University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Wednesday Preliminaries
Moffitt Earns Top Seed In 100 Fly
February 15, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
ATLANTA, GA. - The University of North Carolina women's swimming and diving team continues its outstanding performance in the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships Wednesday morning at the McAuley Aquatics Center on the campus of Georgia Tech.
Senior Hellen Moffitt earned the top seed tonight in the 100-yard butterfly and later in the preliminaries she broke her own University record in the 100-yard backstroke.
Three Tar Heels qualified to swim on Wednesday night in the 400-yard individual medley. Senior Caty Hulsey placed fifth in the prelims in 4:11.34 to qualify for the "A" final. Abby Fisher is seeded 11th tonight at 4:15.78 and she will swim in the "B" final. Freshman Bryanna Cameron placed 22nd in 4:19.67 and will swim tonight in the "C" final. Freshman Reni Moshos was 26th in 4:23.60.
Both Moffitt and fellow senior Sarah Koucheki turned in excellent clockings in the 100-yard butterfly. Moffitt earned the top seed in the event with an automatic NCAA qualifying time of 50.99 seconds. Koucheki seized the No. 4 seed with a time of 52.37. She shaved four-tenths of a second off her career best time of 52.77 and moved into fourth place of all-time fastest performers in the event in Tar Heel history.
Senior Macey Arnold qualified for the "B" final of the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:47.04. She placed 12th and was just off her career best time. Zhada Fields finished 25th in 1:48.84, freshman Brooke Bauer notched 29th in 1:49.67 and senior Liliana Casso was 39th in 1:51.12.
Senior Emily Pfeiffer led the way for Carolina in the 100-yard breaststroke as she qualified for the "B" final. Her time of 1:01.42 qualified her 10th and took down her previous career best time of 1:02.30. The time of 1:01.42 moves her into sixth place all-time at Carolina in the list of top performers. Both Abby Fisher, 18th in 1:01.76, and Katie Munch, 24th in 1:02.25, qualified for the "C" final.
Carolina placed five swimmers into the finals of the 100-yard backstroke on Friday. Hellen Moffitt leads the way as she is seeded fourth with a time of 51.43. On Wednesday morning, she broke her own school record in the event which had been 51.46. Caroline Baldwin is seeded just behind Moffitt at fifth with a time of 51.59. Baldwin's time eclipsed her career best of 52.31 and moved her into second place on the all-time list of UNC performers. Senior Sarah Hitchens will swim in the "B" final after finishing 10th in 52.95. Emily Slabe and Susan LaRochelle have qualified for the "C" final. Slabe swam a 54.16 in the prelims to qualify 18th and LaRochelle was 20th in 54.30 for a career best (previous was 54.81). Katie Ford took 29th in 55.15.
The North Carolina men's diving contingent did a spectacular job in the preliminaries of the three-meter event. Their scores are added in to team totals in two weeks when the men's swimmers have their championships in Atlanta, Ga., February 27-March 2. Jack Nyquist placed sixth in prelims with 350.45 points and will dive in finals Wednesday night. Sean Burston placed 11th with 332.20 points and three freshmen scored in the "C" final with Devin Bellamy in 17th with 310 points, Bryan Allen in 18th with 289.60 points and Andrew Owsiany in 21st place with 283.45 points. Max Jenkins just missed the "C" scoring final as he was 25th with 273.95 points.
Wednesday's finals will begin at 6 p.m. and will be webcast on ACC Network Extra, ESPN3 and WatchESPN. Real time results links can be found on GoHeels.com.
Players Mentioned
