University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Finals
Gianino & Colley Set Records On Final Day Of ACCs
March 2, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The University of North Carolina men's swimming and diving team got school records from Alex Gianino in the 200-yard breaststroke and Ben Colley in the 200-yard butterfly on the final day of the 2014 ACC Championships at the Aquatics Center. The Tar Heels' team depth carried them to a third place finish overall in the championships as every Tar Heel scored points in his events on the final day of the meet.
North Carolina finished third in the team race with 995 points, trailing first-time ACC champion Virginia Tech which won the title with 1264.5 and NC State which finished second with 1226 points. Carolina finished third ahead of Virginia in fourth with 972, Florida State in fifth with 957.5 and Notre Dame in sixth with 907.5.
"We've just finished up the ACC Championships with a third place finish," said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "We very much wanted to be in the title hunt but despite falling short we had a great team this year and a great group of guys. Our congratulations go to Virginia Tech and NC State for their accomplishments. We were in a tight battle with four teams seeking third place going into today's final session and our team figured out a way to win that race. We had a great morning. We had an outstanding evening. The team put together what they needed to do to gain third place.
"Individually, we had a lot of best times today. We had a couple of really special performances in particular. First was Ben Colley breaking Tom Luchsinger's one-year old school record in 200 fly with a 1:42.19. And this morning Alex Gianino broke the longest-standing team record in 200 breaststroke, held for 12 years by current UNC assistant Sean Quinn. That was a great swim by Alex and I know Sean is happy for him."
Carolina has now finished in the top three of all 61 ACC championship meets in history with the exception of the 2005 meet when the Tar Heels were fourth.
In the opening event of the evening, freshman Josh Beals took seventh place in the 1650-yard freestyle, going 15:15.10 and setting a personal best in the event (previous best was 15:18.95). Freshman Eugene Tee took 10th place for the Tar Heels in 15:20.44, senior J.T. Stilley was 17th in 15:29.99 and sophomore Mitch DeForest was 18th in 15:34.31. That was also a career best time for Tee (previous was 15:24.62).
The Tar Heels had two championship finalists in the 200-yard backstroke led by junior Patrick Myers who finished fourth in a career best time of 1:42.91. Senior Brad Dillon and sophomore Nic Graesser both had career best times in the preliminary heats of the event and went on to finish seventh and 15th, respectively, in the evening's final heats. Myers retains his spot as Carolina's second fastest performer in the event while Brad Dillon's 1:43.24 allowed him to jump Matt Kwatyra into third place all-time.
Carolina had one entry in the 100-yard freestyle where sophomore Logan Heck placed 17th overall after winning the bonus consolation final in a time of 43.78.
In the 200-yard breaststroke, North Carolina senior Alex Gianino broke the University record in the event, a mark which had stood since 2002. Gianino went 1:55.69 in the prelims of the event, a time which took down the previous mark of 1:56.39 set by Sean Quinn, currently an assistant coach for the Tar Heels, in 2002. Quinn's record was the longest-standing Tar Heel record in any men's short course event.
Gianino went just .09 of a second slower in the evening and finished fifth overall. Three Tar Heels swam in the consolation final of the event, all of them after setting personal best times in the event in the preliminaries. Overall, David Speese finished 10th, Kurt Wohlrab 14th and Brian Bollerman 15th. Speese had a time of 1:56.42 in the consolation final, a time which moved him into 3rd place all-time at UNC behind Gianino and Quinn.
In the 200-yard butterfly, sophomore Ben Colley had a brilliant swim in the prelims as he went 1:42.19 to set a new ACC record in the event. Colley broke Tom Luchsinger's school record time of 1:42.95 set last season and was also under the ACC record time of 1:42.84 set by Virginia's Michael Raab on February 26, 2003.
In the evening session, as sometimes happens, Colley saw his ACC mark eclipsed by Christian McCurdy of NC State who won the championship. Colley placed third in 1:42.86, a clocking with still stands as the second fastest 200-yard butterfly in Tar Heel history. Sophomore Dominick Glavich took sixth place in the event while Tyler Hill was 21st and Matt Conway 22nd. All three of those Tar Heels set career best times in the prelims at 1:43.92, 1:47.02 and 1:48.04, respectively. Hill moved into Carolina's career Top 10 with his time in the event.
Altogether, UNC had 15 career best swims on the final day of the championships.
The Tar Heels had two divers score in the finals of 10-meter platform as junior Ryan Fox was 12th with 3:12.45 points and freshman Jack Nyquist 23rd with 239.55.
Carolina's 400-yard freestyle relay team finished in fourth place, just off the awards podium, in a time of 2:54.72. Carolina's relay included Logan Heck (43.89), Sam Lewis (43.44), Nic Graesser (43.37) and Alex Gianino (44.02).
"I wan to pay special recognition to our seniors," said DeSelm. "J.T. Stilley has been a workhorse for us for four years and a great team captain. He's been a tremendous competitor, a great leader and a hard worker. Brad Dillon transferred to us from Maryland and has added great value to team. Brad's e's a tremendous student, and a fabulous competitor. He's pushed everyone in program to better. Alex Gianino had a phenomenal ACC meet. He's never been to NCAA Championships in his career and he's now earned his opportunity, while breaking two school records this week. Alex gives everything he has to Carolina swimming, both in and out of the water."
CURRENT TEAM SCORES: Virginia Tech 1264.5, NC State 1226, North Carolina 995, Virginia 972, Florida State 957.5, Notre Dame 907.5, Georgia Tech 543, Duke 482, Pittsburgh 412.5, Boston College 205, Miami 156
Players Mentioned
