University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ACC Men's Finals
Tyler Harris Captures 200 IM Title
February 24, 2011 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 24, 2011
ATLANTA, GA. - Senior Tyler Harris became the first Tar Heel in 14 years to win the ACC championship in the 200-yard individual medley and junior Steve Cebertowicz broke the long-standing school record in the 50-yard freestyle as the second day of the 2011 ACC Men's Swimming & Diving Championships concluded at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center. UNC moved into second place after the second day of team competition.
Harris, a senior from Richmond, Va., won a hard fought race with Matt Houser to take home Carolina's first ACC 200 IM crown since Eric Fehr won the event in 1997. Harris touched first in 1:44.99 to Houser's second place finish of 1:45.26. Harris' edge was due to in large part to his 50-yard breaststroke leg when he outsplit Houser 29.79 to 31.07. Houser had faster splits in the butterfly, backstroke and freestyle but his margins over Harris were not enough to overcome the Tar Heel. Harris was sixth in the field of eight swimmers through the 100-yard mark but he passed five swimmers in the breaststroke leg to take home the championship.
Defending ACC champion Virginia leads the team standings with 280 points with Florida State in second place with 199.5 points and UNC just behind the Seminoles with 196 points. Clemson is fourth with 154, Virginia Tech fifth with 148.5, Duke sixth with 142, Georgia Tech seventh with 113, Maryland eighth with 80, NC State ninth with 113 and Boston College 10th with 42.
Freshman J.T. Stilley was UNC's top finisher in the 500-yard freestyle with a fifth-place finish in 4:22.81. The freshman from Huntersville, N.C., earned the last spot in the championship final by finishing eighth in the preliminaries in a career best 4:22.47. That took over 10 seconds off his previous career best time of 4:32.51.
Three Tar Heels scored in the consolation final of the 500-yard freestyle as freshman Patrick Ceddia won the heat to place ninth overall, junior Wil Singley took 11th and senior Joe Kinderwater placed 14th. Ceddia's time of 4:24.29 was his career best, eclipsing his previous best of 4:26.65 set last month in the dual meet at Virginia. Singley and Kinderwater both went 4:23.47 in the preliminaries.
Besides Harris' title-winning performance, which was just .15 of a second off his school record, UNC had two other competitors score in the 200 IM. Sophomore Tom Luchsinger placed sixth in a career best time of 1:46.88, maintaining his spot as the No. 2 Tar Heel all-time. His previous career best was 1:47.30. Junior Colin Bridier placed 11th in the event at 1:49.01, which broke his previous career best of 1:50.30. Bridier's time moved him into 10th place all-time at UNC in the 200 IM. Junior Jim Flannery had a career best in the prelims at 1:52.47, taking more than a second off his previous career best of 1:53.70.
Junior Steve Cebertowicz improved his finish in the 50-yard freestyle by two spots over last season and set the University record in the event. He finished fifth in 19.85 seconds after finishing seventh a year ago. In the preliminaries he clocked a 19.75, the new school record in the event. Cebertowicz had tied the school record last year at 20.06, joining Tod Schroeder (1990) and Kevin Erndl (2001) at that time. Junior Evan Reed placed 15th in the event at 20.32. Reed's time of 20.19 in the preliminaries was a career best (old time was 20.45) and that time moved him into seventh place all-time in the event in Carolina history. Junior Brock Park finished 22nd in the event in 20.42, eclipsing his previous career best of 20.70.
The Tar Heels had two divers score in the consolation finals of one-meter diving as junior David McDonald placed ninth with 336.85 points while sophomore Ryland Jones was 13th with 309.60 points.
Carolina placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:19.16, just .19 of a second off the UNC school record in the event. Duke won the relay in a close race that saw only .41 of a second separate Duke, Virginia, Clemson and Florida State.
The Carolina relay consisted of Steve Cebertowicz (19.79), senior Tommy Wyher (19.76), Brock Park (19.84) and Evan Reed (19.77).
Players Mentioned
