University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ACC Women's Championships Finals
Sprague Repeats As ACC Champion In 500 Freestyle
February 21, 2008 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 21, 2008
ATLANTA, GA. - Junior Whitney Sprague repeated as the 500-yard freestyle champion and the University of North Carolina women's swimming and diving team employed tremendous depth in the 50-yard freestyle and one-meter diving to move into second place after Day No. 2 of the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center.
UNC also set a school record in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:31.34, breaking a mark that had stood since 2002. The relay finished third and included senior Kelsey Morrissy (22.92), freshman Rebecca Kane (22.67), sophomore Eliza Butts (22.90) and sophomore Megan Steeves (22.85). The previous Tar Heel record from 2002 was 1:31.72 and was held by Jessi Perruquet, Katie Hathaway, Stefanie Rulis and Christy Watkins.
Virginia leads the team standings after the second day of the meet with 259 points. North Carolina is second with 241 points and Florida State is third with 181.5 points. Places 4-11 are as follows: Clemson, 149; Virginia Tech, 126; Georgia Tech, 104; Duke, 101; Miami, 94; Maryland 87.5; NC State, 67, Boston College, 26.
Sprague, a junior from Bronxille, N.Y., won her second straight title in the 500-yard freestyle, moving from the No. 3 seed to the championship awards stand with a time of 4:42.80. It was Sprague's third individual championship in the past two years. Sprague also won the 1650-yard freestyle last season.
Freshman Katura Harvey of Rockville, Md. also made the awards stand in the 500 free by finishing third in 4:45.90. Harvey had set a personal best in prelims to earn the No. 1 seed in the event heading into finals. Sophomore Ashley Howard was also a championship finalist, taking eighth place in 4:55.06.
Carolina also had three championship finalists in both the 50-yard freestyle and one-meter diving.
Freshman Rebecca Kane of Toms River, N.J. captured third place in the 50-yard freestyle with a career best time of 22.77 seconds, .10 faster than her previous career best set in Thursday morning's preliminaries. North Carolina senior Kelsey Morrissy of Horsham, Pa. place fourth in the event at 22.82 and sophomore Megan Steeves of Newark, Del. was seventh in 23.19.
The Carolina divers excelled Thursday night in one-meter diving with all four finishing in the Top 12 and three making the championship finals. Redshirt sophomore Mandi Arak of Scottsdale, Ariz. took fifth place with 264.20 points (268.6 in prelims) while junior transfer Erica Schiffler of Woodbury, Minn. claimed seventh with 239.5 (257.5 in prelims) and senior Erika Matheis of Webster, N.Y. notched eighth with 229.65 points (250.85 in prelims). Senior Laura Filip of Durham, N.C. placed 12th in the prelims but did not advance to the finals. Her score was 238.70 points.
Three Tar Heels scored in the 200-yard individual medley led by sophomore Alison Clemens of Staten Island, N.Y. who finished seventh with a time of 2:02.92. Sophomore Barbara Thomas of Plantation, Fla. finished 15th in 2:04.63 and junior Aubrette Biegel of Schererville, Ind. was 16th in 2:05.00.
Day Three of this year's conference championships will begin at 11 a.m. Friday morning with preliminaries of the 400-yard individual medley, the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard freestyle, the 100-yard breaststroke and the 100-yard backstroke.
Players Mentioned
