University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Finals
Gianino Grabs 2nd Place Finish in 400 IM at ACC Meet
March 1, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Led by a second place finish in the 400-yard individual medley by senior Alex Gianino, the North Carolina men's swimming and diving team moved up one spot in the team standings at the 2014 ACC Championships at the Greensboro Aquatics Center.
Carolina had school record swims Friday night from Kurt Wohlrab in the 100-yard breaststroke and by the Tar Heels' 400-yard medley relay team.
Virginia Tech and NC State are in a pitched battle for the conference championship with the Hokies taking the lead for the first time in the meet with 815.5 points, just ahead of the Wolfpack at 807.5 Less than 40 points separate the #3-#6 spots in the team standings. The Tar Heels are currently third with 675 points, Notre Dame is fourth with 646.5 points, Florida State is fifth with 646.5 points and Virginia is sixth with 636 points.
"Virginia Tech and NC State did a good job of distancing themselves from the field today," said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "But we've got some good entries for us tomorrow and anything can happen in a meet like this. I think our seniors will show up big for us on the final day."
The Tar Heels started out the evening with a school record time of 3:09.65 in the 400-yard medley relay, good for a sixth place finish and an NCAA automatic qualifying time for next month's national meet. The same four Tar Heel swimmers who set the school record last year at 3:09.78 swam on Friday night's relay. Nic Graesser (46.69), Kurt Wohlrab (53.07), Sam Lewis (45.62) and Logan Heck (44.27) comprised the Tar Heel relay unit.
"It's good to have another school record out of a talented group of sophomores. We are definitely looking forward to them getting back to the NCAA Championships again," said DeSelm.
The Tar Heels placed five swimmers in the Top 20 of the 400-yard individual medley led by senior Alex Gianino who reached the awards podium for the first time at the ACC Championships in his career. Gianino placed second in the event at 3:44.92, more than two and one-half seconds faster than his previous career best coming into the meet.
"Alex Gianino is having a tremendous meet for us. He has had an outstanding senior year overall. He posted two best times today in the 400-yard individual medley and it was great to see him on the podium receiving a medal in the ACC Championships for the first time," said DeSelm.
Tar Heels Patrick Myers, Brian Bollerman and Tyler Hill all had career best times in the preliminaries on Friday and went on to place seventh, 11th and 14th in the finals on Friday night. Freshman Eugene Tee swam in the "C" consolation final and placed 20th. Gianino, Myers and Bollerman retain their spots as the 3rd, 4th and 5th fastest Tar Heels in the event while Hill leapfrogged three Tar Heels into the sixth spot.
In the 100-yard butterfly, the Tar Heels had three finishers in the Top 11 of the finals as Sam Lewis placed fourth, Ben Colley eighth and Dominick Glavich 11th. Lewis' finals time of 46.43 was just .01 off his career best time while Colley went a career best 46.65 in the prelims, taking more than a second off his previous personal best of 47.72 and passing Tucker Shade and Eddy Matkovic into third place all-time at Carolina. Glavich went a career best 47.33 in both the prelims and finals (previous was 48.03) and he is now fifth all-time in UNC history.
Carolina had a pair of swimmers score points in the 200-yard freestyle as senior Brad Dillon took seventh place and senior J.T. Stilley notched 14th. Dillon eclipsed his previous career best time in the prelims, going 1:35.52 (previous was 1:35.59). With that time, he moved into second place all-time at UNC in the event, behind Stilley and breaking a tie for second with John Davis, who held the record in the event for 23 years.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, sophomore Kurt Wohlrab twice broke his career best time in the event en route to shattering the school record in the event. The sophomore came into the meet with a career best time of 54.28, behind only Colin Bridier and Vinny Pryor in UNC's annals. He broke Bridier's school record time by going 53.67 in the prelims and then came back at night to shatter his own record, going 53.42.
"Kurt Wohlrab came up with a couple of big swims for us today. He did a great job in the morning and then exceed that time in the evening, going almost a full second under the previous school record," said DeSelm.
Carolina had three swimmers compete in the "B" consolation final of the 100-yard backstroke. Sam Lewis placed ninth, Nic Graesser 11th and Ben Colley tied for 13th overall. Lewis went a career best 47.09 in the morning and Colley also had a career best in prelims at 47.39.
In men's three-meter diving, both Tar Heel entries placed in the Top 10 of the event. Freshman Jack Nyquist was sixth with 399.40 points while junior Ryan Fox notched 10th place with 348.95 points.
CURRENT TEAM SCORES: Virginia Tech 815.5, NC State 807.5, North Carolina 675, Notre Dame 652, Florida State 646.5, Virginia 636, Georgia Tech 329.5, Duke 325, Pittsburgh 282, Boston College 167, Miami 128
Players Mentioned
