University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ACC Men's Championships Finals
Carolina Swimmers Score Three School Records At ACC Championships
February 26, 2009 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 26, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, MD. - Sophomores Chip Peterson and Tyler Harris broke school records Thursday and the 200-yard freestyle relay team took down a mark which had stood for 18 years as the University of North Carolina men's swimming and diving team completed its second day of competition at the 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships at the University of Maryland's Eppley Recreation Center Pool.
"I'm very proud of our group," said Tar Heel head coach Rich DeSelm. "We had lots of career bests today, saw people move up on the all-time charts and saw a lot of swimmers improve their places from prelims to finals.
"We were good in spots and flat in spots today but tonight we were much better focused and much more aggressive and that sets us up well for tomorrow morning. It will come down to what kind of morning we have Friday as we make a run at the leaders."
Led by junior Jeff James' blistering 19.08 split on the third leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Tar Heels broke the school record and placed fifth in a tightly-bunched field with a time of 1:18.97. Freshman Brad Hamilton led off in 20.29, followed by freshman Steve Cebertowicz in 19.62, James in 19.08 and freshman Evan Reed in 19.98. At 19:08, James had the second fastest split of any of the 40 swimmers in the event, bested only by the anchor leg on the winning Georgia Tech relay.
"That was a strong free relay for us. We don't have the greatest depth in the conference in the 50 free but we had three freshmen on that relay and will have everyone returning next year. Jeff James had a spectacular split. He has that ability with his speed and power. He put us in a great position in that relay to have a spectacular time," said DeSelm.
The old Tar Heel record was 1:20.06 and had stood since 1991. That time was put up by a relay that included Tod Schroeder (20.39), Mark Sedlak (19.36), Daniel Summerlin (20.49) and John Davis (19.82).
UNC is in fourth place after the second day of competition. Virginia leads with 277 points, followed by Florida State with 221.5 points, Georgia Tech with 192.5 points, North Carolina with 159 points, Virginia Tech with 130 points, NC State with 121 points, Maryland with 96 points, Duke with 90 points, Clemson with 75 points, Boston College with 42 points and Miami with 20 points.
"School records are fantastic accomplishments and congratulations to all six guys who were parts of school records tonight," said DeSelm. "Any time you set one it is a fantastic accomplishment. Tyler Harris had the three fastest splits of his career in the 200 IM this morning but didn't quite get it home. Tonight he did better and did get it home for a personal best."
The highlight of the night for the Tar Heels came in the 500-yard freestyle where UNC placed five swimmers in the Top 13, led by a new school record by sophomore Chip Peterson. The Pine Knoll Shores, N.C., native, captured sixth place overall in the event with a career best time of 4:18.18, one of six NCAA "B" qualifying times put on the scoreboard by the Tar Heels in this single event.
Peterson broke his own school record of 4:18.40 that he set in the prelims, a record he toppled that had been held by Yann deFabrique since 1993. Besides Peterson, four other Carolina swimmers had career bests on Thursday in the 500 - Wil Singley, Joe Kinderwater and Jason McLaughlin.
Freshman Wil Singley finished seventh with a time of 4:21.34 after he went a personal best 4:21.07 in the prelims of the event, in the process taking 12 second off his seed time. Tar Heel swimmers took 10-11-13-19 in the two consolation heats. Sophomore Joe Kinderwater seized 10th place with a personal best time of 4:22.10, taking four-tenths of a second off a career best 4:22.50 he had in the prelims. Junior Hank Browning placed 11th in 4:22.36, a half second better than his prelim clocking Thursday. Junior Jason McLaughlin, who had shaved over three seconds off his career best in the prelims by going 4:23.42, nearly equaled that time in the finals at 4:23.46 as McLaughlin claimed 13th place. Senior Yi-Khy Saw took 19th overall as he swam in the bonus consolation heat, going an NCAA "B" time of 4:24.55, down slightly from a prelim time of 4:24.80, and just 28 one-hundredths of a second off his personal best.
Sophomore Tyler Harris set a school record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:46.07. With that time, he won the consolation final and placed ninth in the event overall. Harris was the fourth fastest individual on the day in the event overall. Harris' time was an NCAA "B" consolation time and a career best. He broke his own school record of 1:46.54 that he set November 20, 2008 at the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia, S.C.
Sophomore Vinny Pryor placed 13th in the event, moving up three spots in the consolation final after qualifying 16th. Pryor went 1:48.63 in the event after going a career best 1:48.45 in the morning, a time that shaved 3.14 seconds off his previous career best. Junior Jeff James placed 19th in 1:49.27, just .04 off his personal best 1:49.23, while sophomore Andy Brake captured 20th place after going a career best 1:49.70 in the prelims.
Freshmen Brad Hamilton and Steve Cebertowicz both had career best times in the 50-yard freestyle Thursday evening as they finished 14th and 19th, respectively. Hamilton was clocked in 20.09 seconds, just .03 off the school record shared by Tod Schroeder (1990) and Kevin Erndl (2001). Hamilton moved into third place all-time at Carolina, just edging out Mark Sedlak (20.10) for third place. Meanwhile, Cebertowicz went 20.19 in the bonus consolation heat and has moved into sixth place on UNC's all-time Top 10 list.
In one-meter diving, junior David Solarz was Carolina's top finisher as he scored 312.40 points to finish seventh while freshman David MacDonald was 16th with 266.45 points.
Players Mentioned
