UNC Women's Swimmers Win Third Straight ACC Title

February 23, 2002 | Swimming & Diving

By: UNC Athletic Communications

Feb. 23, 2002

COLLEGE PARK, MD. -- The 15th-ranked North Carolina women's swimming and diving team finished off three outstanding days of competition Saturday to upset 12th-ranked Virginia and claim the Tar Heels' third successive Atlantic Coast Conference title in the 24th annual ACC Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Maryland's Campus Recreation Center Natatorium.

Coach Frank Comfort's Tar Heels scored 686.5 points to claim the championship, UNC's 15th conference crown in the 24-year history of the meet. Comfort, now in his 25th year as Carolina's coach, has mentored all 15 of those championship teams. The Tar Heels finished 54.5 points ahead of Virginia which was second with 632 points. The 21st-ranked Florida State Seminoles were third with 577, Clemson fourth with 400.5, 29th-ranked Maryland fifth with 392, NC State sixth with 306, Duke seventh with 247 and Georgia Tech eighth with 220. The meet MVP was Virginia's Mirjana Bosevska who won three individual events and was on one winning relay team. Florida State's Chelsie Lerew was the meet's outstanding diver as she finished second in one-meter diving and first in three-meter diving.

Two Tar Heels won individual championships on the final night of competition. Freshman Kathleen Quinn won the conference title in the 200-yard backstroke as she swam to victory in a career best time of 1:59.67. Senior Katie Hathaway set her second school record of the meet as she swam to victory in the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:11.85. Hathaway also set a school record Friday night in winning the 100-yard breaststroke. She finished her career with three ACC titles in the 100-yard breaststroke and two in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Senior Molly Sullivan started the evening off right for Carolina as she finished third in the 1650-yard freestyle in a time of 16:32.18. Virginia's Cara Lane won the event for the third straight year in 16:11.49.

The Tar Heels dominated the next event, the 200-yard backstroke, taking 1-2-3-7 in the championship final. Besides Quinn's ACC championship effort, junior Laura Collier took second in 1:59.81, junior Leigh Sanders was third in a career best time of 2:00.20 and junior Janna Turner took seventh in 2:02.94.

The Tar Heels continued their fine swimming in the 100-yard freestyle by taking second and third places. Junior Christy Watkins finished second in 49.81 seconds while sophomore Jessi Perruquet took third in 50.23 seconds. Florida State senior Christy Cech won the title in 49.53.

Hathaway led a 1-2 finish for the Tar Heels in the 200-yard breaststroke as both she and sophomore Becky Acker earned automatic qualification times for the 2002 NCAA Championships. Acker, who won the 200-yard breaststroke title at the 2001 ACC Championships, finished second in 2:12.96, well over a second better than her previous career best.

Tar Heel swimmers took 2-4-9 in the 200-yard butterfly as the team's depth continued to show itself on the last night. Sophomore Kelly Weeks earned an automatic NCAA qualifying time of 1:59.03 and eradicated her own career best for second place while sophomore Molly Freedman placed fourth in a time of 2:00.93. Senior Melissa Fiss won the consolation heat and finished ninth overall in 1:59.99. Virginia's Mirjana Bosevska won the title in 1:58.77 giving her a third individual title in the meet. She also won the 200 and 400 individual medleys.

Carolina's three-meter diving contingent also fared well with two championship finalists. Sophomore Lindsay Waddell placed fourth with 467.60 points while junior Ashley Benner was seventh with 438.30 points. Sophomore Elizabeth Misiti took 14th place with 360.35 points. Chelsie Lerew of Florida State took first place with 523.05 points.

In the evening's final event Carolina took third place in the 400-yard freestyle relay as Perruquet (50.17), Hathaway (50.65), senior Stefanie Rulis (51.28) and Watkins (49.35) were clocked in 3:21.45. Clemson had the winning relay as the Tigers touched first in 3:20.53.