North Carolina Signs Two More Recruits

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, May 24. NORTH Carolina head swimming coach Rich DeSelm has added a pair of swimmers to the Tar Heels' 2010-11 recruiting class with the inclusion of sophomore transfer Cari Blalock of Wilmington, N.C. to the women's squad and incoming freshman J.P. Gaylor to the men's team.

Gaylor joins the Tar Heels from Knoxville, Tenn., DeSelm's hometown, where he attended Bearden High School and swam for the Pilot Aquatic Club under the tutelage of coach Jim Rumbaugh. A high school All-America in the distance events, Gaylor is graduating as the valedictorian of his senior class at Bearden.

Gaylor's career best times are 4:30.66 in the 500-yard freestyle, 9:08.45 in the 1000-yard freestyle and 15:27.07 in the 1650-yard freestyle. He also has gone 4:07.03 in the 400-yard individual medley.

Blalock graduated from New Hanover High School in 2010 and did her club swimming atWaves of Wilmington. She matriculated at LSU after her high school career and had a brilliant freshman year for the Tigers. She was named to the All-Southeastern Conference Freshman Team, qualified for multiple events at the 2011 NCAA Championships and set LSU records in the 400-yard individual medley and as a member of the Tigers' 800-yard freestyle relay team.

Blalock competed in the NCAA Championships in the 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM. At the SEC Championships she placed fourth in the 200 fly at 1:57.30, qualified for the championship final in the 200 IM at 1:58.79 and broke the school's 14-year-old mark in the 400 IM with a clocking of 4:12.46.

At New Hanover High School she won state titles in the 100-yard butterfly in 2008 and 2010. She qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials and the 2009 World Championships Trials.

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