nipped at UNC's heels all afternoon.

"It was a fun afternoon. Our guys did a great job. We had great leadership. This team is really together," said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "We worked through the meet one event at a time and had some great help on the boards. It was our day today to win a dual meet."

"We always enjoy the Virginia dual meet and they've had a lot of success against us in the last 10 to 15 years so two wins in the last five years is nice but we know Virginia is a great team and a great program," DeSelm added.

The victory was Carolina's first over Virginia since the 2008 team upset the Cavaliers 151-149 in Koury Natatorium in DeSelm's first year as head coach. That win had ended a 10-meet losing streak to Virginia.

Carolina did a stellar job in the relays Saturday, winning both the 200-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Senior Jim Flannery, who would later win the 100-yard backstroke, led off the winning medley relay and was followed into the water by Brad Hamilton, Tom Luchsinger and Cebertwoicz as the unit won in 1:29.43. Carolina clinched the team triumph in the next-to-last event, but that did not prevent the 400-yard freestyle relay from posting an impressive meet-ending victory with a time of 2:59.37. Senior Evan Reed, who won the 200-yard freestyle and finished second in the 100-yard freestyle, led off the relay followed by Hamilton, sophomore J.T. Stilley and Cebertowicz. The relay won in 2:59.37, touching almost two full seconds ahead of second-place Virginia.

After the team's split the first two events, Reed and Flannery won the 200 free and 100 backstroke in succession, giving the Tar Heels the lead for good. In the middle of the meet, the Tar Heels strung together four successive wins to pull away. This included Glavich's first victory in the 200-yard butterfly at 1:46.79 and both individual wins by Cebertowicz in the 50 free (20.28) and 100 free (44.42).

Meanwhile, senior David MacDonald was getting his job done on the boards as he swept the three-meter with 378.90 and later would win the one-meter with 363.75 points.

After UVa won three events in a row to nearly pull even with Carolina, Glavich slammed the door with wins in the 100-yard butterfly (49.09) and the 200-yard individual medley (1:50.99) in the 13th and 15th events of the meet. Glavich's win in the latter event clinched the team victory.

"I think this gives our guys some confidence going into next week and where we are as a program and where they are as a team. I think the impressive thing today was that we just banded together and focused on us. We didn't worry too much about what the score was or what the outcomes were. We just focused on each and every person and each and every event," DeSelm concluded.

UNC improved to 6-1 on the season in dual meets and 5-0 in the ACC. Virginia is 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the ACC.

Carolina completes its dual meet season in the coming week with meets at Duke Friday and at home against NC State Saturday.

Despite two wins each by senior diver Jenna Moore and sophomore freestyler Stephanie Peacock, the 15th-ranked North Carolina women's swimming and diving team fell to 11th-ranked Virginia Saturday afternoon at Koury Natatorium 170-130.

The Virginia women remained undefeated in dual meets at 6-0 and 3-0 in ACC action. The Tar Heel women lost for only the second time all year. Carolina is now 5-2 overall and 4-1 in the ACC.

Peacock won two events, going a career best 9:40.37 to win the 1000-yard freestyle. That broke her previous personal best of 9:52 set earlier this season. She also cruised to victory in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 4:47.21.

Senior diver Jenna Moore also showed her mettle as she led 1-2-3-4 sweeps of both boards for the Tar Heel women. Moore won the three-meter event with 308.25 points and the one-meter diving with a total of 280.65.

Carolina's other individual wins came from the 200-yard medley relay team of Candace Cooper, Laura Moriarty, Katie Nolan and Nikki Barczak as well as a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke by senior Laura Moriarty (1:03.94).

"Virginia was better than we were today. They are well coached and they have a great tradition," said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "I think we have some excellent swimmers and divers and I know their hearts were in it. We jut didn't have enough front line talent and enough depth today to beat a great team like Virginia. We'll go back to work Monday and get ready for Duke and NC State."

UNC concludes its dual meet season with meets at Duke on Friday and at home with NC State next Saturday.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use