University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ACC Men's Championships Finals
Tar Heels Post Highest ACC Finish Since 2001
March 1, 2008 | Swimming & Diving
March 1, 2008
ATLANTA, GA. - Led by freshman Joe Kinderwater's ACC championship in the 1650-yard freestyle, the University of North Carolina men's swimming and diving team placed second at the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships which concluded Saturday night at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center. The second-place finish was the best for UNC at the ACC Championships since the 2001 team placed second thus ending a streak of six straight third- or fourth-place finishes for UNC.
Carolina finished behind only Virginia in the team standings. The Tar Heels had 560 total points in the meet, the most scored by UNC at an ACC championship meet since the 2001 team scored 594.5 points. Final team scores were Virginia 833, North Carolina 560, Florida State 524, Georgia Tech 375, Virginia Tech 363, Clemson 346, NC State 302, Maryland 235, Duke 110, Boston College 68 and Miami 44.
North Carolina had 67 season-best swims at the ACC Championships, almost totally rewriting the team's season-long depth chart in this one meet.
Joe Kinderwater, a freshman from Lancaster, Pa., won the ACC championship in the 1650-yard freestyle, and became the third Tar Heel to win a title at the meet, joining freshman Tyler Harris in the 400-yard individual medley and freshman Tommy Wyher in the 100-yard backstroke. They won their titles on Friday night.
Kinderwater swam a career best 14:57.78 to claim the title, the second fastest time in school history behind only Chip Peterson's school record time of 14:55.63 set last year. Kinderwater cut 7.64 seconds off his previous career best time of 15:05.42 which he swam last month in a dual meet win versus NC State. Kinderwater won the league championship by 7.14 seconds over the second-place finisher in the event. Kinderwater's winning time was also an automatic qualifying time for the 2008 NCAA Championships.
Two other Tar Heels finished in the Top 6 of the event with outstanding swims of their own. Senior tri-captain Philip Owen of Scottsdale, Ariz., placed fifth in 15:10.87 and junior Yi-Khy Saw of Penang, Malaysia, was sixth in 15:15.02. Both times are NCAA "B" qualifying times. Saw's time was 17.59 seconds faster than his career best which was a time of 15:33.01 from high school. Senior Mark Mohr of Mequon, Wis., swam as an exhibition swimmer and recorded a time of 17:10.69.
Kinderwater now ranks No. 2 on the UNC career chart in the 1650 and Saw moved into the No. 10 all-time spot. Owen had a split of 9:10.71 at the 1000-yard mark of his 1650 swim, which marked his career best time, breaking his old mark of 9:12.51. Owen's 9:10.71 moves him into sixth place all-time in the event at UNC.
Senior Ryan Funderburk of Summerfield, N.C., finished fifth in 10-meter platform diving with a score of 306.0 points. Funderburk's score broke his own school record for points in a championship meet platform event which he had set in the prelims of the event. Funderburk's score also qualified him for the NCAA Zone Championships. Sophomore David Solarz of Westlake, Ohio, placed eighth in the 10-meter platform with a score of 276.60 points.
Freshman Vinny Pryor of Jeffrey, N.H., swam his second personal best time of the day to place second in the 200-yard breaststroke at 1:58.74. Pryor had gone a career best 1:58.89 in the prelims and then dropped his time an additional .15 of a second in the final heat. That allowed him to move into second place all-time at Carolina in the event, trailing only UNC assistant coach Sean Quinn who set the school record of 1:56.39 in 2002. Junior Brad Mitchell of Somers, N.Y., moved up to 10th place in the consolation final after qualifying 14th. Mitchell swam a career best 2:00.38, bettering his previous time of 2:01.69 from his freshman year. Mitchell's 2:00.38 moved him into ninth place on UNC's all-time performers list. Both Pryor and Mitchell swam NCAA "B" qualifying times.
In the 200-yard backstroke, senior Keith Laabs of Memphis, Tenn., finished fourth with a time of 1:45.71, while sophomore Jeff James of Chapel Hill, N.C., was sixth in 1:46.15 and freshman Josh Hafkin of Rockville, Md., was 10th in 1:47.78. Hafkin's time moved him into No. 6 on the Tar Heels' all-time performers list in the 200 back.
Carolina had two swimmers in the consolation final of the 100-yard freestyle with senior Zach Swartz (Harleysville, Pa.) finishing 12th in 45.15 and senior Robby Swendiman (Kensington, Md.) placing 16th in 45.42.
Freshman Tyler Harris of Richmond, Va., was UNC's top finisher in the 200-yard butterfly with a seventh-place finish at 1:47.53 while sophomore Jason McLaughlin of White Plains, N.Y., was eighth in a career best 1:47.73, placing him 10th all-time on the North Carolina top performers list. Freshman Robert Grimmett-Norris was 16th in 1:49.96 and freshman Andy Brake finished 21st in 1:51.59.
North Carolina finished eighth in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:59.89. The relay consisted of freshman Tommy Wyher with a career best 45.37 (previous career best was 45.41), Zach Swartz (44.73), Robby Swendiman (45.00) and Jeff James (44.79).
Players Mentioned
