University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Wednesday Finals
Moffitt Claims ACC Championship In 100 Fly
February 16, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
ATLANTA, GA. - On a tremendous day for the University of North Carolina women's swimming team, Hellen Moffitt won the ACC championship in the 100-yard butterfly, two different Tar Heels set school records in the 100-yard backstroke and Carolina demolished its University record in the 400-yard medley relay. After the third day of the ACC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, Coach Rich DeSelm's Tar Heels stand fourth in the 13-team field, locked in a tight battle with Louisville for third place.
"What a fantastic night of swimming and diving by the ACC and our team," says UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "We are having a lot of fun competing this week. It feels great to come from where we were a few weeks ago.
"The leadership of our seniors was evident today. Hellen Moffitt, Sarah Hitchens, Sarah Koucheki, Caty Hulsey, Emily Pfeiffer, Abby Fisher, Macey Arnold, Liliana Casso and Katie Munch were tremendous for us both in and out of the pool. Over the past four years, these women have done some amazing things for our team and program. In addition, junior Caroline Baldwin had a tremendous day, breaking our school record in the 100 back and leading off our medley relay."
Moffitt, a senior from Alexandria, Va., won the conference title in the 100-yard butterfly, going 50.86, the second fastest time in the country this year and the second fastest swim in the event in Tar Heel history. Only Moffitt's school record time of 50.67 last year is a faster clocking. In the process, Moffitt was the first Tar Heel woman to win an individual championship at the ACC meet since 2014 when Cari Blalock won the 400 IM, Meredith Hoover captured the 200 fly and Danielle Siverling took the 200 freestyle.
Moffitt combined with Caroline Baldwin and three other Tar Heels to turn in a tremendous team effort in the 100-yard backstroke. In the preliminaries, Moffitt had set a new school record by going 51.43, .03 of a second faster than her school record from last year. In the finals, Baldwin finished second in 51.38 and Moffitt placed third in 51.42, both under Moffitt's school record time from this morning. Both times are automatic NCAA "A" qualifying times for next month's meet. During the course of the day, Baldwin, a junior co-captain, took almost a full second off her previous personal best time of 52.31.
UNC ended the evening with a brilliant performance by the 400-yard medley relay as Caroline Baldwin (51.69), Emily Pfeiffer (1:01.07), Hellen Moffitt (51.01) and Sarah Hitchens (47.76) placed fourth in a school record and NCAA "A" automatic qualifying time of 3:31.53. The relay broke the previous school record by 1.25 seconds. It previously had stood at 3:32.78, set in 2015 by Megan Bestor (52.38), Katie Munch (1:00.19), Hellen Moffitt (51.57) and Ally Hardesty (48.64).
After the third day of competition, the Tar Heels are in fourth place in the team standings. NC State and defending league champion Virginia are in a tight battle for first place with the Wolfpack having 776.5 points and the Cavaliers 750. Louisville is in third place with 674.5 points with Carolina just behind with 665 points. The remainder of the standings include Duke 513.5, Virginia Tech 485, Florida State 457.5, Notre Dame 428.5, Miami 294.5, Pitt 294, Georgia Tech 256, Boston College 122 and Clemson 73.
The Tar Heels started the evening with three individuals in final heats of the 400-yard individual medley. Senior Caty Hulsey finished fifth with a career best time of 4:10.61. That clocking moved Hulsey into fourth place all-time amongst individuals at UNC behind only Cari Blalock, Laura Moriarty and Emma Nunn. Abby Fisher placed 14th in the event with a time of 4:16.41 while freshman Bryanna Cameron swam in the "C" final and finished 19th in a personal best time of 4:16.82.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Moffitt's performance was complemented by that of senior Sarah Koucheki who placed sixth in a time of 52.48 seconds. Earlier in the day Koucheki had swum a career best 52.37, a time which makes her the fourth fastest performer in Carolina history in the event.
Senior Macey Arnold turned in a spectacular performance in the 200-yard freestyle as she placed 11th in a time of 1:46.25 as she took down her previous personal best time of 1:46.43. Arnold's time jumped her to sixth place in Carolina history in the event, just ahead of Hulsey who had moved into that spot with her leadoff swim in the 800-yard freestyle relay on Monday.
Carolina had three swimmers score in the 100-yard breaststroke. Emily Pfeiffer was 12th in 1:01.42, Abby Fisher was 19th in 1:01.92 and Katie Munch was 22nd in 1:02.34. Pfeiffer swam identical times in both the prelims and the finals and that time moved her into sixth place all-time in Tar Heel history.
In addition to Baldwin and Moffitt, three other Tar Heels turned in tremendous performances in the 100-yard backstroke. Senior Sarah Hitchens finished ninth overall after winning the "B" final in a career best time of 52.65 seconds. Her previous personal best was 52.71.
Emily Slabe won the "C" final for Carolina to finish 17th overall in a time of 53.86 while freshman Susanna LaRochelle was 20th with a career best time of 54.11 seconds (previous was 54.30).
Men's diving three-meter competition was also held on Wednesday. The performances of the men's divers will be included in the team scores when the ACC men's swimming championships are held in Atlanta February 27-March 2.
Senior Jack Nyquist, competing in his hometown of Atlanta, earned his second bronze medal of the championships as held scored 407.10 points to place third in three-meter diving. He was also third in one-meter diving on Monday. Nyquist was in sixth place after the preliminaries but he moved up three spots with his performances in the finals. His score was less than a point off his school record score of 407.95 points totaled in 2016. Nyquist led a group of five Tar Heels who scored in the three-meter diving event. Sean Burston was 11th with 332.20 points, Devin Bellamy was 17th with 310.00 points, Bryan Allen was 18th with 289.60 points and Andrew Owsiany was 21st with 283.45 points.
"Today was an amazing night for Jack Nyquist," said UNC diving coach Abel Sanchez. "This was Jack's final ACC championship and finishing third on three-meter was a great feat and accomplishment. He had to fight back to get into finals. Jack was trailing going into his last dive. He needed 8's or better if he wanted a medal. He surpassed the field minus two divers.
"Jack will go down as the best diver in UNC history. He's probably the only diver in the modern era to final every year at the ACC Championships and earn as many medals as he has. I can't tell you how proud I am of Jack. What makes him so good is that he's a fighter. He's consistent in his workouts. He trains hard and he loves to compete, especially at night. We have three words that we use among the divers and today Jack embodied them all; history, legacy, success. Jack's history here at UNC will be remembered. His legacy will be talked about for years."
The final day of the 2017 ACC Women's Swimming and Diving Championships will take place on Thursday at McAuley Aquatics Center at Georgia Tech. Preliminaries begin at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. Events on Thursday include the 1650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 10-meter platform diving and 400-yard freestyle relay.
"The entire team battled fiercely today, found ways to be better and helped set us up for a great final day of racing tomorrow against some great competition," says DeSelm. "We are looking forward to racing tomorrow."
Players Mentioned
