University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
NCAA Women's Championships Finals
Peacock Captures NCAA Championship In 1650-Yard Freestyle
March 17, 2012 | Swimming & Diving
March 17, 2012
Comments from Coach DeSelm (mp3)
AUBURN, ALA. - Stephanie Peacock of the University of North Carolina women's swimming and diving team won the NCAA championship in the 1650-yard freestyle at the 2012 Division I Championships Saturday night while also eclipsing Janet Evans' NCAA record which had stood for 22 years.
As a team, UNC finished in 19th place with 44 total points. That is the highest NCAA finish by a Tar Heel team since the 2003 team placed 17th.
Peacock's winning time was 15:38.79, which broke the existing NCAA record of 15:39.14 which was set by Janet Evans of Stanford on March 17, 1990. Peacock also blistered the existing ACC and school records by eight seconds. The previous conference mark going into this year was 15:46.57 set by North Carolina's Whitney Sprague on March 21, 2009. Peacock had broken that record by less than a second at the ACC Championships.
Peacock defeated Wendy Trott of the University of Georgia by just .15 of a second in the race as Trott's runnerup time was 15:38.94, also under Evans' previous NCAA record. The two battled each other throughout the race before Peacock eked out the win in the final 100 yards.
Peacock took the lead at the 1550-yard mark and then held on in a razor close last 100 yards. Peacock outsplit Trott 28.09 to 28.14 from the 1550 to 1600 yard mark and the again 27.15 to 27.17 in the final 50-yard leg as they literally swam stroke for stroke against each other.
Peacock's title was the 16th individual national championship won in women's swimming by a UNC swimmer. It is the first since Jessi Perruquet tied for the NCAA title in the 200-yard freestyle in 2003.
Peacock's swim was all the more remarkable as she took more than a minute off her previous best career time heading into the 2011-12 school year. Peacock came into the year with a personal best of 16:39.78. She improved on that time by going 15:46.12 at the ACC Championships before dropping another seve plus seconds on Saturday.
Several other Tar Heels were in action on Saturday. Freshman Kelsey Cummings swam in her first NCAA Championships and placed 28th in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:29.71. Fellow freshman Danielle Siverling finished 46th in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 49.79, just .11 of a second off her personal best. Senior Laura Moriarty ended her outstanding career with a 23rd place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:11.33. Sophomore Cari Blalock finished 22nd in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:57.26.
Players Mentioned
