University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Monday Finals
Tar Heels Smash Two School Records On Opening Day
February 27, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
ATLANTA, GA. - The University of North Carolina men's swimming and diving team stands in seventh place after the opening day of the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships at the McAuley Aquatics Center on the campus of Georgia Tech.
The afternoon performance for the Tar Heels was highlighted by a third-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay, an event in which Coach Rich DeSelm's squad set a school record by more than three seconds.
The Tar Heel relay of Jorden Merrilees, Henry Campbell, Philip Perdue and Michael Meyer clocked a time of 6:19.20. That broke the school record of 6:22.47 which had been set in 2013 by J.T. Stilley, Brad Dillon, Tom Luchsinger and Brett Nagle and then equaled in 2015 by Ben Colley, Mitch DeForest, Logan Heck and Henry Campbell.
Monday's splits had Merrilees at 1:34.18, Campbell at 1:32.81, Perdue at 1:36.88 and Meyer at 1:35.33. Merrilees' leadoff swim in the event broke his own school record in the 200-yard freestyle which he had set at 1:34.31 at the AT&T Winter Swimming National Championships last December in the same pool.
The relay's time of 6:19.20 was also well below the NCAA "A" qualifying time for next month's NCAA Championships in Indianapolis. That standard was 6:20.67.
Carolina's 200-yard medley relay team was disqualified due to a false start in the first event of the day. The Tar Heels swam a time trial later in the day that clocked in at 1:26.67.
“That is a tough way to start the meet, but the only choice was to learn from it and move on to the 800 free relay," said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "There, Jorden (Merrilees) led off with a school record and the relay, on the way to a third place finish and NCAA "A" cut, also broke our school record. Henry Campbell's split of 1:32.81 is the fastest in UNC history. We are proud of our men for rebounding and we are looking forward to prelims tomorrow.”
The men's three-meter diving competition, which was held in conjunction with the women's championships two weeks ago, saw its team points added into the standings on Monday. Senior Jack Nyquist claimed third place in the event with 407.10. Sean Burston was 11th with 332.20 points while 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.
DAY ONE TEAM SCORES (3 EVENTS): Virginia Tech 163, Duke 147, Florida State 146, Notre Dame 138, NC State 130, Georgia Tech 122, North Carolina 117, Louisville 113, Pitt 106, Virginia 94, Boston College 66, Miami 28
Action continues Tuesday at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center with preliminaries in the morning in the 500-yard freestyle, the 200-yard individual medley and the 50-yard freestyle. The 200-yard freestyle relay will be included in the Tuesday night finals session. Preliminaries are at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.
Players Mentioned
