Photo Courtesy: Greg Mintel<\/p>\n
CHAPEL HILL \u2013 Plenty more fast swims went up on the scoreboard in the last night of the Dowd Nike Cup, with the 400 freestyle relays marking the highlights of the finals session that saw Tennessee taking seven events.<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s relay featured NC State showing off its sprint dominance and involved a stroke-for-stroke dogfight among host North Carolina, Tennessee and Air Force for second place. With all four of its swimmers breaking 44 seconds, NC State easily won the men’s relay with a 2:53.80, just a few tenths off the automatic qualifying time of 2″53.11 for the NCAA championships. Going into the final leg, Air Force went into the water first followed by Tennessee and North Carolina just a couple of tenths behind. The Cadets got their first win of the meet, posting a 2:56.11 over the 2:56.69 by Tennessee and the 2:56.70 by North Carolina.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s 400 free relay featured a bit of an upset, as NC State posted a 3:18.15 for the win. A 47.82 by Tennessee\u2019s Faith Johnson wasn\u2019t enough to catch the Wolfpack, though, as she helped her team post a 3:18.35. Those swims will be among the top three in the national collegiate rankings, though more relays this week at various invitationals might challenge those times. Also in the thick of the race was North Carolina, which took third with a 3:19.44.<\/p>\n
One of the big swims of the day came in the men\u2019s 200 back, where Sean Lehane of Tennessee posted an amazing 1:41.83 to win the title. Though not as fast as his lifetime best of 1:39.42, it\u2019s a second off the automatic qualifying time of 1:40.88 and currently the fastest time swum among college swimmers this season. Hennessey Stuart, a former training partner of Olympian Missy Franklin in Colorado now a freshman at NC State, placed second with a 1:43.66 while Tennessee Jimmy Dagley was third with a 1:46.58.<\/p>\n
Another top swim came in the men\u2019s 100 free, where Simonas Bilis earned his third victory of the meet with a 43.21. That\u2019s a second slower than the Lithuanian\u2019s lifetime best, but one of the top three collegiate swims thus far this season. Ryan Dunne of Air Force put up a 43.88 to place second and get within three tenths of his lifetime best. Ryan Held of NC State followed up in third with a 44.20.<\/p>\n
Another Lithuainian, Rokas Cepulis, gave East Carolina University its only win of the night with a 1:55.58 in the men\u2019s 200 breast. At the time of the swim, it stands as the fastest of the college season and nearly eclipsed his lifetime best of 1:55.30. Two Air Force Cadets took the rest of the podium, with Michael Barnosky placing second with a 1:59.74 and Kevin Fanter third with a 2:00.37.<\/p>\n
The other event that did not go to Tennessee was the women\u2019s 200 fly, won by Duke\u2019s Isa Paez with a 1:57.58. Tennessee went 2-3 in the race, with Heather Lundstrom posting a 1:58.60 and Mary Griffith swimming a 1:58.93.<\/p>\n
Molly Hannis had no equal in winning the 200 breast, posting a strong 2:07.09 to lower her lifetime best by five hundredths of a second and place her second collegiately behind Kierra Smith\u2019s 2:05.12 from the Arena Grand Prix meet. Well back in second was Vendela Norrman of East Carolina with a 2:14.44, while Megan Sellers was third with a 2:15.58.<\/p>\n
Faith Johnson swept the women\u2019s sprint freestyles with a 48.58 in the 100 free, almost a full second ahead of the 49.41 by NC State\u2019s Riki Bonnema and the 49.90 by NC State\u2019s Alexia Zevnik. That was Zevnik\u2019s second event in a row, after a 1:56.12 to place second in the 200 backstroke. That event was won by Tennessee\u2019s Amanda Carner with a 1:55.75, while Hellen Moffitt of North Carolina placed third with a 1:57.44.<\/p>\n
Sam McHugh wrapped up a very strong meet with a 1:44.61 in the 200 butterfly. That\u2019s a little more than a second faster than his best of the season, and close to his lifetime best of 1:43.23 from last March\u2019s NCSA junior nationals. Ben Colley of North Carolina, who enjoyed a brief time as the fastest college swimmer this season in the event, placed second with a 1:45.34, exactly a second slower than his season best. Christian McCurdy of NC State nearly took down Colley with a third-place time of 1:45.38.<\/p>\n
Tennessee\u2019s distance prowess was on full display in the women\u2019s and men\u2019s 1650 freestyles, where the Volunteers took the top two spots in both events. Morgan Dickson won the women\u2019s mile with a 16:12.44 over teammate Madeline Tegner\u2019s 16:17.38 and North Carolina\u2019s Emma Dunn with a 16:33.86. On the men\u2019s side, Evan Pinion won with a dominant 14:42.04. That\u2019s a personal best by 14 seconds, with his 14:56.47 swum at the 2012 USA Swimming nationals. On the way to his big swim, Pinion posted an 8:55.62 at the 1000-yard mark, the first swim under nine minutes this season in that distance. David Heron broke 15 minutes for the first time in his career, placing second with a 14:57.94 for a 20-second drop in his lifetime best. Anton Ipsen of NC State also had a strong swim with a 15:04.71 for third.<\/p>\n
Full results available on Meet Mobile.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Photo Courtesy: Greg Mintel CHAPEL HILL \u2013 Plenty more fast swims went up on the scoreboard in the last night of the Dowd Nike Cup, with the 400 freestyle relays<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":112631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[29818,27756,37859,26934,27971,28007,34933,46554,28005,26901,25159,37326,41540,43539,46552,46553,43516,31251,25136,26908,40876,25757,32355,28004,25161],"class_list":["post-115129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-college","tag-alexia-zevnik","tag-amanda-carner","tag-anton-ipsen","tag-ben-colley","tag-christian-mccurdy","tag-david-heron","tag-east-carolina-university","tag-emma-dunn","tag-evan-pinion","tag-faith-johnson","tag-heather-lundstrom","tag-hellen-moffitt","tag-isa-paez","tag-jimmy-dagley","tag-kevin-fanter","tag-madeline-tegner","tag-mary-griffith","tag-michael-barnosky","tag-missy-franklin","tag-molly-hannis","tag-morgan-dickson","tag-ryan-dunne","tag-ryan-held","tag-sam-mchugh","tag-sean-lehane"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n