University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Begin Competition In ACC Championships Monday
February 25, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
ATLANTA, GA. - The University of North Carolina men's swimming team will compete in the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming Championships to be held at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatics Center from Monday, February 27 through Thursday, March 2.
Coach Rich DeSelm's Tar Heel team struggled during the dual meet schedule in 2016-17, competing against a half dozen CSCAA ranked Top 25 team, but excelled in its two previous invitational meets at the GAC Invitational in November and the AT&T USA Swimming Winter National Championships in December. DeSelm is hoping another championship meet format will bring out the best in his Tar Heels. The Tar Heel women swam extremely well in its championship meet last week, finishing fourth, and setting nine school records in the process.
The Tar Heel men's divers competed in their events in conjunction with the women's championship meet and have already put 136 points on the board. Senior co-captain Jack Nyquist and junior Sean Burston scored in all three diving events. Nyquist had third-place finishes on both the one-meter and three-meter diving boards. Freshman Bryan Allen was UNC's top finisher in 10-meter platform diving with a 14th-place finish.
Carolina is taking 15 swimmers to the Championships next week as part of its scoring team. The contingent includes freshman Greg Brocato, sophomore Noah Cairns, junior Henry Campbell, junior J.T. Casey, freshman Collier Cobb, senior Matt Conway, sophomore Patrick Cusick, junior Craig Emslie, junior Michael McBryan, senior Jorden Merrilees, senior Michael Meyer, junior Philip Perdue, senior Lucas Popp, sophomore Austin Sellers and senior Eugene Tee.
• Jorden Merrilees is a senior from North Melbourne, Australia, who swam at Oakland University in Michigan from 2012-15. He sat out last year while training for the Olympics in his home country and was the first alternate for a spot on the team's 800-meter freestyle relay in Rio. Earlier this year Merrilees set the UNC school record in the 200-yard freestyle by clocking a 1:34.31 at the AT&T Winter Nationals. He is the No. 1 seed going into the ACC Championships in the event. He is seeded No. 3 in the 500-yard freestyle at 4:17.86, a time making him the second fastest Tar Heel in history. Merrilees has the seventh fastest time in the ACC this year in the 200 backstroke at 1:43.08, where only three Tar Heels outrank him on the all-time depth chart.
• Junior Henry Campbell is a two-time All-ACC performer and native of Manassas, Va. He is the Tar Heels' school record holder in the 500-yard freestyle at 4:16.27. He is the ninth fastest UNC performer in history in the 200-yard freestyle and the fourth fastest in the 1650-yard freestyle. Heading into the ACC Championships, he is seeded No. 10 in the 500 freestyle and No. 7 in the 400 individual medley. A year ago, he placed third in the conference meet in the 500 free, sixth in the 400 IM and eighth in the 1650 free. As a freshman in 2015, he took third in the 500 free, fifth in the 400 IM and seventh in the 1650.
• Junior Craig Emslie graduated last spring from Indian River State College in Florida where he won multiple junior college national individual and relay titles over the previous two years. The Cape Town, South Africa native was the 2015-16 National Junior College Student-Athlete of the Year. He is UNC's top performer in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke and is second on the UNC depth chart in the 200-yard breaststroke. He is the No. 8 seed on the ACC depth chart in the 100 breast with a time of 53.40, just shy of the Tar Heel school record of 53.24 held by Kurt Wohlrab.
• Junior Michael McBryan from Doylestown, Pa., is the No. 10 seed on the ACC depth chart in the 200-yard breaststroke at 1:57.89. He ranks sixth all-time in Tar Heel history in both breaststrokes with career best times of 1:56.54 at 200 yards and 54.39 at 100 yards. He was seventh in the 200 breaststroke at last year's ACC meet.
• Senior Michael Meyer is a transfer from the University of Arizona. He is Carolina's fastest 400-yard individual medley performer this year with a top time of 3:45.95. That makes him the No. 4 seed in the ACC Championships. Meyer, from Johannesburg, South Africa, was a member of the 2016 South African Olympic Team where he placed 17th in the 400-meter individual medley, missing a spot in the semifinals in Rio by just one place. In his sole year at Carolina he has recorded times which make him UNC's fourth fastest performer in the 400 IM (3:45.95), fifth fastest performer in the 200 IM (1:46.34) and sixth fastest performer in the 200 backstroke (1:43.39).
Following are some key links for coverage of the ACC Men's Swimming Championships
Live Results
UNC School Records
UNC All-Time Top 10 List
2016-17 Team Statistics
UNC Swimming & Diving Media Guide
Tuesday Finals on ACC Network Extra
Wednesday Finals on ACC Network Extra
Thursday Finals on ACC Network Extra
