University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Finals
Tar Heel Women Finish Strong At ACC Championships
February 23, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The University of North Carolina women's swimming and diving team had a strong final night at the 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, winning a pair of events, posting four runner-up finishes and setting both an NCAA and an ACC record during the final session. UNC finished the meet with 1,205 points and claimed second place behind defending ACC champion Virginia. The Tar Heels moved up a spot from last year in the standings when they placed third.
"On behalf of our staff I want to see we are very proud of our team," said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "Every member of the team who was not selected for the ACC squad was in the stands. We had a lot of parents rooting us on and we had a lot of spectators come over from Chapel Hill and root us on as well. We had a great night. This is a very deep conference. Every team is getting better and faster. We are certainly getting better and faster. We'll regroup and see where we are with the NCAA qualifying and we'll be eager to go on to Minneapolis."
The Tar Heels capped the evening by successfully defending its ACC championship in the 400-yard freestyle relay and doing so in league record time. The Tar Heel team of Lauren Earp (48.93), Hannah Lincoln (48.22), Ally Hardesty (48.77) and Danielle Siverling (48.47) touched in 3:14.39. That eclipsed the previous ACC record of 3:15.22 set by Virginia in 2009. Carolina's previous school record in the event was 3:15.88 established by the same four UNC swimmers at last year's ACC Championships.
"We defending our championship and reset the ACC record," said DeSelm. "We went an "A" qualifying time and all four ladies on the relay split a 48 plus. The 3:14 is a really good time and we've very happy with that."
In the 1650-yard freestyle senior Stephanie Peacock was en route to a record setting performance before losing pace in the final 75 yards of the race and finishing second in 15:51.78. Peacock led the race at the 1,000-yard mark at 9:28.76, a time that broke her own existing NCAA record of 9:28.92 set at the Ohio State Invitational in December 2012. After finishing the race, Peacock received medical attention on the pool deck and was transported to Moses Cone Hospital for observation. A team trainer and Peacock's parents accompanied her to the hospital. No more medical information on Peacock's condition is available at this time.
"Stephanie swam great. At the 1000 she reset her NCAA record and U.S. Open record, which she initially set two years ago at Ohio State. With a couple of hundreds yards left something happened. She received prompt medical attention on the deck following the race and we hope to know more about her condition later," said DeSelm.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Carolina senior Meredith Hoover won the first individual ACC title of her career, touching first in 1:55.10. Her senior teammate, Cari Blalock, who won the event last year, took runner-up honors in 1:55.42. Two other Tar Heels were in the championship final as Emma Nunn placed fifth in 1:57.25 and freshman Sarah Koucheki took sixth place in 1:57.74. Junior Hannah Runyon-Hass swam in the consolation heat and placed 12th in a career best 2:00.26.
"Meredith and Cari are both great stories. Meredith Hoover was basically a walk-on. She came to UNC because she's from a Tar Heel family and she has just gotten better and better every year she's been here," said DeSelm. "Cari Blalock we recruited hard. She ended up going to another school for a year. But after a year she gave us a call and decided UNC where was she wanted to be. Since she got here she has been nothing but stellar. They are two different stories but they've teamed up together and they are happy for each other no matter who gets to the wall first. They are just great representatives of UNC."
Tar Heel swimmers also excelled in the 100-yard freestyle as four finished in the top nine of the standings. Sophomore Lauren Earp took second place in a career best time of 48.67 seconds while sophomore Hannah Lincoln was fourth in a career best 49.13. Junior Danielle Siverling took eighth place for the Tar Heels while sophomore Ally Hardesty won the consolation heat to finish ninth overall in a career best 49.14. Earp's time broke the existing school record of 48.89 seconds set by Richelle Fox in 1998.
"We were very excited about the 100 free. Our sprint group is doing really well. We are trying to make that priority for us at UNC," said DeSelm.
Sophomore Annie Harrison earned a runner-up finish in the 200-yard backstroke, just missing her career best time with a clocking of 1:54.55. Three other Tar Heels scored points in the event with Carly Smith placing 11th in 1:56.56 and a pair of freshmen posting career bests in the bonus consolation final. Sarah Hitchens placed 18th in a time of 1:57.13 while Hellen Moffitt was 19th in 1:57.17. Both went close to two full seconds below their previous personal bests.
Carolina had two swimmers place in the championship final of the 200-yard breaststroke. Senior co-captain Katie Rechsteiner placed fifth in 2:13.66. That was a fitting finish for Rechsteiner as she attained her highest individual ACC finish of her career in her final race. Freshman Abby Fisher was also in the championship final, taking seventh in 2:13.85. Sophomore Rachel Canty was 20th in 2:15.73.
In the 10-meter platform competition, junior Kelly Corish had her best finish of the meet with an 11th-place standing wit 248.25 points. Erin Purdy was 27th. The men also competed in platform diving and their points will be added in to the totals at next week's men's ACC swimming championships in Greensboro. Junior Ryan Fox finished 12th in the event with 312.45 points and freshman Jack Nyquist was 23rd.
FINAL TEAM SCORES: Virginia 1433, North Carolina 1205, Florida State 972, NC State 950, Virginia Tech 914.5, Notre Dame 802, Duke 592, Pittsburgh 474.5, Miami 470.5, Georgia Tech 311.5, Boston College 162, Clemson 66
