Carolina Seizes Dual Meet Wins at VIrginia

Saturday, January 24

Charlottesville, Va.

12:00 PM

North Carolina

Virginia

January 24, 2015 | Swimming & Diving

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — The University of North Carolina men's and women's swimming and diving teams performed at a high level Saturday afternoon in defeating Virginia in dual meet action at the UVA Aquatics & Fitness Center.

The No. 20 UNC men built an early lead and never looked back in defeating the Cavaliers 192-106. The 18th-ranked Carolina women overcame the #6 Cavaliers 156.5-143.5 in a real barnburner.

“Today against the University of Virginia we had two great performances. These two wins were team wins in every sense,” said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. “We spread the responsibility and everyone on the team had a role and needed to accept that role and I was very proud of how they handled that as well as the environment. The UVA meet is always intense. We had a lot of very good swims and excellent dives. It's always great meet against UVA and it's great to come out on top.”

The Tar Heel men defeated Virginia for the third time in the last four meets and for the fourth time since 2008. That 2008 win in Chapel Hill broke a 10-year drought against UVA in dual met wins. More significant was the fact UNC defeated the Cavaliers Saturday in Charlottesville for the first time since January 25, 1997, a 150-144 win by Carolina.

On the women's side the Tar Heels ended a seven-year losing streak at the hands of Virginia in dual meet competition. Carolina's last win in the series came on January 20, 2007 when UNC prevailed in Charlottesville by a 182-118 score.

The Tar Heel men won 13 of 16 events Saturday, including both relay events. Junior Sam Lewis led the way with individual wins in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly while also swimming on the victorious 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays. Both Logan Heck and Nic Graesser swam on both winning relay units and also captured individual events. Heck won the 100-yard freestyle and Graesser took the 100-yard backstroke. The Tar Heels showed tremendous team balance as they won seven other individual events, all by different swimmers and divers.

On the women's side, strength in the two diving events and overall team depth helped the Tar Heels pull off the victory. In a rare occurrence, UNC secured the triumph while winning seven events while Virginia won nine events. But the Tar Heels accumulated enough second and thirds to push its overall point total past the Cavaliers.

Junior Michole Timm won both diving events for Carolina with a strong supporting crew adding points to UNC's winning margin. The meet came down to a winner-take-all 400-yard freestyle relay where the Tar Heels had the advantage after taking the top four spots in the 100-yard freestyle earlier in the meet. Ally Hardesty, Caroline Baldwin, Lauren Earp and Danielle Siverling put up the winning time for UNC in the relay at 3:21.07 to earn the 11 team points needed to push the Tar Heels past the clinching 150-point barrier.

UNC needed all of its depth to overcome an excellent performance by Virginia's Courtney Bartholomew who won three individual events and swam on the Wahoos' winning 200-yard medley relay. UNC's other individual wins came from Danielle Siverling in the 200 free, Emma Nunn in the 200 fly, Hannah Lincoln in the 50 free and Ally Hardesty in the 100 free.

“This performance sets up well going into next week,” said DeSelm. “We have our final home dual meet versus Duke and Senior Day at 5 p.m. on Friday. We are hoping for a great crowd for our seniors. The next day we go to NC State and they are outstanding and much improved teams both on the men and the women's side.

“It's an exciting time of the year as we finish up the ACC dual meet schedule and prepare to march on to the ACC Championships and qualifying for NCAA Championships.”

DUAL MEET NOTES (UNC MEN)

• Carolina's time in the 200-yard medley relay (1:27.48) was a season best. The previous best was against Georgia at 1:27.74.

• Sophomore Josh Beals won the 1650-yard freestyle in a tight battle by .75 of a second. His time of 15:16.15 was just shy of his career best 15:15.10.

• Junior Mitch DeForest won the 200-yard freestyle in a career best 1:37.88 (previous was 1:39.10).

• Senior Patrick Myers won the 200-yard backstroke in a season best time of 1:46.44 (previous was 1:46.89 vs. Tennessee).

• Sam Lewis won the 100-yard butterfly in a season best time of 47.06 (previous season best was 47.30 vs. Virginia Tech).

• Dom Glavich captured the 200-yard individual medley in a time of 1:50.54 (previous best was 1:51.02 at Nike Cup).

DUAL MEET NOTES (UNC WOMEN)

• Katie Munch finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke while putting up a season best time of 1:02.86 (previous best was 1:02.93 vs. Tennessee). Munch was also the runner-up in the 200 breast in a season best 2:16.25 (2:16.33 at Louisville was previous best).

• Emma Nunn was just .30 off her season best in the 200 fly as she finished almost two seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

• Hannah Lincoln and Sarah Hitchens finished the 50 free in 23.18 and 23.19, taking first and second. UNC also took the top four spots in the 100 free led by Ally Hardesty. Her time was 49.75 was a season best (50.18 at Louisville).

• Elissa Dawson took second in both diving events behind teammate Michole Timm.

NEXT UP: UNC hosts the Duke Blue Devils next Friday at 5 p.m. at Koury Natatorium. The Tar Heels will honor their men's and women's senior classes prior to the start of the meet. UNC will conclude dual meet action next Saturday at NC State, against a pair of nationally-ranked Wolfpack teams.

MEN'S TEAM SCORE

#20 North Carolina 192, Virginia 106

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORE

#18 North Carolina 156.5, #6 Virginia 143.5

INDIVIDUAL EVENT WINNERS--MEN

3-Meter Diving: J.B. Kolod (UVA), 382.50

200-Yd. Medley Relay: North Carolina (Nic Graesser, Kurt Wohlrab, Sam Lewis, Logan Heck), 1:27.48 (UNC season best time)

1650-Yd. Freestyle: Josh Beals (UNC), 15:16.15

200-Yd. Freestyle: Mitch DeForest (UNC), 1:37.88

100-Yd. Backstroke: Nic Graesser (UNC), 48.62

100-Yd. Breaststroke: Yannick Kaeser (UVA), 54.78

200-Yd. Butterfly: Ben Colley (UNC), 1:45.96