University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ACC Women's Finals
Bruce Nabs ACC Title In 200-Yard Breaststroke
February 19, 2005 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 19, 2005
ATLANTA, GA. - North Carolina junior Lizzy Bruce claimed the championship in the 200-yard breaststroke Saturday night to highlight the final night of swimming for the Tar Heels in the 2005 Atlantic Coast Conference Swimming & Diving Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. UNC finished third in the team standings with 491 points. Maryland won its first-ever ACC title in the sport with 655 points.
Virginia, which had won the past two titles, finished second with 590.5 points, followed by UNC in third place and Florida State in fourth place with 433 points. Virginia Tech (357.5), Georgia Tech (260.5), Clemson (219), NC State (194.5), Duke (180) and Miami (176) rounded out the field.
Junior Lizzy Bruce (Wichita, Kan.) claimed the first individual ACC championship of her career as she took top honors in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:14.73, edging Maryland's Krisztina Kovacs by 0.21 of a second. The winning time for Bruce was just three one-hundredths of a seconds off her career best time in the event. Freshman Kelly Woodruff (Shoreline, Wash.) and sophomore Marissa Nilon (Kennett Square, Pa.) went 1-2 in the consolation heat of the event to take ninth and 10th places overall. Woodruff clocked a time of 2:17.60 to move into eighth place all-time on the Carolina depth chart in the event while Nilon finished in 2:19.10 to move into 10th place on the all-time depth chart. Both Woodruff and Nilon recorded career best times.
UNC had four swimmers place in the championship final of the 200-yard butterfly. Freshman Lindsey Marck (Newtown, Pa.) led the Tar Heel finishers in third place with a clocking of 2:00.53 while senior Jessie Brosch was fourth in 2:01.81 and sophomore Becky Smock (Richmond, Va.) fifth with a career best time of 2:03.15. Swimmingin her second championship final of the night, sophomore Emily Reardon was seventh in 2:04.53 after going a career best 2:03.71 in the preliminaries.
Carolina placed fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:24.65. The relay consisted of senior Leila Martin (51.39), freshman Kelsey Morrissy (50.71), freshman Lindsey Marck (50.98) and senior Virginia Hanson (51.57).
In the 200-yard backstroke, sophomore Emily Reardon (Marietta, Ga.) was the only Tar Heel to qualify for the finals and she finished eighth with a time of 2:03.31. Reardon swam a career best 2:01.71 in the preliminaries to qualify for the championship final. Senior Kathleen Quinn was 18th, sophomore Britton Banning-Arndt was 20th and junior Mary Margaret Gamblin was 23rd.
Tar Heel freshman Kelsey Morrissy was UNC's top finisher in the 100-yard freestyle as the newcomer from Horsham, Pa.. won the consolation heat to finish ninth overall with a time of 51.04 seconds. Junior Leila Martin (Cornelius, N.C.) tied for 10th in the event with a time of 51.22 seconds.
Woodruff was Carolina's only swimmer to score Saturday night in the 1650-yard freestyle as the freshman placed 10th in her career best time of 16:46.04. Sophomore Erin Cutrell was 17th and sophomore Becky Smock 22nd.
Players Mentioned
