North Carolina
Nike Cup Finals
Carolina Continues Dominant Performance At Nike Cup
November 19, 2010 | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 19, 2010
Complete Results |
Photo Gallery 
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina's men's and women's swimming and diving teams combined to win three relay events Friday night at the 2010 Janis Hape Dowd Nike Cup as both teams extended their significant leads in the team race after two days of competition at Koury Natatorium. UNC's women won four individual events Friday night and the Tar Heel men earned two titles. Stephanie Peacock, Layne Brodie and Tyler Harris each won their second individual events of the meet.
The UNC women are well ahead of the rest of the field after two nights with a 1,094-point total. South Carolina is second with 377 points and Duke third with 347. The rest of the field includes West Virginia with 265, Navy with 221, East Carolina with 216, Old Dominion with 155, James Madison with 110 and NC State with 5. The North Carolina men have 993 points after the second day of competition. South Carolina is second with 498 points followed by Navy with 456.5, Duke with 321, West Virginia with 232, East Carolina with 119, Old Dominion with 116.5, NC State with 36 and Syracuse with 18.
The Tar Heel women's team began the evening in impressive fashion as UNC eased its way to a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Carolina's top relay of Carly Smith, Layne Brodie, Katie Nolan and Rebecca Kane shattered the existing Nike Cup record in the event with a blazing standard of 1:40.26. That broke the old record of 1:41.39 established by Virginia Tech in 2007. UNC also took second place in the 200 medley relay as the unit of Candace Cooper, Katie Keel, Sarah Tanner and Danielle Jansen swam a time of 1:42.16. North Carolina's men followed up with a championship calibre performance of its own in the 200-yard medley relay. The Tar Heel unit of Josh Hafkin, Colin Bridier, Brad Hamilton and Steve Cebertowicz pulled away from the field to win in 1:29.88, exactly one second faster than runner-up South Carolina.
"It was another good day for the Tar Heels. Our team is realizing how demanding a three-day trials and finals meet can be and that is a good thing," said Tar Heel head coach Rich DeSelm, now in his fourth season in Chapel Hill. "We swam much better this morning than we did in the prelims yesterday. I was pleased with tonight overall. Several people stepped up in a big way.
"We had some nice relays. The medley relay started us off well. It was a season best for the women. What is nice about the relays at this meet is that with three entries per event we have a lot of people getting the opportunity to show what they can do."
Carolina swimmers Laura Moriarty and Stephanie Peacock took second and third place in the women's 400-yard individual medley with times of 4:15.79 and 4:17.17, respectively. South Carolina freshman Rachael Shaffer won the event in a time of 4:14.12, less than a second off the Nike Cup record. Tar Heels Ashley Miller (career best time) and Marie Pesacreta finished sixth and seventh, respectively. The North Carolina men overwhelmed the opposition in the 400-yard individual medley as Carolina took the top five spots in the event spearheaded by a Nike Cup meet record clocking of 3:46.92 by senior Tyler Harris. The Richmond, Va., native broke the previous record of 3:47.17 which was established in 2004 by Casey Dauw of the University of Tennessee. Harris was followed in order by Tar Heels Tom Luchsinger in second place (3:54.34), Joe Kinderwater in third place (3:56.57), Alex Gianino in fourth place (3:57.93) and Andy Brake in fifth place (3:58.48) as Carolina had five swimmers going under four minutes in the event.
"Tyler Harris divided last night by taking on a double in the 500 free and 200 IM," said DeSelm. "He was able to focus tonight on his marquee event in the 400 IM. He reached the goal he and I had talked about for this meet. I think his time stacks up well nationally at this point in the season. It's nice for him to have that experience under his belt going into the second half of the season."
Carolina's entries in the women's 100-yard butterfly dominated the field with the Heels putting up another 1-2-3 finish in the event. Sophomore Katie Nolan won the Nike Cup title with a time of 53.92 seconds followed by Danielle Jansen at 54.80 and Sarah Tanner at 54.81. Coach Rich DeSelm's team had two other finishers in the Top 8 as freshman Meredith Hoover placed seventh and junior Laura Ruscoe was eighth. In the consolation heat, Candace Cooper and Nuffy Swanson took ninth and 11th, respectively. West Virginia's Taylor Camp took home the top spot in the men's 100-yard butterfly as he edged Duke's Nick Garvy in a tight race, 48.64 to 49.04. Tar Heels Brad Hamilton and Tyler Smith took the third and fourth spots in the event with clockings of 49.25 and 49.44, respectively. Robert Grimmett-Norris placed seventh and Tar Heels Brock Park and Victor Leclere were 11th and 14th, respectively.
UNC freshman Stephanie Peacock won her second Nike Cup championship as she led a 1-2-3 Tar Heel sweep in the 200-yard freestyle. Peacock had won the 500-yard freestyle Thursday night in ACC record time. This time she topped the podium swimmers with a time of 1:47.35 while fellow freshman Emily Kelly was second at 1:47.70 and senior Katura Harvey was third at 1:48.86. Three more Tar Heels were in the championship final as Rebecca Kane finished fifth, Stephanie Eisenring sixth and Ashley Miller eighth, giving UNC six of the top eight finishers. With swims in the consolation heat, three more Tar Heels finished in the Top 14 with Amber Leiker 10th, Katelyn Martin 12th and Jackie Rudolph 14th.
"Stephanie Peacock swam a pretty tough double tonight -- the 400 IM and 200 free," said DeSelm. "She raced tough in the 400 IM and then just moments later swam her best time of the season in the 200 free. Stephanie also led off our 800 free relay with another good time."
South Carolina's Michael Flach won the 200-yard freestyle for the Gamecocks, his second title of the meet, after also winning the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday. Flach won by almost two seconds over the rest of the field. His time of 1:35.53 established a new Nike Cup mark, taking down the 1:36.33 time of Tennessee's Ryan Goldberg in 2003. Five Tar Heels competed in the championship final of the event with Evan Reed posting the top UNC finish in fourth place at 1:37.81. Steve Cebertowicz, Wil Singley, J.T. Stilley and Tom Luchsinger joined Reed in the championship final, finishing places five through eight. Freshman Patrick Ceddia took the top spot in the consolation heat in 1:38.98.
After setting the Nike Cup record in the 100-yard breaststroke in the morning session, UNC junior Layne Brodie came back to win the championship in the evening with a time of 1:00.86. Brodie prevailed in a close matchup with Erla Haraldsdottir of Old Dominion who finished second in 1:01.15. Carolina again had tremendous depth in the championship final as Katie Keel finished fourth in 1:02.41, Laura Moriarty was fifth in 1:02.51 and freshman Katie Rechsteiner was eighth in 1:04.05. It was Brodie's second individual win of the meet as she also won the 200-yard individual medley on Thursday.
"Layne Brodie had a nice field to swim against tonight," explained DeSelm. "She is swimming the last quarter of every race as well as she ever has. That allows her to get her hand on the wall first, put up some nationally competitive times and gain confidence."
Carolina took three of the top six finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke as Colin Bridier, Vinny Pryor and Flynn Jones captured second, third and sixth, respectively. Arni Arnason of Old Dominion won the championship in 53.92, setting a Nike Cup record in the process. He broke the previous mark of 53.94 set by Andrew Bree of Tennessee in 2000. Bridier was second in 54.73 after he set the school record of 54.15 in the preliminaries. Pryor took third in 54.90. Jones was sixth in 55.98 and senior Tyler Smith touched in eighth place while senior Chandler Thomas was 12th overall.
Carly Smith of North Carolina took top honors in the 100-yard backstroke. On Thursday she had broken an 18-year-old Nike Cup record in the event by going 53.34 on the front end of UNC's 400-yard medley relay. She shattered the old meet record which had been set by Janie Wagstaff of Florida back in 1992 at 54 seconds flat. The event provided another 1-2-3 finish for the Heels with Smith in first place at 53.76 while Candace Cooper was second in 54.71 and Sarah List was third in 55.37. Carolina also had the fifth and sixth place finishers in sophomores Rebecca Brooks (56.04) and Katie Nolan (56.21).
North Carolina senior Josh Hafkin earned his first individual Nike Cup win as he took top honors in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 49.61. In a tightly grouped field, Robert Grimmett-Norris of the Tar Heels also made the podium in third place with a time of 50.11. Jim Flannery of the Tar Heels was fifth with a time of 50.21 and Steve Cebertowicz was eighth.
After winning the women's three-meter diving on Thursday night, Duke's Abby Johnston proved triumphant again, capturing the title in one-meter diving Friday with a point total of 312.85. USC divers Taryn Zack and Courtney Forucci took 2-3 and UNC's Jenna Moore was fifth with a score of 281.60. Kristin Arnold was also a championship finalist for Carolina.
Nick McCrory of Duke took the top spot in men's three-meter diving, holding off a strong challenge from UNC junior David MacDonald. McCrory won the title with 415.95 points while MacDonald went a season best score at 395.15 to earn runner-up accolades. UNC sophomore Jake Kinzbach finished in fifth place with 331.75 points while freshman Bryant Wooten and sophomore Ryland Jones finished ninth and 10th, respectively.
North Carolina's women eradicated the previous Nike Cup record in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:17.21. The old mark had stood since 1991 when Florida established it at 7:17.71. The winning UNC relay included Stephanie Peacock (1:48.14), Katura Harvey (1:49.21), Rebecca Kane (1:51.19) and Emily Kelly (1:48.67).
South Carolina captured the title in the 800-yard freestyle relay as the unit of Michael Flach, Rory Grigull, Chris Kelly and Gerard Rodriguez touched first in 6:34.09. UNC's top relay was less than a second behind as Evan Reed, Steve Cebertowicz, J.T. Stilley and Wil Singley placed second in 6:34.75. UNC also finished third with a relay of Tyler Harris, Tom Luchsinger, Patrick Ceddia and Brad Hamilton going 6:39.26.
Nike Cup will conclude Saturday with sessions at 10 a.m. (prelims) and 6 p.m. (finals).
Players Mentioned
