University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ACC Men's Finals
North Carolina in 3rd After Day One of ACC Championships
February 23, 2011 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 23, 2011
The University of North Carolina men's swimming team opened the ACC Championships in fine fashion on Wednesday in Atlanta, GA. Courtesy of two school record performances in the 200 Medley Relay and the 800 Free Relay, the Tar Heels maintain a strong hold on the 3rd-place spot after Day One, just four points back of a co-leaders Clemson and Virginia.
The ACC Championships were full of excitement from the opening splash, as the Tar Heels 200 Medley Relay team placed 2nd, just 0.16 seconds behind 1st-place Clemson. The 1:26.50 time was still good enough to earn seniors Josh Hafkin, Vinny Pryor, Tommy Wyher, and junior Steve Cebertowicz a school record and was 0.50 seconds off an ACC Championships record as well.
"The medley relay is an exciting race, and our four guys have been working together for a long time," said Coach Rich DeSelm. "We were hoping for a little faster lead off but fought our way back to get a 2nd-place finish and a school record out of it."
UNC also took home a 2nd-place finish in the 800 Free Relay with a 6:24.07 time less than one second short of the automatic NCAA "A" qualifying time standard of 6:23.26. However, Tar Heel junior Evan Reed, sophomore Tom Luchsinger, freshman JT Stilley, and senior Tyler Harris did post a time good enough for a school record, eclipsing their previous best seed time by a full 10 seconds.
"The 800 Free Relay team is up against an extremely loaded Virginia team with some of the best 200 Free swimmers in the country," said DeSelm. "We had four terrific legs and cut time off our school record by 1.3 seconds."
While Clemson and Virginia sit atop the meet standings with 72 points, Carolina remains close with 68 points, followed by 4th-place Florida State's 56 points. Virginia Tech finished 5th with 54 points, while North Carolina State and Georgia Tech are tied for 6th with 50 points apiece. Duke currently occupies 8th-place, while Maryland and Boston College round out the field with 40 and 28 points good for 9th and 10th, respectively.
"Overall, we're four points out of the lead and the meet has virtually just begun, so we're definitely in a good spot," said DeSelm.
Carolina returns to action tomorrow at 11 A.M. in Day Two ACC Championships action.
