North Carolina
ACC Men's Championships Prelims
Tar Heels Place 12 Into Finals Saturday
March 1, 2008 | Swimming & Diving
March 1, 2008
ATLANTA, GA. - Ryan Funderburk set a school record in platform diving while Jeff James, Vinny Pryor and Tyler Harris moved up on the UNC career charts during the Saturday morning preliminaries of the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center.
Overall, UNC placed seven swimmers and divers into Saturday's championship finals and another five into consolation finals. Three more swimmers are seeded in the Top 10 of the timed final of the 1650-yard freestyle Saturday night.
In 10-meter platform diving, senior Ryan Funderburk set the school record by qualifying fifth in the preliminaries with a score of 291.50. Funderburk already held the school record of 248.70 set in 2006. UNC sophomore David Solarz also qualified for the final in the seventh spot with a point total of 276.90, blasting his previous career best of 242.75.
In the 200-yard backstroke, sophomore Jeff James and senior Keith Laabs qualified fourth and fifth, respectively, and both attained NCAA "B qualifying times. James went a career best 1:46.05 and he moved into second place all-time at Carolina amongst performers in the event. James had a previous career best of 1:46.47 last year. Laabs qualified fifth in 1:46.14. Freshman Josh Hafkin qualified for the consolation final with a time of 1:48.52.
Both Tar Heels entered in the 100-yard freestyle qualified for the consolation finals. Senior Robby Swendiman placed 12th in 45.12 and senior Zach Swartz was 13th in 45.15. Three more Tar Heels swam as exhibition entries with freshman David Zolno timed in 46.41, freshman Alex Ismail finishing in 46.62 and freshman Tyler Smith clocking a career best 46.74. Smith's previous personal best was a high school time of 48.26, so he dropped 1.52 seconds off his previous time.
Freshman Vinny Pryor had the best swim of his career as he qualified second in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:58.89. That moves Pryor into third place in North Carolina history among all-time performers in the event. He also shattered he previous best of 2:02.16 set at the 2007 Nike Cup, taking 3.27 seconds off that time. Junior Brad Mitchell qualified for the consolation final in 14th place at 2:03.06. Freshman Flynn Jones was 29th in 2:08.56.
Carolina has two championship qualifiers and one consolation finalist in the 200-yard butterfly. Freshman Tyler Harris tied for sixth in 1:47.35, a career best that moves him into sixth place all-time on the career performers list. Harris' previous best was 1:47.75. Sophomore Jason McLaughlin qualified eighth in a career best 1:47.81 (old best was 1:48.04) and is now 10th on UNC's all-time chart. Freshman Robert Grimmett-Norris was 13th in a career best time of 1:49.02, edging his previous mark of 1:49.74. Freshman Andy Brake finished 18th in a time of 1:50.51.
Tonight, senior Philip Owen, freshman Joe Kinderwater and junior Yi-Khy Saw will swim in the timed finals of the 1650-yard freestyle.
Players Mentioned
