University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ACC Men's Championships Prelims
Two School Records Fall in Friday's Prelims
February 29, 2008 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 29, 2008
ATLANTA, GA. - The University of North Carolina men's swimming and diving team turned in excellent results during the Friday morning preliminaries of the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center. Out of 21 scoring entries entered on Friday morning, UNC placed 11 into the championship finals and six into the consolation finals and recorded career bests in two of the four entries that did not qualify.
The morning included two school records, an automatic NCAA qualifying time and 13 career best swimming times or diving scores. North Carolina enters Friday night's competition in third place, trailing Virginia and defending ACC champion Florida State. Carolina is seeking its first finish in the top two at the ACC Championships since the 2001 season.
Freshman Tyler Harris of Richmond, Va., set the school record in the 400-yard individual medley and senior Ryan Funderburk of Summerfield, N.C., established a school record in three-meter championship diving. They are both top seeds, joined by freshman Tommy Wyher in the 100-yard backstroke where the Tar Heels placed five swimmers in the Top 11. UNC also placed five swimmers in the Top 13 of the 400-yard individual medley.
In the 400 IM, Harris leads the field after the prelims by 5.06 seconds. He swam an automatic NCAA qualifying time of 3:47.04 and now joins fellow freshman Joe Kinderwater as automatic qualifiers for next month's NCAA Championships. Harris broke his career best time of 3:50.58 that he had set as UNC's previous school record in December 2007.
Carolina has three other swimmers in the championship final of the event. Freshman Andy Brake shed 10.50 seconds off his seed time to qualify second in the event at 3:52.10 as he recorded and NCAA "B" qualifying time, a standard also reached by junior Yi-Khy Saw and sophomore Jason McLaughlin. Brake moved into fourth place among all-time performers in UNC school history in the event and his 3:52.10 is just .31 of a second shy of his career best.
Saw and McLaughlin also qualified for the championship final by placing fifth and eighth, respectively. McLaughlin was one of four UNC entries to place eighth in the prelims in six events and earn the final spot in the championship finals Friday beginning at 7 p.m. Saw went 3:53.63 and is just off his career best of 3:53.38. McLaughlin finished in 3:56.13 to beat his previous personal best of 3:56.38. Freshman Joe Kinderwater had his best swim ever in a 400 IM and qualified 13th in 3:59.94. The Lancaster, Pa., native had a previous best of 4:05.13, so he clipped time by 5.18 seconds. Senior Mark Mohr was an exhibition entry in the event and he finished in 4:26.72.
Freshman Tommy Wyher was the sixth-best qualifier in the 100-yard butterfly at 48.18 seconds, just short of his career best of 48.13. Wyher moved into sixth place on the UNC's all-time performers list with the swim. Freshman Tyler Smith went 48.70 seconds to place 11th, earning a spot in the consolation finals. Smith's previous best was 50.12 and his time places him ninth in school history on the list of performers in the 100 fly. Freshman Robert Grimmett-Norris was 23rd, qualifying for the bonus consolation final (non-scoring) tonight in 49.59, just .04 off his career best.
North Carolina had only one scoring entry in the 200-yard freestyle but senior tri-captain Philip Owen of Scottsdale, Ariz., made sure the Tar Heels made the best of its short bench in the event by finishing eighth to gain the final spot in the championship final. Owen swam a 1:38.26, just off his career best 1:37.98. Two Tar Heels swam as exhibition swimmers in the event, both freshmen. Alex Ismail of Zionsville, Ind., finished in 1:42.05, and David Zolno, of Austin, Texas, went 1:43.06 to better his previous top time of 1:43.79.
Both junior Brad Mitchell and freshman Vinny Pryor recorded career best times in the 100-yard breaststroke. Mitchell qualified fourth in 55.23, eclipsing his previous top clocking of 55.43. Mitchell is now fifth in the all-time list of top performers in school history in the event. Pryor, a freshman from Jeffrey, N.H., qualified 11th in a career best time of 56.10, going faster than his career best of 56.78 set in last month's dual meet against Virginia. Senior Robby Swendiman qualified 20th in 57.54 and freshman Flynn Jones was 27th in 58.36 seconds. Jones' previous best was 58.77, also against Virginia last month.
The 100-yard backstroke was a tremendous event for UNC with swimmers qualifying first, third, eighth, 10th and 11th. Tommy Wyher and Josh Hafkin, both freshmen, earned NCAA "B" qualifying times in qualifying first and third with times of 48.38 and 48.49 seconds. Wyher moved into second place in UNC history with his time and Hafkin is now in third place all-time. Wyher exceeded his career best time, which had been 48.86, and Hafkin fell just short of his, which is 48.11.
Senior Keith Laabs qualified eighth in 48.86 to also make the championship final, just off his career best 48.59. Senior Zach Swartz and sophomore Jeff James placed 10th and 11th to make the consolation final. Swartz went a career best 49.19 (previous best time was 49.28) and James also recorded a personal best at 49.39. Swartz moved into sixth place on the UNC all-time 100 back list and James moved into eighth place on the same list. Freshman Tyler Smith swam his second event of the day and placed 30th in 51.41, but bettered his career best time of 52.02 in the process.
UNC's Ryan Funderburk established a career best scored and broke the school record score for a championship meet with a three-meter preliminaries score of 380.10 points. Funderburk is the No. 1 qualifier while sophomore David Solarz qualified eighth with 294.50 points, making it into the championship final by one-half point over the ninth-place finisher. Sophomores Mike Kelly and Austin Bradyhouse competed as exhibition divers with scores of 234.50 and 197.85, respectively.
Finals begin Friday at 7 p.m. in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 3-meter diving and the 400 medley relay.
Players Mentioned
