University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Tuesday Finals
Carolina Scorches School Record In 200 Free Relay
February 15, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
ATLANTA, GA. – The University of North Carolina women's swimming and diving team had another oustanding day at the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships Tuesday night and is locked in a pitched battle for second place in the team standings as competition continues at the McAuley Aquatics Center on the Georgia Tech campus.
Junior co-captain Caroline Baldwin took ACC runner-up honors in the 50-yard freestyle, setting a school record in the preliminaries. The Tar Heels' 200-yard freestyle relay placed second in the event, just .05 of a second behind NC State, and set a school record in the event. Three Tar Heels set personal records in the evening swims of the 500-yard freestyle. Those were amongst the highlights on the second night of action for Coach Rich DeSelm's team.
NC State leads the team race after two days with 452.5 points while three teams are within three points of each other in the battle for the second spot. Defending ACC champion Virginia is in second place with 385.5 points with UNC in third with 384 points and Louisville in fourth place with 383 points. The remainder of the field has Duke with 315 points, Florida State with 297 points, Virginia Tech with 266 points, Miami with 228 points, Notre Dame with 218 points, Pittsburgh with 195 points, Georgia Tech with 141 points, Boston College with 92 points and Clemson with 73 points.
"We are excited to be where we are in the team race and to be competing so well. We had an outstanding prelimary session with multiple lifetime best times and positioned ourselves well for tonight's three individual events," says Tar Heel head coach Rich DeSelm. "In finals, our women competed with a lot of heart, swimming and diving for their teammates and school. This was the best first full day at the ACC Championships that we have had in a number of years. A majority of our swimmers had best times today in either prelims, finals or both. We ended the night on a high note with the 200 freestyle relay. In a thrilling race, our women stepped up to break our own school record, the current ACC record and should be ranked very well going into the NCAA Championships."
Carolina turned in a spectacular performance in the 200-yard freestyle relay, the final event of the night. The Tar Heel relay of Caroline Baldwin, Sarah Hitchens, Brooke Bauer and Hellen Moffitt touched in 1:27.37, a school record and an NCAA automatic qualifying time for next month's NCAA Championships. The splits were 21.88 for Baldwin, 21.73 for Hitchens, 22.26 for Bauer and a blistering 21.49 for Moffitt. The relay broke the previous school record which was set last fall at the Greensboro Aquatics Center Invitational in November 2016. That record was 1:28.19 and the order of swimmers was Baldwin, Hitchens, Moffitt and Bauer.
Just minutes earlier, four Tar Heel 50-yard freestylers had excelled individually in the event. All four Tar Heels posted personal best times in the event today. Baldwin finished as the conference runner-up in the 50 free at 21.93 (school record 21.78 in prelims). Hitchens was fifth in 22.06 (personal best 21.99 in prelims). Freshman Brooke Bauer was 18th in 22.61 (22.51 in prelims). Senior Sarah Koucheki was 20th in 22.79 and set her second personal best of the day after going 22.83 in the morning.
Carolina also benefitted from outstanding performances in the 500-yard freestyle as the finals session began at 6 p.m. Senior Macey Arnold finished fifth in a time of 4:42.07, lowering her personal best from the preliminaries at 4:42.62. Senior Caty Hulsey and freshman Bryanna Cameron also had career best times in the "B" final as they finished 11th and 14th, respectively, in 4:46.17 and 4:47.66, respectively. Hulsey's previous career best was 4:46.47 and Cameron's was 4:47.86. Senior Liliana Casso also scored in the event, placing 24th in 4:53.44. She had set a career best time of 4:52.58 in Tuesday's preliminaries.
Three Tar Heels scored in the 200-yard individual medley. Emily Pfeiffer was 15th after going a career best in the morning. Susanna LaRochelle placed 20th in a career best 1:59.67 (previous was 2:00.10) and Reni Moshos was 24th. Carolina also had two divers score in the one-meter event with junior Elissa Dawson taking eighth and sophomore Maria Lohman finishing 12th.
The ACC Championships continue on Wednesday at the McAuley Aquatics Center with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. Individual events tomorrow are the 400-yard individual medley, the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard freestyle, the 100-yard breaststroke, the 100-yard backstroke and men's three-meter diving. A timed final of the 400-yard medley relay will be included in tomorrow's night's session.
Players Mentioned
