Carolina Continues Stellar Swimming Performance Friday In Tennessee

Friday, December 1

Knoxville, Tenn.

6:00 p.m.

North Carolina

Tennessee Swimming Invitational Finals

Freshman Valdas Abaliksta became the third fastest Tar Heel ever in the 100-yard breaststroke on Friday night.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

Carolina Continues Stellar Swimming Performance Friday In Tennessee

December 1, 2017 | Swimming & Diving

Friday's Finals Results (pdf)

Baldwin captures second individual event of meet.

By: Dave Lohse

KNOXVILLE, TENN. – The University of North Carolina men's and women's swimming teams continued their excellent swimming Friday night at the 2017 University of Tennessee Invitational at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.

UNC senior Caroline Baldwin won her second event of the meet, taking first place Friday night in the 100-yard backstroke after her win in the 50-yard freestyle in an ACC record time on Thursday.

Freshman Alvin Jiang posted a pair of Top 6 finishes on Friday, capturing third in the 100-yard butterfly and sixth in the 100-yard backstroke. Fellow freshman Valdas Abaliskta earned a second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke, moving into third place amongst the fastest Tar Heels ever in the event. Another UNC freshman, Caroline Hauder, placed third in the women's 100-yard breaststroke and in the process she moved into second place all-time amongst Tar Heel swimmers in the event. UNC senior Henry Campbell was another championship finalist as the veteran Tar Heel finished fourth in the 400-yard individual medley.

After two days, the Tar Heel women stand in third place and the Tar Heel men in fifth place. UNC sent only swimmers to the meet while the opposing teams feature both swimmers and divers.

The Tar Heel women opened the evening with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, posting a season best time of 1:37.68. The UNC relay included Caroline Baldwin (24.99 backstroke), Caroline Hauder (26.90 breaststroke), Emma Cole (23.47 butterfly) and Brooke Bauer (22.32 freestyle). On the men's side, the Tar Heel "A" relay finished fifth with a season best time of 1:28.10. The unit included Alvin Jiang (22.19 backstroke), Valdas Abaliksta (24.29 breaststroke), Nick Loomis (21.64 butterfly) and J.T. Casey (19.98 freestyle).

UNC had a pair of swimmers in the "A" final of the women's 400-yard individual medley along with three swimmers in the "B" final and four in the non-scoring "C" final. Bryanna Cameron was Carolina's top finisher in sixth place at 4:17.25 and Sydney Baker placed eighth. In the "B" final, Reni Moshos took 10^th, Mary-O Soule placed 12^th and Emily Slabe garnered 13^th.

Tar Heel senior Henry Campbell placed fourth in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 3:53.78. A pair of UNC competitors took the top two spots in the "B" final with Noah Cairns notching ninth place in 3:55.54 and Brendan Feehery taking 10^th with a time of 3:55.77.

North Carolina freshmen Emma Cole and Alvin Jiang were the top Tar Heel finishers in the 100-yard butterfly events. Cole placed seventh in the women's event with a time of 54.02 after going 53.81 in the preliminaries, a clocking which moved her into ninth place all-time in the event in UNC history. Susanna LaRochelle and Zhada Fields placed 10^th and 11^th, respectively, in the "B" final with LaRochelle posting a career best 54.11 time. Jiang placed third in the men's event in a time of 47.56. He was joined in the "A" final by Nick Loomis who placed eighth while Greg Brocato and Patrick Cusick placed 13^th and 14^th in the "B" final.

The Tar Heels had a pair of swimmers in the final of the women's 200-yard freestyle in juniors Robyn Dryer and Zhada Fields who were sixth and seventh, respectively. On the men's side, freshman Dimitrios Dimitriou was Carolina's top finisher in fifth place with a season best time of 1:37.16.

UNC freshmen excelled in the 100-yard breaststroke events. Caroline Hauder took third place in the women's event and Brooke Perrotta was sixth. Hauder swam a career best 1:00.27, a time which moved her into second place in the event in UNC history. Perrotta recorded a time of 1:01.34 and she now ranks as the seventh fastest performer in Tar Heel history. In the men's 100-yard breaststroke, UNC freshman Valdas Abaliksta was the event runner-up in a season best time of 53.29 seconds. He now ranks third in UNC history in the event behind only Craig Emslie and Kurt Wohlrab.

In the women's 100-yard backstroke, Caroline Baldwin won her second individual championship of the meet, adding to the 50-yard freestyle event that she won on Thursday night. Baldwin clocked a 51.95 to claim the title. UNC had three swimmers in the "B" final led by Susanna LaRochelle in 11^th place and Emily Slabe in 12^th place. In the men's 100-yard backstroke, freshman Alvin Jiang placed sixth in 47.85, earning his second Top 6 finish of the night after finishing third earlier in the 100-yard butterfly.

The Tar Heels notched fourth place in the men's 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 6:34.96. The unit included Henry Campbell, Dimitrios Dimitriou, Hans Schroeder and Daniel Koenigsperger. The top finisher for the women in the 800-yard freestyle relay was the team of Caroline Hauder, Emma Cole, Robyn Dryer and Zhada Fields which placed fifth in 7:15.10.

Action in the Invitational concludes Saturday with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.

UNC's divers competed at the Purdue Invitational the weekend before Thanksgiving while the Tar Heel swimmers are in Knoxville this weekend for their fall invitational.

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES: Tennessee 749, Duke 559, North Carolina 519, Denver 459, Pennsylvania 236, Marshall 110, Carson-Newman 91, Tennessee Aquatics 20, Unattached 16
MEN'S TEAM SCORES: Tennessee 830.5, Denver 533.5, Pennyslvania 472, Duke 399, North Carolina 322, Carson-Newman 138