University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ACC Women's Finals
Tar Heels Set Two School Records At ACC Championships
February 16, 2011 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 16, 2011
ATLANTA, GA. - North Carolina's women's swimming and diving team won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in the 200-yard medley relay for the first time in 10 years and set a pair of school records on the opening night of the 2011 ACC Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center. Coach Rich DeSelm's Tar Heels are in first place after two events in the meet with 74 points.
Carolina set school records in both events Wednesday night, taking first place in the 200-yard medley relay and second place in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The Tar Heels sprinted to school record times in both events.
UNC got out of the gate quickly as the team won the 200-yard medley relay in a school record clocking of 1:37.89. The time also broke the Georgia Tech pool record and was just .08 of a second off the NCAA "A" qualifying time.
Carly Smith led off the relay in 24.80 followed by Layne Brodie who had an incredible 27.39 split in the 50-yard breaststroke. Katie Nolan split 24.04 in the 50 fly and Rebecca Kane finished up the relay with the fastest 50 free split of the field at 21.66. Maryland finished second at 1:38.57 and Miami was third at 1:38.88. The last time UNC won the ACC title in the event was 2001 when Christy Watkins, Katie Hathaway, Summer Mack and Erika Acuff won the crown.
Carolina's time broke the previous school record established last year by Smith (24.54), Brodie (27.80), Sarah Tanner (23.93) and Kane (21.90) at 1:38.17.
"We had a great start to the ACC Championships with a first and a second and two school records," said DeSelm. "On the medley relay, Carly Smith put us out in the lead. Layne Brodie then had best split of her life. Katie Nolan's fly leg was fabulous and kept us in a great place. Rebecca Kane then finished with a tremendous leg, as she always does, with a blistering 21.66. Currently we sit eighth in the country in the event just off the NCAA "A" time. Hopefully that time will be good enough to make the NCAA meet."
UNC placed second in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:06.32. The relay included Stephanie Peacock (1:46.66), Stephanie Eisenring (1:47.10), Emily Kelly (1:46.09) and Katura Harvey (1:46.47). Peacock's time on the leadoff leg was a career best time, beating her old mark of 1:46.66.
The time took more than a second and a half off of the previous school record time of 7:08.07 set in 2009. That school record relay included Megan Steeves (1:48.08), Rebecca Kane (1:46.99), Eliza Butts (1:47.90) and Katura Harvey (1:45.10).
"We had two freshmen, a sophomore and a senior on the relay. We got a nice leadoff from Stephanie Peacock and then Stephanie Eisenring was very good on her split," said DeSelm. "Emily Kelly had a tremendous leg and gained some ground on Virginia, which had a tremendous first two legs. At end Katura Harvey had a great split but Lauren Perdue has a lot of speed and we came up a little short. We were three seconds faster than the time which was invited to NCAAs last year. "
After the first day of competition, the Tar Heels lead the meet with 74 points while defending champion Virginia is in second place with 68 points. Florida State is third with 62 points, followed by Virginia Tech and Miami with 54. Duke and NC State are tied for sixth with 50 points. Clemson with 40, Maryland with 34, Boston College with 30 and Georgia Tech with 18 finish out the field.
The Tar Heels return to the pool Thursday morning for day 2 prelims at 11 a.m.
Players Mentioned
