University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ACC Men's Swimming Championships
Two Relay Teams Make Awards Stand On Night One
February 22, 2012 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 22, 2012
CHRISTIANSBURG, VA. - The opening night of the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships saw two North Carolina relays earn spots on the awards stand at the Christiansburg Aquatics Center. UNC is in first place after the opening day of competition with 66 points.
The 200-yard medley relay team for Carolina took third place in a time of 1:27.26 as host Virginia Tech and Duke battled it out for first place. The Hokies won the title in 1:26.34 followed by Duke one-tenth of a second later. The Tar Heels held off the rest of the field with seven relays separated by only 1.03 seconds from third through ninth places.
The Tar Heel relay consisted of senior Jim Flannery (22.29), senior Brad Hamilton (24.50), junior Tom Luchsinger (21.29) and senior Steve Cebertowicz (19.18). The UNC relay was less than a second off the school record set last year 1:26.50.
"We had a really nice 200 medley relay," said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "We had three lifetime bests splits on the first three legs of the relay. It was a nice swim for us. I felt going into the meet we could have finished anywhere from first through fifth since the field was so tightly bunched."
"The 800 relay was a good race for us," said DeSelm. "That is our best ever time at the ACC Championships and not far off school record. We were just four one-hundredths off the NCAA "A" cut so that was a little frustrating. Our hats off to Virginia on putting together a really great relay." The Wahoos won the event in 6:17.35.
UNC had an outstanding performance in the 800-yard freestyle relay as Carolina finished with a time of 6:23.30, the fastest time UNC has ever swum in the event in the ACC Championships. It was a half second off the school record of 6:22.87 set at last year's NCAA Championships. The UNC relay consisted of Evan Reed (1:36.80), J.T. Stilley (1:36.81), Steve Cebertowicz (1:35.68) and Tom Luchsinger (1:34.01).
Competition will continue with prelims at 11 a.m. Thursday in the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free. Finals, including the 400 medley relay, begin on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Virginia Tech leads after day one with 68 followed closely by the Tar Heels with 66 points. Virginia has 58, Duke, NC State and Florida State are all tied with 56, while Georgia Tech has 52, Maryland and Clemson 48 and Boston College 28.
