University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Finals
Solid Day at ACC's Has Women In Fourth Place
February 19, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The University of North Carolina women's swimming and diving team stands in fourth place after the second day of the 2016 ACC Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatics Center. The men's diving competition is also being contested this weekend in advance of the men's championships in Greensboro next Wednesday through Saturday.
The Tar Heels head into day three in fourth place with a score of 334 points. Virginia leads the field with 486.5 points with NC State second at 441.5 and Louisville third at 395.5 points.
The last two events of the night proved fruitful for Carolina as Jack Nyquist took second place in men's one-meter diving and the women's 200-yard freestyle relay rallied to take third in that event to cap off a solid night for the Tar Heel women.
UNC's 200-yard freestyle relay placed third, rallying on the final lap to finish in 1:28.63, edging out Louisville for a podium spot by .01 of a second. The Tar Heel relay included Caroline Baldwin (22.50), Sarah Hitchens (21.77), Ally Hardesty (22.20) and Lauren Earp (22.16). The Tar Heels easily met the NCAA automatic qualifying time in the event, which was set at 1:29.16 this year. UNC's relay time missed the school record set a year ago at 1:28.62 by a mere one one-hundredth of a second.
Senior Emma Nunn opened up the competition Thursday night for the Tar Heels with a solid sixth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle as she clocked a 4:42.80, just .01 of a second off her career best in the event. Junior Macey Arnold, who joined the Tar Heels as a transfer from Towson in January, finished 19th in the event (third in the “C” final) at 4:48.02, just off her prelim time of 4:47.58. In the prelims, junior Caty Hulsey set her personal best time in the event at 4:52.85.
“We kicked off the first full day of swimming finals with the 500 free. Macey Arnold had a very nice swim and she got the team excited for the rest of the evening. Emma Nunn, swimming in her last ACC 500, was an inspiration. She has faced some adversity in the past year and she was excellent this morning and evening better tonight. It was a gratifying and confidence building swim for her,” said DeSelm.
Carolina swimmers Emily Pfeiffer, Katie Munch and Maddy Burns combined to finish 14th, 17th and 18th in the 200 IM for the Tar Heels. In the “C” final, Munch and Burns swept the top two spots in the heat, going 2:00.11 and 2:00.23, both shaving more than a second off their times in the prelims. Emily Pfeiffer qualified for the “B” final as did Sarah Koucheki. Pfeiffer placed 14th overall in a career best time of 2:00.64, taking 1.39 seconds off her previous personal best of 2:02.03. Koucheki had her career best 2:01.05 in the prelims in the event but was disqualified in the “B” final.
“We had four women in the 200 IM and Katie Munch and Maddy Burns went 1-2 in the “C” final. Coming off Nunn's excellent swim in the 500, those performances helped continue to build momentum and both times were faster than this morning. In the “B” final, Emily Pfeiffer, swimming in her first ACC's, went a lifetime best time in the prelims and faster again this evening,” said DeSelm. “Those IMs should set up all four of those women for great swims tomorrow.”
Four Tar Heels finished between seventh and 14th place in the 50-yard freestyle. Caroline Baldwin was seventh in 22.46, Lauren Earp 10th in 22.55, Sarah Hitchens 12th in 22.60 and Ally Hardesty 14th in 22.72. Baldwin's prelim time was her career best at 22.24 (previous was 22.40). Hitchens had a time of 22.50 in the prelims, equaling her career best, and Earp went 22.55 in the “B” final and that eclipsed her previous career best by .32 of a second. In Carolina history, Baldwin now ranks third all-time, Hitchens remains in the sixth spot and Earp moved from outside the Top 10 to seventh, just .01 ahead of fellow senior Hardesty.
“Our 50 freestylers represent UNC in excellent fashion with three career bests today in the individual event and then a tremendous performance on the 200 free relay to end the night,” said DeSelm. “The 200 free relay was a great effort with a third place finish and a time just one one-hundredth second off our school record. I want to especially point out Sarah Hitchens' 21.77 split that propelled us into the hunt for a podium spot. The relay success energized the team and we are all looking forward to tomorrow.”
The Tar Heel diving contingent continued to excel under the leadership of its coach Abel Sanchez as Jack Nyquist took second place in the one-meter diving competition and senior Ozzie Moyer placed 12th. For the second straight night, Nyquist took a silver medal in diving after having a previous best finish of third at ACC's in his career heading into this meet. He was also second in the three-meter event Wednesday. In the one-meter on Thursday, his path to the podium was significantly different as he qualified in fifth place and then moved up three spots in the finals to finish second with 407.95 points, a school record in the event, breaking his own mark of 398.30 set in 2014. Ozzie Moyer, who was 22nd Wednesday in three-meter diving, improved 10 places on Friday to finish 12th with a score of 316.55 on the one-meter board.
“Ozzie Moyer rebounded today with a 12th place finish on the one meter board and had several clutch dives to move up from 16th to 12th,” said DeSelm. “I watched the preliminary diving and knew Jack (Nyquist) could clean up some dives and that exactly what happened. Jack is diving as well as I have ever seen him.”
“Jack has had a great meet he's been consistent on the boards, taking his diving to a new level. He finished 2nd in an exciting tight contest today in the one meter. Ozzie (Moyer), our senior has been injured and hasn't been on the boards for a week, and he did an amazing job today, finishing 12th. The men are doing a great job setting up the men's swimmers for a great ACC championship next week,” added UNC diving coach Abel Sanchez.
Competition begins again on Friday with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. Friday's events include the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 3-meter diving and 400 medley relay.
Players Mentioned
