University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
NCAA Women's Championships Finals
Whitney Sprague Takes Second Place NCAA Finish In 1650 Freestyle
March 21, 2009 | Swimming & Diving
March 21, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS - In her last swim as a Tar Heel, Senior Whitney Sprague placed second in the nation in the 1650-yard freestyle and posted the eighth fastest performance in NCAA history in the event with a time of 15:46.57 on the final evening of the 2009 Division I NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.
Sprague demolished her own ACC and UNC records in the event by dropping more than four seconds off of her previous best of 15:51.02, set in 2007. Her swim was the third successive Top 3 finish in the event at the NCAA Championships. She also placed second last year.
"Whitney swam in the second to last heat of the mile and put up a fantastic swim," said University of North Carolina head coach Rich DeSelm. "She dug deep and put up a giant time: a school record, an ACC record, and the eighth fastest performance by a female in the event in NCAA history. It was a tremendous swim by Whitney, and I am so proud of her."
Katura Harvey became the second All-American of the meet for the Tar Heels with a seventh place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle. Harvey swam a career best time of 15:56.77, dropping more than two seconds off of her previous best of 15:59.07 set a month ago at ACCs. Her time is the second fastest all-time at Carolina in the event behind Sprague. Freshman Katelyn Martin also competed in the mile, finishing 38th in the event with a time of 16:32.16.
The nine-member Tar Heel squad finished the meet in 20th-place with 41 points.
"I'm proud of our group and our entire team," DeSelm said. "It takes more than just these nine girls here at the meet to make this happen. Everyone pushed one another to make us better. It's a true team effort and I couldn't be more proud right now."
In preliminaries Saturday morning, Junior Ashley Howard touched the wall in 28th place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:55.53, just .08 off of her personal best and UNC record of 1:55.45.
Three Tar Heels competed in the preliminaries of the 100-yard freestyle. Rebecca Kane placed 32nd with a personal best time of 49.08, besting her previous record of 49.10. Kane's 49.08 places her second all-time at Carolina in the event. Junior Eliza Butts finished 57th in 50.15 and junior Megan Steeves placed 59th in 50.28.
Freshman Laura Moriarty led the Tar Heels in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 24th-place finish in 2:11.69, just half a second off of her career best time of 2:11.12. Fellow freshman Layne Brodie finished 32nd in the event with a time of 2:12.71.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Rebecca Kane (49.43), Megan Steeves (49.79), Eliza Butts (49.96), and Katura Harvey (49.93) just missed making finals with an 18th-place finish in the event in 3:19.11.
UNC's men's team will begin NCAA competition next Thursday in College Station, Texas. UNC's qualifiers are junior David Solarz and sophomores Chip Peterson, Joe Kinderwater, Tyler Harris and Tommy Wyher.
Players Mentioned
