North Carolina
ACC Men's Championships Finals
Wyher & Harris Take Home ACC Championships
February 29, 2008 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 29, 2008
ATLANTA, GA. - The North Carolina men's swimming and diving team moved into second place after the third day of the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships Friday at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center. A pair of North Carolina freshmen, Tyler Harris and Tommy Wyher won individual championships, in the 400-yard individual medley and the 100-yard backstroke, respectively.
North Carolina headed into Friday trailing second place Florida State, the defending ACC champion, by 47 points in the team standings. Carolina is seeking its highest ACC team finish since 2001. UNC has finished either third or fourth in the league meet in each of the past six seasons.
Virginia leads the meet with 559 points while the Tar Heels now have 377 points and Florida State 352. Virginia Tech is fourth with 275 points, Georgia Tech fifth with 269, Clemson sixth with 232, NC State seventh with 204, Maryland eighth with 142, Duke ninth with 74, Boston College 10th with 54 and Miami 11th with 24.
Carolina won a pair of ACC individual championships with freshman Tyler Harris winning the 400-yard individual medley in 3:47.36 and freshman Tommy Wyher capturing the 100-yard backstroke in 48.27. Harris became the first Tar Heel to win the 400 IM since Tim Shea in 1986 while Wyher became the first Carolina swimmer to win the 100 back since Ted Brisson did so in 1998.
The win by Harris, from Richmond, Va., came in the opening event of the night as the Tar Heels placed two swimmers on the medal stand. Freshman Andy Brake of Springfield, Va., notched third place in the event by swimming a career best time of 3:51.60. Brake's time moved his into third place all-time in the event at UNC behind only Harris and Daniel Summerlin (1991-94). Three other Tar Heels scored in the event as junior Yi-Khy Saw of Penang, Malaysia, was seventh in 3:56.06, sophomore Jason McLaughlin of White Plains, N.Y., was eighth in 3:57.43, and freshman Joe Kinderwater of Lancaster, Pa., was 16th in 4:01.44.
Prior to winning the 100 back later in the evening, Wyher, a native of New Port Richey, Fla., placed eighth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 48.56 seconds. Freshman Tyler Smith of Lighthouse Point, Fla., finished 16th in 50.15, while freshman Robert Grimmett-Norris of Herndon, Va., won the bonus consolation final to place 17th overall in a career best time of 49.06.
Senior tri-captain Philip Owen of Scottsdale, Ariz., improved by two places in the championship final of the 200-yard freestyle Friday night. Owen took sixth place with a time of 1:37.77, his personal best clocking. With the time, Owen moved from 10th place to eighth place all-time on the Tar Heels' list of career performers in the 200 free.
Junior Brad Mitchell of Somers, N.Y., placed sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 55.27 seconds while freshman Vinny Pryor of Jeffrey, N.H., was 14th with a time of 56.51 seconds.
Wyher's individual triumph in the 100-yard backstroke led a list of five Tar Heel swimmers who finished in the Top 10 of the event. Freshman Josh Hafkin of Rockville, Md., was seventh in 48.95, senior Keith Laabs of Memphis, Tenn., was eighth in 48.99, senior Zach Swartz of Harleysville, Pa., was ninth in 49.16 and sophomore Jeff James of Chapel Hill, N.C., was 10th in 49.48. Both Wyher and Swartz recorded career best times in the event.
Senior Ryan Funderburk of Summerfield, N.C., was on the medals stand in the three-meter diving event with a score 366.0 points, just six-tenths of a point off his school record score. Sophomore David Solarz of Westlake, Ohio, took a seventh-place finish with a score of 317.45 points.
The Tar Heels' 400-yard medley relay team took fifth place with a time of 3:17.89. The relay team included Hafkin (49.83), Mitchell (55.10), Wyher (48.31) and James (44.65).
Players Mentioned
