Duncan Becomes First Tar Heel To Sweep ACC Springboard Diving Since 1958

Thursday, February 15

Greensboro, N.C.

10 a.m. prelims, 6 p.m. finals

North Carolina

ACC Championships (Women's Swimming/Men's & Women's Diving)

Caroline Baldwin 50 free 2nd place 2018 ACC meet

Caroline Baldwin finished as the ACC runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle.

Duncan Becomes First Tar Heel To Sweep ACC Springboard Diving Since 1958

February 15, 2018 | Swimming & Diving

2/15/18 Finals Results 2/15/18 Prelims Results

Baldwin places second in 50-yard freestyle.

By: Dave Lohse

GREENSBORO. N.C. - The University of North Carolina aquatics program was on display again Thursday night at the 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Swimming and Diving and Men's Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatics Center.

Senior co-captain Caroline Baldwin placed second in the women's 50-yard freestyle while freshman Greg Duncan became the first Tar Heel men's diver since 1958 to sweep the one-meter and three-meter events at the conference meet.

After the second full day of competition, the Tar Heel women's team stands in fourth place with 331 points. Carolina trails Virginia (442.5), Louisville (414.5) and NC State (373) in the team standings. Spots 5-12 are occupied by Notre Dame (283), Duke (274.5), Virginia Tech (235), Pitt (191), Florida State (186.5), Miami (143), Georgia Tech (134) and Boston College (60).

"We had another strong day today. The team's focus and energy are terrific," said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "We saw a lot of great performances in both prelims and finals. Obviously, Greg Duncan's second victory in the men's diving was stellar and his two first place finishes on the springboards at this meet place him among the best divers to ever compete at UNC. His mental strength, work ethic and willingness to do the extra things he needs to do to be great are what separates him. Coach (Abel) Sanchez has done a great job preparing our divers for this meet.

"Our women swam well today," DeSelm continued. "At the top end, Caroline Baldwin continues to be outstanding for us. She battled for the top spot in the 50 free, finishing second and had a terrific lead off on our 200 free relay. She continues to shine at the ACC's with her sights on being great at her last NCAA's in a month. Caroline Hauder had another outstanding day with a career best in the 200 IM, breaking our UNC record along the way. We had a great group of individual medley swimmers today with most all going lifetime best times. Our 500 freestylers learned from their prelim swims and most of them swam smarter, more controlled races leading to career bests. In the final event, the 200 free relay, we got out to a great start with Baldwin and Brooke Bauer and were in the hunt for the win, but ended up off the podium by just .01. Every year the ACC Championships are fantastic and exciting. We are looking forward to racing tomorrow."

Greg Duncan, the Oakton, Va. freshman, has come into his own at this meet. After winning three-meter diving on Thursday by less than one point, he ran away from the field in one-meter diving on Thursday, winning with a school record score of 428.05, more than 36 points ahead of the event runner-up. Jack Nyquist held the previous school record with 407.95 points set in 2016. Two other Tar Heels scored in one-meter diving with Sean Burston placing 16th with 285.90 points and Bryan Allen placing 19th with 277.05 points. The diving points earned by Carolina's men's diving contingent will be factored into next week's scores when the men's swimmers convene in Greensboro for their meet February 21-24.

Over the past two nights Duncan has accomplished the following:
• Become the first Tar Heel men's diver to win the three-meter diving event at the ACC Championships since Eric Poitras in 2004
• Become the first Tar Heel men's diver to win the one-meter diving event at the ACC Championships since Joe Craft in 1994
• Become the first Tar Heel men's diver to sweep the one-meter and three-meter events at the ACC Championships since Ned Meekins in 1958

"I'm so proud of all of our men divers," said Tar Heel diving coach Abel Sanchez. "I know Sean (Burston), Bryan (Allen) and Andrew (Owsiany) wanted to finish better but today was another good day to be a Tar Heel diver. Today's competition was intense and full of energy. This event could have gone to anyone in this finals. I thought tonight's finals was going to be determined by the diver that could keep their composure throughout the competition. It was thrilling to watch Greg stay grounded and stick to the basics and focus on the small mechanics we've been working on in dry land. He's a heck of a competitor and I'm blessed to have the team that we have. I tell my divers, even though we are an individual sport, all the successes occur because of the team."

Senior Caroline Baldwin continued her fantastic year of swimming as a senior by taking second in the 50-yard freestyle for the second straight season. Baldwin clocked a 21.89 to take second place and led three Tar Heels who scored in the event. Sophomore Brooke Bauer placed 10th in 22.41 seconds and freshman Maddie Smith was 24th in 22.73. Baldwin joins diver Maria Lohman as All-ACC honorees through the second day of the meet.

Carolina's 200-yard freestyle relay team finished fourth in the event in a time of 1:29.04. The UNC relay included Baldwin (21.77), Bauer (22.08), Smith (22.44) and junior Zhada Fields (22.75).

Freshman Caroline Hauder was the other championship finalist for Carolina on Thursday night as she placed sixth in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:56.46. In the preliminaries of the event, Hauder set a career best and broke the UNC school record with a time of 1:55.82. She broke the record of 1:55.86 that was set by Cari Blalock in 2013. Four other Tar Heels scored in the 200-yard individual medley. Freshman Sydney Baker was 15th with a career best time of 1:59.60. In the "C" final, sophomore Susanna LaRochelle finished 17th (winning the heat) with a career best time of 1:59.08. Freshman Brooke Perrotta was 23rd in 2:01.46 (career best 2:00.21 in prelims) and sophomore Reni Moshos was 24th in 2:01.72.

A trio of Carolina swimmers swam in the 500-yard freestyle and all three posted career best times on Thursday. Junior Robyn Dryer finished 13th in 4:45.12 and sophomore Bryanna Cameron was 16th in 4:47.15 (she went a career best 4:46.09 in the prelims). Junior Zhada Fields won the "C" final and finished 17th overall in a career best time of 4:45.38.

Action continues Friday at the Greensboro Aquatics Center with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.