North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech

CHRISTIANSBURG, Virginia, October 28. THE North Carolina women's swimming and diving team led from start to finish and the men's squad showed strong in the second half of the meet as the Tar Heels swept past Virginia Tech 190-110 and 165-135, respectively, at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.

The UNC men and women both improved to 3-1 overall with the dual meet victories and both teams are now 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia Tech's men are now 1-1 overall and 1-1 in the ACC and the Hokies' women's squad is 2-1 and 1-1 in conference dual meets.

"On the women's side, despite being a little bit shy on personnel we had a terrific meet. The meet was in hand early and we felt comfortable throughout," said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "We had Stephanie Peacock going a nice triple today, including going back-to-back in the mile and 200 free. Stephanie swam a well-controlled race and she posted a very good time for this point in the season. I believe may have qualified for last year's NCAA meet."

Peacock, a sophomore from Cape Coral, Fla., swept the three longest freestyle events, going 1:49 flat in the 200, 4:49.02 in the 500 and 16:14.61 in the 1650, an event rarely swum in dual meets.

Senior Laura Moriarty of Methuen, Mass., also was her usual stellar self for the Tar Heel side as she rang up victories in the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes as well as the 200-yard individual medley. Altogether, UNC won 12 of the 16 events on the distaff side of things, including both relays. Freshman Nikki Barczak also had a tremendous meet as she posted two individual events in the sprint freestyles and swam on both relays. Peacock and Moriarty also swam on winning relays as all three competitors were part of four event wins. Other individual winners for UNC were Rebecca Brooks in the 200 backstroke and Katie Nolan in the 100 fly.

"Overall, it was really a team effort," DeSelm said. "We approached the meet with the idea that everyone had a role to play because we weren't carrying the full squad we had intended to carry. We put the responsibility on each and every person's shoulders and everyone responded well.
"Our divers did well against what is an annually tough diving squad. We had good relays and we set ourselves up well for a tough dual meet against Maryland next Saturday."

Virginia Tech's men started out on fire by going 1-2 in the 400-yard medley relay to take an early lead. The two teams split the opening eight events of the meet before Carolina pulled away in the second half of the competition, winning six of the last eight events.

UNC's dominance in the freestyle events proved to be a key to the result. The Tar Heels put together a winning 200-yard freestyle relay and the squad won every distance of freestyle from 50 through 1650. Senior Steve Cebertowicz copped the 50 and 100 distances, senior Wil Singley won the 200, junior Brett Nagle scored his first event win in a Tar Heel uniform in the 500 and sophomore Dan O'Connor edged out teammate Sean Lane in the 1650.

"We anticipated a men's meet that would go down to last relay. Essentially it almost did," said DeSelm. "Virginia Tech came out strong and fast and went 1-2 in medley relay. The meet was close the entire way although I felt we always had just enough of a cushion. The meet was within 10 points either way until near the end.

"Our divers helped us out today in big way. David MacDonald won the three-meter and we had three divers score on both boards."

Wins by junior Tom Luchsinger in the 200 fly and Patrick Myers in the 200 back in the middle of the meet helped the Tar Heels gain some separation heading into the last four events.

"In the men's 100 fly we thought we had a win but came up third and fourth instead," said DeSelm. "Then in the 200 IM it appeared Virginia Tech was on its way to a win but got two huge touch outs by Dominick Glavich and Alex Gianino and sealed the team win. Our win in the 200 free relay capped it off for us.

"Our approach was that every guy needed to do his part. It was gratifying to come out of here with a win. A couple of places here and there and we could have come out with loss."

The Tar Heels have eight days off from competition before swimming at home for the first time this season on Saturday, November 5 against the Maryland Terrapins at 11 a.m. The meet at Koury Natatorium will be a part of Alumni Weekend activities which will include the induction of the inaugural Circle of Champions on Friday. Saturday's highlights will include the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Carolina women's swimming and diving and the christening of the new lobby memorabilia area at Koury Natatorium.

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