More Gold For USA & UNC As Baldwin Wins 50 Free at WUG

TAOYUAN CITY, CHINESE TAIPEI – University of North Carolina senior Caroline Baldwin won two medals and 2017 Tar Heel alumna Hellen Moffitt captured a silver medal Saturday as the swimming competition at the 2017 World University Games wrapped up.

Competition was held at the National Taiwan Sport University Swimming Pool.

Baldwin won the gold medal in the 50-meter freestyle Saturday and also swam the anchor freestyle leg on the 400-meter medley relay team for the U.S. which claimed a silver medal. Baldwin, a Westfield, N.J., native, also won a bronze medal earlier in the week on the U.S.'s 400-meter freestyle relay team.

Moffitt, an Alexandria, Va., native who graduated from UNC last May, swam the butterfly leg on the silver medal winning 400-meter medley relay team Saturday. On Thursday, she had won the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly.

"Once again, Caroline and Hellen represented Team USA and UNC in terrific fashion," says Tar Heel head coach Rich DeSelm. "Caroline had a tremendous swim in the 50 freestyle with an improved start, a great middle part of the race and a surge to the gold in a new lifetime best time.

"On the relay, in a battle with eventual champion Japanese unit, Hellen & Caroline fought for the win on their respective legs - fly and free - to help Team USA earn the silver. We are happy for Hellen, Caroline and (UNC assistant coach) Duncan Sherrard for having great success in Taipei."

Sherrard, in his third year at UNC, was chosen as one of the assistant coaches for the U.S. women's team at the World University Games.

In the 50-meter freestyle, Baldwin won the gold medal in a time of 25.02 while Russia's Mariia Kameneva took silver in 25.08 and the U.S.'s Katrina Konopka claimed bronze in 25.21. Baldwin broke her own school record of 25.13 seconds set earlier this summer at the North Carolina Senior Championships.

In the 400-meter medley relay, Japan won with a time of 4:00.24 while the U.S. earned silver in 4:00.49 and Italy garnered bronze in 4:02.40. The difference proved to be the Japanese relay's split on the breaststroke leg. On the anchor leg, Baldwin split 54.09 as she tried to chase down Japan's Chihiro Igarashi who split in 54.32. But Baldwin ran out of room down the stretch while still earning a second-place finish for the UNC team. Moffitt's split on her butterfly leg was 58.43.

Players Mentioned

Caroline Baldwin

Hellen Moffitt

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