University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
NCSU/GAC Friday Finals
UNC Women Continue In 1st Place At GAC Invitational
November 19, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Tar Heel men's and women's swimming and diving teams continued their excellent performances on the second day of the NC State/GAC Invitational at the Greensboro Aquatics center Friday night.
“We had another great day of competition today and are getting a lot of information about our team,” said Tar Heel head coach Rich DeSelm.
Senior Hellen Moffitt was quick to grab a victory in the women's 100-yard butterfly. She also narrowly missed out on a first-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke to NC State Alexia Zevnik. Junior Caroline Baldwin was not far behind, finishing in fourth in the event.
Altogether, the UNC 100-yard backstrokers were at their best Friday night. Moffitt (52.28), Baldwin (52.91) and Hitchens (52.71) all recorded NCAA “A” cuts in the event. Moffitt and Baldwin finished second and fourth in the championship final and Hitchens won the “B” consolation final. Hitchens' time was her career best (previous was 52.79) and Katie Ford also had a career best at 54.67 (previous was 56.07).
Carolina's women's 100-yard butterfliers excelled as Hellen Moffitt took the championship in an NCAA “A” cut of 51.73. Fellow senior Sarah Koucheki took fourth place in 53.04.
In the men's 100-yard breaststroke, junior Craig Emslie placed fourth in a time of 53.56. That moves the South African junior into second place all-time in Carolina history in the event.
Tar Heel divers also had a solid day in support of the UNC team effort. Junior Elissa Dawson and sophomore Maria Lohman finished first and second in one-meter diving with scores of 295.50 and 289.50 points, respectively. Dawson had been the runner-up in three-meter diving on Thursday. UNC divers also finished third and seventh in men's three-meter diving with Jack Nyquist scoring 371.90 points while Sean Burston totaled 349.45 points.
“The divers continue to excel with Elissa Dawson and Maria Lohman going 1-2 on the one-meter board and Jack Nyquist and Sean Burston placing third and seventh on three-meter,” said DeSelm. “Some of our other divers, who have also done well, will move to their best level, the tower, tomorrow.
“For the women swimmers, our veteran leaders again stood out today. This included Hellen Moffitt who swam four events this evening – a great fly leg on our 200 medley relay, a win in the 100 fly and a second in the 100 back and, finally, leading off our 800 Free Relay in a lifetime best time. Caroline Baldwin had a great backstroke lead off on our medley relay and a 52.91 in the individual 100 back. Sarah Hitchens was the anchor on the medley relay and popped a great 100 back as well in 52.71, a lifetime best,” DeSelm continued.
“Caty Hulsey was .02 off her lifetime best in the 400 individual medley, placing second, and anchored our 800 Free Relay with a lifetime best split. Sarah Koucheki also had a stellar night with a fourth place in the 100 fly at 53.04, just shy of her best time and she swam a great leg on our 800 free relay,” DeSelm adds. “On the men's side, our top swims came from Jorden Merrilees, Michael Meyer and Eugene Tee, all seniors, who swam strong 400 IMs, Henry Campbell in the 200 free and Craig Emslie who swam the second fastest time in UNC history in the 100 breast.”
In addition to the excellent individual performances, the relay teams on both sides proved to be strong. The women's 200 medley relay team consisting of Caroline Baldwin, Emily Pfeiffer, Hellen Moffitt, and Sarah Hitchens finished third in a time of 1:38.74. The women's 800 freestyle relay team matched that performance with a third place finish in 7:13.56. The relay unit included Hellen Moffitt, Zhada Fields, Macey Arnold and Caty Hulsey.
On the men's side, Jorden Merrilees, Henry Campbell, Philip Perdue, and Michael Meyer took second in the 800-yard freestyle relay, going 6:28.74. Merrilees led off the free relay in 1:35.73, a time which moves him into sixth place in UNC history amongst all performers in the 200-yard freestyle. The 200-yard medley relay of Merrilees, Emslie, Patrick Cusick and J.T. Casey notched a seventh-place finish in 1:27.60.
In the women's 400-yard individual medley, Caty Hulsey placed second with a time of 4:13.02, leading three Tar Heels in the championship final. Abby Fisher was sixth in 4:18.20 and Reni Moshos was eighth in 4:24.82.
North Carolina garnered three of the top six places in the men's 400-yard individual medley. Jorden Merrilees took third in 3:48.38, Michael Meyer placed fourth in 3:48.77 and Eugene Tee was sixth in 3:54.56. The times by Merrilees and Meyer moved them into the spots as the seventh and eighth fastest performers in UNC history in the event.
Two events later, UNC's Henry Campbell, a junior, finished sixth in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:36.89, his second fastest personal time in history.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, senior Emily Pfeiffer made the championship final and finished fifth. She swam a 1:02.07 in the preliminaries, taking down her previous career best time of 1:02.30 in the process.
The Tar Heel women lead the team standings after the second day of the competition with 1277.5 points. NC State is in second place with 1258. The remainder of the women's field includes Duke with 1062.5 points, Notre Dame with 897.5 points, Tennessee with 598.5 points, West Virginia with 389 points, Miami with 377 points and Marshall with 337 points.
The Carolina men are in fourth place with 841 points. The top three teams in the field include NC State with 1406 points, Notre Dame with 1145 points and Duke with 938 points. Trailing Carolina in the standings are Air Force with 694, Tennessee with 617 and West Virginia with 392.
“Our focus this week is to compete, learn and grow as individuals and teams,” said DeSelm. “My staff and I think we are doing a great job of all three. Beyond those mentioned as leading the team at the top end, we have so many swimmers and divers making improvements and performing at or near the highest level they have at any point. We are excited for another day of competition tomorrow.”
Action in the NC State/GAC Invitational continues on Saturday with preliminaries at 9:30 a.m. and finals at 5:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
