Duke Women’s Swimming and Diving Win Fourth Straight Against North Carolina

Kylie Jordan. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The Duke swimming and diving program split the meet with Tobacco Road rival North Carolina Saturday afternoon in Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion. The Duke women notched their fourth win in four years over the Tar Heels as they edged out No. 15 North Carolina 152.50-147.50. The men fell to North Carolina 132-168, their first loss to the Tar Heels since 2016.

Team Scores:

Men: North Carolina 168, Duke 132
Women: Duke 152.5, #15 North Carolina 147.5
RESULTS

Duke Swimming and Diving Press Release

“We knew going into today that the last several years this has turned into a really great rivalry,” Duke head coach Dan Colella said. “When I got here 15 years ago, we couldn’t hold a candle to the Tar Heels down the road. Today was a testament to how competitive both teams are now. I am thrilled to be able to do what we did today.”

Duke opened competition in record breaking fashion. In the first swimming event of the day, the women’s 200 medley relay, freshman Emma Shuppert, sophomore Halle Morris, senior Alyssa Marsh and freshman Sarah Snyder swam a school and pool record time of 1:36.52. During the relay, Marsh swam a 22.00-second 50 fly split, the fastest split in the country this year, sealing the win for the Blue Devils.

The men followed suit, taking the 200 medley relay in a season-best time (1:26.79). The quartet of junior Nathaniel Hartley, sophomore Cole Reznick, freshman Charlie Gingrich and senior Miles Williams moved themselves to ninth in the Blue Devil lists.

After contributing in the opening sweeps, Duke seniors Marsh and Williams dominated their events. The duo combined to sweep both the 50 and 100 freestyle events. In the women’s 50 free, Marsh’s 22.02 placed first and set a pool record, followed by Snyder in third (22.62). Williams, a native of Hong Kong, took the men’s with a time of 20.03.

The dynamic senior duo continued their form for the Blue Devils by sweeping the 100 freestyle. Marsh, of Davidson, N.C., beat the side in 48.35 while Williams touched first in 44.13. In addition to her two freestyle wins, Marsh also took the 100 fly in 52.06.

Sophomore Easop Lee added a trio of wins for the Blue Devils in the 500 and 1,000 freestyle and the 400 individual medley. In the 500 free, the Baltimore, Md., swam a 4:46.15 to place first in the event. Her 9:46.71 in the 1,000 was a season best and moved her to second in Duke’s all-time charts. Her 4:14.17 in the 400 individual medley was her fastest time this season to take the event, followed closely behind by junior Connie Dean in third place (4:14.73).

“It is one thing to win three events, but to win the 500 free, the 1,000 free and the 400 IM in one day is pretty monstrous,” Colella continued. “We are extremely proud of her.”

Shuppert also added an individual win as she took the top spot in the women’s 100 back. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native swam a 53.14 to place first.

Reznick took the final individual event of the day with a win in the men’s 400 IM. Reznick, out of Pleasanton, Calif., notched a season-best 3:57.64 to take the event. Sophomore Everett Werner followed in third place for the Blue Devils (3:59.77).

The men’s 400 freestyle relay closed out the day in the pool with a win in the final event. Williams, Hartley, freshman Coleman Kredich and senior Sheldon Boboff strung together a win for the Blue Devils. The group posted a 2:57.33, Duke’s second-best time in the event this year.

In senior day fashion, Nathaniel Hernandez shined on the boards for Duke. The senior posted career best scores in the one-meter (385.05) and the three-meter (420.23) during his final meet in Taishoff. Hernandez, out of Southlake, Texas, improved both his second-place scores in the Duke all-time charts.

Sophomore Maddi Pullinger also added a win for the Blue Devils in the one-meter diving. Pullinger’s 315.83 was a season high.

“It was a really good meet, obviously very high energy because it was UNC,” said diving coach Nunzio Esposto. “I have seen Nathaniel grow and get better over the last four years. He’s been a great leader. To see Nathaniel be a swimming and diving captain over the last four years, that has been a really big accomplishment- for him to be able to lead both the swimming and diving teams.”

The Blue Devils shift their attention to the postseason with women’s and men’s ACC Championships coming up Feb. 19-22 and Feb. 26-29, respectively, at the Greensboro Aquatics Center in Greensboro, N.C.

North Carolina Press Release

The UNC Swimming and Diving teams ended their regular season Saturday afternoon in a rivalry dual meet against Duke. The Tar Heel men defeated the Blue Devils 162-138, and the women fell short of victory by a miniscule five points, 152.5-147.5. North Carolina’s athletes worked together for an impressive team competition, and many including Valdas Abaliksta, Bryanna Cameron, Dimitrios Dimitriou, Caroline Hauder, Tyler Hill and Sophie Lindner scored at least one first-place and one second-place finish.

“I’m proud of our team tonight,” said head coach Mark Gangloff. “Every athlete stepped up and competed with everything they had.”

Highlights for the UNC’s women included Hauder and Lilly Higgs tag-teaming first and second in the 100-yard backstroke and Hauder, Grace Countie, Emma Cole, and Lindner taking first place in the 400-yard freestyle relay to close the meet.

For the men, Dimitriou and Thomas Bretzmann secured first and second in the men’s 500-yard freestyle. Later in the meet, Hill, Greg Brocato, and Santos Villalon sweeping first through third in the men’s 100-yard butterfly.

Additionally, a large handful of athletes swam personal records at Saturday’s rivalry meet.

Over in the diving well, Emily Grund placed second in the 1-meter competition with a personal record of 309.38 and first in the 3-meter competition. For the male divers, Fabian Stepinski and Alex Hart landed second and third place in both the 1-meter and the 3-meter. Both Stepinski and Hart dove for new personal records in the 3-meter competition.

“Great effort and great fight from the whole time,” said head diving coach Yaidel Gamboa. “We continue to improve even though the outcome wasn’t what we planned for. As a team, I think we did great.”

North Carolina will not compete again until ACC Championships, beginning February 19 for the women and divers and February 26 for the men.

“We should feel extremely prepared to have great ACC and NCAA Championships,” said Gangloff. Gamboa reiterated his sentiments.

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