Tar Heel Swimmers & Divers Fall To Wolfpack On Senior Night

Friday, January 26

Chapel Hill, N.C.

5:00 p.m.

North Carolina

NC State

The Tar Heels celebrated the 2018 seniors on Friday night.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

January 26, 2018 | Swimming & Diving

Complete Results Photo Gallery

UNC finishes off dual meet season Saturday at Duke.

By: Dave Lohse

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The University of North Carolina men's and women's swimming and diving teams fell to NC State in dual meet action Friday evening on Senior Night at Koury Natatorium.

The meet marked the final home dual meet performance for 15 Tar Heel men's and women's senior swimmers, divers and student managers.

The third-ranked NC State men defeated UNC 186-109 to improve to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the ACC. Carolina is now 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the ACC. The 14^th-ranked Wolfpack women defeated the 21^st-ranked Tar Heel women 164-136. Both teams are now 4-4 on the season overall. NC State is 2-1 in the ACC and Carolina is 1-2.

CAROLINA'S TOP PERFOMERS: On the men's side, UNC won four events, including a sweep of the diving. Redshirt junior Sean Burston won the one-meter diving with a score of 370.95 while freshman Greg Duncan took home three-meter diving with 408.15 points. The Tar Heels also had the top official time in the 200-yard individual medley with Noah Cairns and in the 400-yard freestyle relay with Jack Messenger, Valdas Abaliksta, Alvin Jiang and J.T. Casey.

On the women's side, UNC started off the meet with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay as Caroline Baldwin, Caroline Hauder, Emma Cole and Brooke Bauer touched first in 1:38.85. Five Tar Heels earned single individual event wins on the women's side. Winners were Zhada Fields in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:48.19, Caroline Hauder in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:01.06, Bryanna Cameron in the 200-yard butterfly at 1:58.91, Caroline Baldwin in the 100-yard freestyle at 49.05 and Maria Lohman in the one-meter diving with 297.60 points.

WHAT THE TAR HEELS HAD TO SAY:
Head Coach Rich DeSelm
"We absolutely respect the quality program that N.C. State has. We knew they would be coming in here with a lot of firepower and they did. It was a good healthy competition. I thought our team as a whole stepped up to the challenge far better this week than we did last week at Virginia. That's a positive sign. We've got to turn around and go over to Duke tomorrow. It will be its senior day. We are looking forward to the racing tomorrow, it should be a lot of fun. It was our senior night tonight, their last dual meet in Koury Natatorium. We took some time to honor our seniors and are very appreciative of their contributions over their careers here. Overall, we didn't win but it was a much better showing than last week."
Diving Coach Abel Sanchez
"They did great. The guys did a really good job. Devin Bellamy and Andrew Owsiany killed it. I needed them to step up and they did a really good job. Sean Burston and Greg Duncan are coming into their own. The women did very well. On three-meter I think all the women did an excellent job. Maria Lohman did a great job on both boards. Unfortunately, our senior, Elissa Dawson, had a little mishap in warmups when she hit the board and wasn't able to dive. All in all, I think the group did a fantastic job."
Senior Swimmer Caroline Baldwin:
"We started with senior day so it was a little bittersweet. I remember senior day vividly all four years for the past three years. It's so weird to think that my class's day was finally today. It was a little emotional before the meet so we all had to dial back in. N.C. State is always a really fun meet and I am glad we got to have a senior day this meet because we have such a good rivalry between the two of us. Everyone brought their A-game today, so much better than last week at UVA. For the most part, just be a cohesive, united team."
Men's Diver Sean Burston
"Today went pretty well for all of us. It's a team sport and N.C. State has a great team so it is always good to get some great competition in there so I think today went pretty well."
On the guys going 1, 2, 3 and 4 on the one meter:
"That was awesome. We were really proud of all our guys. Our underclassmen, they really showed up when we needed them too."

UP NEXT: The Tar Heels will close out the 2017-18 dual meet season on Saturday when they swim at Duke at 1 p.m. at Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion.

MEN'S TEAM SCORE: #3 NC STATE 186, NORTH CAROLINA 109
TOP CAROLINA FINISHERS IN EACH EVENT--MEN
200-Yard Medley Relay: 4^th place, Alvin Jiang, Valdas Abaliksta, Nick Loomis, J.T. Casey, 1:28.81
1000-Yard Freestyle: Nick Palmer, 5^th Place, 9:32.57
200-Yard Freestyle: Henry Campbell, 4^th Place, 1:39.03
100-Yard Backstroke: Alvin Jiang, 3^rd Place, 48.10
100-Yard Breaststroke: Valdas Abaliksta, 3^rd Place, 55.08
200-Yard Butterfly: Collier Cobb, 2^nd Place, 1:50.97
50-Yard Freestyle: J.T. Casey, 4^th Place, 20.50
Three-Meter Diving: Greg Duncan, 1^st Place, 408.15
100-Yard Freestyle: Jack Messenger, 5^th Place, 45.45
200-Yard Backstroke: Chris Thames, 4^th Place, 1:48.91
200-Yard Breaststroke: Michael McBryan, 3^rd Place, 2:01.19
500-Yd. Freestyle: Henry Campbell, 3^rd Place, 4:30.40
100-Yd. Butterfly: Alvin Jiang, 3^rd Place, 48.39
One-Meter Diving: Sean Burston, 1^st Place, 370.95
200-Yard Individual Medley: Noah Cairns, 1st Place, 1:53.21
400-Yard Freestyle Relay: 1st Place, Jack Messenger, Valdas Abaliksta, Alvin Jiang, J.T. Casey, 3:01.94
Records: NC State 6-0, ACC 3-0; North Carolina, 3-5, ACC 1-2

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORE: #14 NC STATE 164, #21 NORTH CAROLINA 136
TOP CAROLINA FINISHERS IN EACH EVENT—WOMEN
200-Yard Medley Relay: 1^st Place, Caroline Baldwin, Caroline Hauder, Emma Cole, Brooke Bauer, 1:38.85
1000-Yard Freestyle: Robyn Dryer, 4^th Place, 9:59.51
200-Yard Freestyle: Zhada Fields, 1^st Place, 1:48.19
100-Yard Backstroke: Caroline Baldwin, 2^nd Place, 53.16
100-Yard Breaststroke: Caroline Hauder, 1^st Place, 1:01.06
200-Yard Butterfly: Bryanna Cameron, 1^st Place, 1:58.91
50-Yard Freestyle: Kate Boyer, 2^nd Place, 22.95
Three-Meter Diving: Taylor Hockenberry, 2^nd Place, 304.80
100-Yard Freestyle: Caroline Baldwin, 1^st Place, 49.05
200-Yard Backstroke: Caroline Hauder, 3^rd Place, 1:58.81
200-Yard Breaststroke: Brooke Perrotta, 3^rd Place, 2:16.06
500-Yd. Freestyle: Bryanna Cameron, 3^rd Place, 4:53.43
100-Yd. Butterfly: Emma Cole, 2^nd Place, 53.93
One-Meter Diving: Maria Lohman, 1^st Place, 297.60
200-Yard Individual Medley: Sydney Baker, 3^rd Place, 2:03.19
400-Yard Freestyle Relay: 2^nd Place, Caroline Baldwin, Zhada Fields, Emma Cole, Brooke Bauer, 3:20.23
Records: NC State 4-4, ACC 2-1; North Carolina 4-4, ACC 1-2