Chapel Hill, N.C. – The Virginia men\u2019s and women\u2019s swimming and diving teams defeated North Carolina on Friday (Jan. 25) in a dual meet at the Koury Natatorium in Chapel Hill, N.C.<\/p>\n
No. 5 Virginia women\u2019s team topped the Tar Heels 172-126, while the No. 14 Cavalier men defeated North Carolina 187-112.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorth Carolina has long been a swimming and diving rival for our program and it\u2019s always an exciting environment to thrive in,\u201d head coach Todd DeSorbo said. \u201cThe team stepped up and raced well on the road. Getting two victories was the goal and we looked strong accomplishing that.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cHats off to our seniors as this is their last weekend of collegiate dual meets. Now we have a quick turnaround, heading to NC State tomorrow, which will be another tough battle that we are excited to stroll into.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nVirginia opened the meet with a sweep in the 400-yard medley relay as sophomore Marcella Maguire<\/strong> (Ridgefield, Conn.), freshman Kaki Christensen<\/strong> (Darien, Conn.), junior Morgan Hill<\/strong> (Olney, Md.) and senior Eryn Eddy<\/strong> (Loveland, Conn.) finished first in the women\u2019s race with a time of 3:37.42, while the men\u2019s team of junior Joe Clark<\/strong> (Worcester Park, Great Britain), sophomore Keefer Barnum<\/strong> (Louisville, Ky.), senior Zach Fong<\/strong> (Moorestown, N.J.) and sophomore Samuel Schilling<\/strong> (Excelsior, Minn.) placed first with a time of 3:13.72.<\/p>\nIn the men\u2019s competition, the Cavaliers captured the top-three times in two events. Fong led the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:48.84, while freshman Casey Storch<\/strong> (Great Falls, Va.) finished second with a time of 1:49.20 and junior Ted Schubert<\/strong> (Ashland, Va.) finished third with a time of 1:49.44. In the 500-yard freestyle, senior Dan Golczewski<\/strong> (Bel Air, Md.) paced the event, swimming a time of 4:25.93 as senior Sam Magnan<\/strong> (Bethlehem, Pa.) placed second with a time of 4:28.65 and sophomore Samuel Schilling<\/strong> (Excelsior, Minn.) finished third with a time of 4:30.58.<\/p>\nAdditionally, the men\u2019s team recorded wins from junior Ryan Baker<\/strong> (Arlington, Va.), who finished first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:38.13), before following with the top swim in the 100-yard freestyle (44.44). Magnan paced the 1000-yard freestyle (9:13.91), as redshirt senior Brendan Casey<\/strong> won in the 200-yard backstroke (1:46.66), Fong won the 100-yard butterfly (47.96) and junior Jacob Wells<\/strong> (Henrico, Va.) won the 200-yard individual medley (1:50.45).<\/p>\nOn the women\u2019s side, freshman Alexis Wenger<\/strong> (Detroit, Mich.) captured the seventh-best time in program history with her win in the 200-yard breaststroke at a time of 2:11.59. She also captured a career-best time for first place in the 100-yard breaststroke, recording a time of 1:00.98.<\/p>\nSophomore Emma Seiberlich<\/strong> (Audubon, Pa.) captured a pair of victories, winning the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:54.19 after opening the day with the 1000-yard freestyle\u2019s fastest time at 10:01.47. Hill topped both the 50 and 200-yard freestyle, swimming a time of 22.40 and 1:46.30, respectively.<\/p>\nEddy finished first in the 100-yard freestyle (50.13), while sophomore Paige Madden<\/strong> (Mobile, Ala.) finished first in the 200-yard backstroke (1:56.39) and freshman Jessica Nava<\/strong> (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) finished first in the 100-yard butterfly (54.68).<\/p>\nJunior diver Sydney Dusel<\/strong> (Naperville, Ill.) topped the 1m board, with a score of 308.33, while freshman Walker Creedon<\/strong> (Cary, N.C.) won the men\u2019s 1m board with a career-best score of 310.20. Senior Bryce Shelton (Vienna, Va.) won the men\u2019s 3m board with a score of 380.40.<\/p>\nThe team concluded the night with the men\u2019s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Baker, freshman Justin Grender<\/strong> (Cincinnati, Ohio), Schilling and sophomore Cooper Wozencraft<\/strong> (Houston, Texas) swimming a time of 1:20.98 to finish first in the event.<\/p>\n“Virginia’s got a great team,” head coach Rich DeSelm<\/strong> said. “They’re well-coached and they’ve got talent across the board. They did what they needed to do, but I was more focused on our team. Even though we didn’t win the meet, today was awesome. We accomplished a lot of goals and I think the team can stand tall and be proud of how they went about things.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nNorth Carolina freshmen Grace Countie<\/strong> (53.65) and Sophie Lindner<\/strong> (54.25) paired up to finish first and second in the women’s 100 back while sophomore Alvin Jiang immediately followed their performances with a 100 back title of his own in the men’s race, clocking the top time of 47.85.<\/p>\nSophomore Valdas Abaliksta<\/strong> and freshman Sterling Smith<\/strong> followed their teammates’ lead in the men’s 100 breast. Abaliksta touched the wall in 54.11 for the first of his two individual wins and Smith recorded a time of 54.46 \u2014 a whole second faster than the third-place finisher. Abaliksta would also go on to finish first in the men’s 200 breast with a time of 1:59.71.<\/p>\nThree more Tar Heels would take individual titles in the pool. Junior Bryanna Cameron<\/strong> finished first in the women’s 200 fly (1:58.43) and sophomore Eli Coan<\/strong> made an impressive run from lane one to take the men’s 50 free in 20.58. Additionally, sophomore Caroline Hauder<\/strong> won the women’s 200 IM with a time of 2:00.40.<\/p>\n“Keeping the team energy is very important,” DeSelm said. “Swimming success goes in cycles. We’re not as competitive as we have been with NC State and Virginia in past years, but there’s no give up in this team. Every meet is a learning opportunity and a chance to find a way to be better, to find a way to help your team members be better. I think we did that today.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n