North Carolina Swimming Gets By Virginia in ACC Showdown

Photo Credit: North Carolina Athletics

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The North Carolina swimming and diving teams came out on top in a close battle with ACC rival Virginia on Saturday at the UVA Aquatics & Fitness Center, as the Tar Heel men out-scored the Cavaliers 192-106 and the Tar Heel women just barely defeated the Cavaliers, 156.5-143.5. UNC won 20 of the 32 events to sweep the meet.

North Carolina Press Release

The University of North Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams performed at a high level Saturday afternoon in defeating Virginia in dual meet action at the UVA Aquatics & Fitness Center.

The No. 20 UNC men built an early lead and never looked back in defeating the Cavaliers 192-106. The 18th-ranked Carolina women overcame the #6 Cavaliers 156.5-143.5 in a real barnburner.

“Today against the University of Virginia we had two great performances. These two wins were team wins in every sense,” said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. “We spread the responsibility and everyone on the team had a role and needed to accept that role and I was very proud of how they handled that as well as the environment. The UVA meet is always intense. We had a lot of very good swims and excellent dives. It’s always great meet against UVA and it’s great to come out on top.”

The Tar Heel men defeated Virginia for the third time in the last four meets and for the fourth time since 2008. That 2008 win in Chapel Hill broke a 10-year drought against UVA in dual met wins. More significant was the fact UNC defeated the Cavaliers Saturday in Charlottesville for the first time since January 25, 1997, a 150-144 win by Carolina.

On the women’s side the Tar Heels ended a seven-year losing streak at the hands of Virginia in dual meet competition. Carolina’s last win in the series came on January 20, 2007 when UNC prevailed in Charlottesville by a 182-118 score.

The Tar Heel men won 13 of 16 events Saturday, including both relay events. Junior Sam Lewis led the way with individual wins in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly while also swimming on the victorious 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays. Both Logan Heck and Nic Graesser swam on both winning relay units and also captured individual events. Heck won the 100-yard freestyle and Graesser took the 100-yard backstroke. The Tar Heels showed tremendous team balance as they won seven other individual events, all by different swimmers and divers.

On the women’s side, strength in the two diving events and overall team depth helped the Tar Heels pull off the victory. In a rare occurrence, UNC secured the triumph while winning seven events while Virginia won nine events. But the Tar Heels accumulated enough second and thirds to push its overall point total past the Cavaliers.

Junior Michole Timm won both diving events for Carolina with a strong supporting crew adding points to UNC’s winning margin. The meet came down to a winner-take-all 400-yard freestyle relay where the Tar Heels had the advantage after taking the top four spots in the 100-yard freestyle earlier in the meet. Ally Hardesty, Caroline Baldwin, Lauren Earp and Danielle Siverling put up the winning time for UNC in the relay at 3:21.07 to earn the 11 team points needed to push the Tar Heels past the clinching 150-point barrier.

UNC needed all of its depth to overcome an excellent performance by Virginia’s Courtney Bartholomew who won three individual events and swam on the Wahoos’ winning 200-yard medley relay. UNC’s other individual wins came from Danielle Siverling in the 200 free, Emma Nunn in the 200 fly, Hannah Lincoln in the 50 free and Ally Hardesty in the 100 free.

“This performance sets up well going into next week,” said DeSelm. “We have our final home dual meet versus Duke and Senior Day at 5 p.m. on Friday. We are hoping for a great crowd for our seniors. The next day we go to NC State and they are outstanding and much improved teams both on the men and the women’s side.

“It’s an exciting time of the year as we finish up the ACC dual meet schedule and prepare to march on to the ACC Championships and qualifying for NCAA Championships.”

Virginia Press Release

The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams picked up 11 event wins, but fell to North Carolina on Senior Day Saturday (Jan. 24) at the Aquatic and Fitness Center.

The No. 6 Cavalier women (3-2) fell to No. 18 Tar Heels (5-1), 156.5-143.5, while the UVa men (1-5) dropped a 192-106 decision to No. 20 UNC (4-2).

The women’s meet came down to the final event, the 400 free relay, where the Cavalier team of sophomores Kaitlyn Jones (Newark, Del.), Leah Smith (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Shannon Rauth (Glenmoore, Pa.) and Ellen Thomas (Guildford, United Kingdom) needed to pull out a win, but placed second in 3:22.42.

In the first men’s event of the day, senior JB Kolod (Pittsburgh, Pa.) led a 1-2-3 UVa finish in 3-meter diving with a score of 382.50. Juniors Carl Buergler (Arlington, Va.) and Jordan Sacks (Wilmette, Ill.) placed second and third with scores of 369.23 and 349.73, respectively. Kolod and Buergler went 2-3 in the 1-meter event with scores of 332.18 and 306.15.

The women’s 200 medley relay of junior Courtney Bartholomew (Holland, Mich.), sophomore Laura Simon (Simmern, Germany), senior Ellen Williamson (Ft. Mitchell, Ky.) and Thomas broke the AFC pool record in 1:39.02.

Bartholomew set AFC pool records in both the women’s 100 and 200 back, winning in 51.56 and 1:54.03, respectively. She also touched first in the 200 IM in 1:59.82, with Williamson finishing second in 2:01.36.

Smith and freshman Jessie Gvozdas (Henrico, Va.) went 1-2 in the women’s 1,650 free in 16:18.22 and 16:53.90, respectively. Smith also picked up the win in the 500 free in 4:45.01.

Simon swept the women’s breaststroke events, winning the 200 in an AFC pool-record time of 2:12.22, while touching first in the 100 in 1:01.37. On the men’s side, junior Yannick Kaeser (Mumpf, Switzerland) swept the men’s 100 and 200 breast events in 54.78 and 1:59.67, respectively.

Williamson won the women’s 100 fly in 53.85, while sophomore Kaitlyn Jones (Newark, Del.) finished second in 54.49.

Freshman Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) touched second in the men’s 1,650 free in 15:16.90.

In women’s 1-meter diving, junior Becca Corbett (Louisville, Ky.) placed third with a score of 263.55. She also placed third on 3-meter with a score of 310.72.

Next up, the Cavalier swimmers will travel to Christiansburg, Va., for the Virginia Tech Invitational Feb. 7-8, while the UVa divers will host the Cavalier Diving Invitational Feb. 7 at the Aquatic and Fitness Center at noon.

North Carolina vs. Virginia Dual Meet – Results

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