University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Thursday Preliminaries
Koucheki & Baldwin Eclipse School Records
February 16, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
ATLANTA, GA. - Caroline Baldwin and Sarah Koucheki set school records and Tar Heel women's swimmers established seven career best times Thursday morning at the final preliminaries session for the 2017 ACC Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the McAuley Aquatics Center at Georgia Tech.
Thirteen swimmers and divers have already qualified for tonight's finals session and two more will swim in timed finals of the 1650-yard freestyle later today.
In the opening event of the morning, four Tar Heels qualified for the finals in the 200-yard backstroke. Senior Hellen Moffitt made the "A" finals by placing fifth with a time of 1:53.96. Two UNC swimmers reached the "B" final as Emily Slabe qualified 11th in 1:55.80 and freshman Susanna LaRochelle earned the last spot in the heat by going 1:57.82, placing 16th. She took nearly a second a half off her previous career best time of 1:59.30. Junior Katie Ford placed 24th in preliminaries and earned the final spot in the "C" final as she swam a career best 1:59.49 (previous was 2:00.39).
In the 100-yard freestyle, junior Caroline Baldwin and senior Sarah Hitchens became the two fastest Tar Heels in history, both with swims that were under Baldwin's previous school record in the event. Baldwin had set that record at 48.60 last November at the GAC Invitational.
On Thursday morning, Baldwin qualified third in a time of 47.96 while Hitchens placed fifth in a time of 48.36. Hitchens' previous career best was 48.74 at the GAC Invitational last November. Freshman Brooke Bauer qualified 20th in the event and will swim in the "C" final. She went 49.43 (previous career best was 49.70).
Seniors Abby Fisher and Emily Pfeiffer qualified for the "B" final of the 200-yard breaststroke. Fisher took 11th in the prelims in 2:11.85 while Pfeiffer was right behind her in 12th place in 2:12.54. Pfeiffer took significant time off her previous career best which was 2:14.17. Her time from Thursday morning moves her into eighth place amongst all-time performers in the event in Carolina history.
Sarah Koucheki had the swim of her Carolina career in taking the top seed in the 200-yard butterfly. She swam a school record 1:54.27 (previous career best had been 1:55.70). Koucheki broke the school record time of 1:54.47 set by Meredith Hoover in 2013. Senior Caty Hulsey also qualified for the "A" final, placing seventh and going 1:57.15. Freshman Bryanna Cameron garnered the final spot in the "B" final, notching 16th place and going a career best 1:59.41 (previous best 2:00.41).
Junior Elissa Dawson made her third championship final of the meet by qualifying sixth in the preliminaries of 10-meter platform diving with a score of 237.70. Maria Lohman was 29th with a score of 181.70.
The Tar Heel men's divers also did an excllent job in their preliminaries on 10-meter platform. In fact, four scored points in the event. Bryan Allen was 14th with 267.70 points, Sean Burston was 17th with 259.90 points, Jack Nyquist was 21st with 248.95 points and Devin Bellamy was 23rd with 240.75 points. Andrew Owsiany placed 25th with 232.45 points and Max Jenkins took 28th with 190.90 points.
Championship finals begin at 6 p.m. with the final heat of the 1650-yard freestyle, followed by finals in women's 10-meter platform diving, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, men's 10-meter platform diving and women's 400-yard freestyle relay.
Players Mentioned
