University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Finals
Tar Heels Go Gold In Nike Cup
November 24, 2013 | Swimming & Diving
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The UNC Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Teams brought home the gold in the 2013 Janis Hape Dowd Nike Cup. And thanks to all the records set over the last three days along with a high-performing group of young competitors, you'll be hearing about this UNC team's performance in the 2013 Nike Cup for quite some time.
"Meets like this are invaluable," UNC Head Coach Rich DeSelm said. "And it's always nice to win your own invitational."
At the end of competition, the Tar Heels proved to be the top dogs on both the women's and men's side. The Carolina women finished the three-day meet with a score of 2908.5 points, followed by ECU with 1504, NC State with 1480, Duke with 1456.5, Navy with 866, Old Dominion with 647, and Georgia Southern with 74. For the men, strong finishes and big-time performances rounded out their tally, which ended in a first-place score of 2751 points, followed by NC State with 1554, Navy with 1365.5, Duke with 1214.5, ECU with 1167, and Old Dominion with 792.
It wouldn't be right if a record weren't broken in the last session of the Nike Cup. Fortunately, no one had to wait too long thanks to senior Stephanie Peacock, who broke both the Nike Cup and the pool record in the women's 1650-yard freestyle.
"The Nike Cup is a meet we work really hard for," Peacock said. "We basically almost train through this meet. So going these times that I went this meet, I'm very happy."
Sophomore Emma Nunn demolished her former career best (16:36.87) with a second-place time of 16:24.91 in the same event. In addition, freshman Liliana Casso also made her presence known in "the miler" with a time of 16:48.27. Casso's time was good enough to earn her fourth place while also blasting her former personal best of 16:56.00.
In the men's 1650-yard freestyle, Thomas Duvall of Navy claimed top honors with a time of 15:19.15. Following behind him was one of the new additions to the UNC Swimming & Diving family, freshman Josh Beals, who came in second with a time of 15:27.57. Sophomore Mitch DeForest (15:31.74), freshman Eugene Tee (15:39.86), and senior J.T. Stilley (15:44.00) took the third, fifth, and eighth spots, respectively.
Sophomore Annie Harrison had some records of her own to topple in the women's 200-yard backstroke. Thanks to a first-place time of 1:54.44, she now holds the Nike Cup record as well as a new personal best in the event. But Tar Heels never like to travel alone. Senior Carly Smith (1:56.95) and freshmen Hellen Moffitt (1:58.93) and Sarah Hitchens (1:59.39) came right behind Harrison, placing second, third, and fourth, respectively.
You can't count on one hand how many Tar Heels competed in the finals for the men's 200-yard backstroke. Senior leader Brad Dillon glided his way into first with an impressive time of 1:45.17, followed swiftly behind by sophomore Nic Graesser in second (1:45.24), junior Patrick Myers in third (1:45.55), sophomore Matt Kwatyra in fourth (1:48.57), junior Clifton Gordon in sixth (1:49.16), and freshman Eugene Tee fresh off "the miler" in seventh (1:49.19).
Juniors Emily Schmidt and Ryan Fox highlighted the UNC Diving Team's performance in the platform diving final. On the women's side, Schmidt claimed gold with a score of 245.30, beating her former best of 233.00. Junior Kelly Corish also scored big for the Tar Heels, securing a fourth-place spot with a tally of 186.05. The men's portion of the event was won by Duke's Nick McCrory with a score of 460.30, followed by Tar Heel junior Ryan Fox, whose score of 318.90 erased his former best of 296.30. Carolina freshman Jack Nyquist placed ninth in the event with a score of 173.70.
Breaking a record faster than you could type about it, sophomore Lauren Earp took hold of the Nike Cup record and a new personal best in the women's 100-yard freestyle. Not to be forgotten, sophomore Ally Hardesty improved her own record in the event with a second-place time of 49.23. A pair of Tar Heels rounded out the top four, as junior Danielle Siverling (49.71) and sophomore Hannah Lincoln (50.19) claimed third and fourth, respectively.
But Carolina wasn't the only school to break records. Old Dominion's Sidni Hoxha swam to a first-place finish in the men's 100-yard freestyle with a Nike Cup record-time of 43.15. Pulling out a close third-place finish was sophomore Logan Heck with a time of 43.72. Senior J.T. Stilley took the seventh spot of eight with a time of 45.27.
Duke's Christine Wixted claimed the Nike Cup record in the women's 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:10.10. Just behind her was Carolina senior Katie Rechsteiner, whose second-place time of 2:13.00 was .71 seconds faster than her formal personal best. UNC rookie Abby Fisher was close behind with a time of 2:13.50. Sophomore Rachel Canty (2:16.38) and freshman Emily Pfeiffer (2:16.74) swam into the fifth and sixth spots, respectively.
ECU took first place in the men's 200-yard breaststroke, thanks in-large to the near-record-breaking performance of Rokas Cepulis. Carolina's junior speedster David Speese (1:58.80) took second after a hard fought battle against Duke's Hunter Knight, besting Knight by .07 seconds. UNC sophomore Kurt Wolhrab (2:00.01) claimed fourth, senior Alex Gianino swam to sixth (2:01.31), and junior Brian Bollerman locked in seventh (2:01.57).
It's clear that senior Meredith Hoover came into Day 3 with something to prove. Today in the women's 200-yard butterfly preliminaries, she set the Nike Cup and pool records in the event. In the finals... she did it again.
"Meredith lit it up," DeSelm said, "She's proven that last year was no fluke."
After already taking out a pool record that had stood since Pamela Minthorn's performance in a 1989 national meet and eclipsing her own Nike Cup record from 2011, Hoover swam a superhuman first-place time of 1:55.44 in the day's final session. Joining in on the historic heat were freshman Sarah Koucheki in second (1:56.82), sophomore Emma Nunn in third (1:58.04), junior Hannah Runyon-Hass in sixth (2:00.92), and sophomores Alli Haufler in seventh (2:01.08) and Kendall Surhoff in eighth (2:01.41).
"I just wanted to come out and do better in this meet than I had done last year and this season," Hoover said. "When I saw that I went 1:55 I was shocked, I couldn't believe it."
A quintet of Carolina swimmers took the pool in the men's 200-yard butterfly finals. Sophomore Dominick Glavich took charge in the event, swimming a 1:46.07 time that was good enough for top honors. Junior Patrick Myers (1:47.42) and sophomore Ben Colley (1:48.16) also took the podium, placing second and third, respectively. (Myers even set his own career best.) Freshman Matthew Conway (1:49.52) and sophomore William DeForest (1:52.57) also contributed in the event, taking sixth and eighth, respectively.
"As a team, we swam amazing," Glavich said. "This was a big step up for our team."
It wouldn't be right if the Tar Heels closed out the women's side of the competition without a Nike Cup record, would it? Well, we don't have to worry about the "what if's". The women's 400-yard freestyle relay 'A' team took hold of the event's Nike Cup record that had stood for over a decade (2002) with a first-place time of 3:17.48. Ally Hardesty, Lauren Earp, Danielle Siverling, and Hannah Lincoln made Nike Cup history in their last swim of the night. The Carolina 'B' team also made a strong push, placing third (3:23.35) thanks to big time performances by Sarah Hitchens, Sarah Koucheki, Hellen Moffitt, and Stephanie Peacock.
The men's 400-yard freestyle relay was the final event of the 2013 Nike Cup. In what might have been the loudest the Koury Natatorium had gotten all weekend, the NC State 'A' team pulled out a first-place finish with a time of 2:54.42. Neck-and-neck with them was the UNC 'A' team, comprised of senior Brad Dillon, sophomore Logan Heck, sophomore Nic Graesser, and senior J.T. Stilley who earned a hard-fought second-place time of 2:56.01. Also in the water for the Tar Heels was the 'B' team, comprised of freshman Lucas Popp, sophomore Sam Lewis, senior Alex Gianino, and sophomore Dominick Glavich, who took third with a time of 2:59.96.
"It's always great to have the younger members of our team performing," Coach DeSelm said. "We've got a great young group of men and women, and I think our future is looking pretty bright."
The UNC Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Teams will take to the pool again on Thursday, December 5th at the U.S. Open in Knoxville, Tenn.
Players Mentioned
