Swimming & Diving Sweeps Second Straight Meet

Friday, October 26

Chapel Hill, N.C.

3:00 P.M.

North Carolina

University of South Carolina

Alvin Jiang

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

October 26, 2018 | Swimming & Diving

Results

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Koury Natatorium was brought to life Friday night as the North Carolina swimming and diving teams battled for the Carolina name against the South Carolina Gamecocks. With numerous event sweeps and standout performances, the Tar Heel women defeated No. 19 South Carolina, 157 to 143, and the men upset the favored Gamecocks, 159.50 to 140.50.

"I'm very pleased with tonight's results," UNC head swimming coach Rich DeSelm said. "More so with the team's spirit and energy and enthusiasm. Some of the best I've seen in a long time. It's something we've been talking about and working on and they came to swim and dive today. It was really awesome to see. Very, very proud of them."

Though the Tar Heels led at each break, the Gamecocks certainly made them work for the win. UNC's men led by just one point at the first intermission and the women held just a six point through 22 events. In thrilling fashion, the teams secured the wins in the final two relay events with the men snatching first and second place and the women second and third.

A promising sign for North Carolina's future, underclassmen riddled the leaderboards. Sophomore Alvin Jiang and freshman Sophie Lindner each winning three individual events and swimming a leg of the first-lace finishing 200 yard medley relays. Both Tar Heels won the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly competitions while Lindner took the 200-yard backstroke title and Jiang the 100-yard freestyle to top off their stellar performances. Jiang's 100-yard backstroke time of 47.21 is the fourth-fastest time in the NCAA this season.

"The main thing I've been focusing on is just sleeping and making sure I get really good fuel before and after practices" Lindner said. "Really just coming into practice every day and giving it my all and making sure that every day I'm getting better at least at one thing. I think the main thing at the meets is definitely the team. I wouldn't be able to do what I do without all these people behind me cheering me on and getting really excited about my races."

Returning Tar Heels — including Valdas Abaliksta, Brooke Bauer, Robyn Dryer, Zhada Fields, Jack Messenger and many more — also helped their teams secure key points in the sweep with first-place honors. With encouraging showings from all of the classes, North Carolina is certainly eager to see what they can continue to do in the water.

On the other end of the pool, Carolina's divers were looking to repeat their success from East Carolina. Redshirt senior Sean Burston made his first appearance back after recovering from a late summer injury, finishing second in the men's three-meter competition with a score of 315.38 and fourth in the three-meter with 317.70 points. On the women's side, freshman Emily Grund matched her results from the season opener and won the women's three-meter with a score of 336.38 while scoring 272.55 in the one-meter for the runner-up spot.

"Honestly, I just try to go into every practice pretending that it's a meet and just mentally preparing myself every single day," Grund said. "Not just the day before, not just the day of, every single day because that's the best thing you can do for yourself."

"I think the divers did well," UNC diving coach Abel Sanchez said. "They were consistent and they stayed composed. We were working on our hurdles. It's still really early, but we have a big meet coming up in November out at Georgia Tech so that will be a really good challenge to see where the divers really stand out. South Carolina has an amazing team, a great coach, a lot of great divers and we were fortunate we had some good diving. Our divers worked hard so we've got to get back to the drawing board and start working harder."

Still holding onto that undefeated status, the Tar Heels hope to continue their hot streak as they move further into the season and face even more tough opponents.

UP NEXT: Carolina will return to West Lafayette, Ind. for two full days of competition at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 10-11. The short-course yards dual meet will be held at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center on the campus of Purdue University.

MEN'S TEAM SCORE: NORTH CAROLINA, 159.50 • SOUTH CAROLINA, 140.50
TOP CAROLINA MEN'S FINISHERS IN EACH EVENT
200-Yard Medley Relay: North Carolina (Alvin Jiang, Sterling Smith, Tyler Hill, Jack Messenger), 1st, 1:28.38
1000-Yard Freestyle: Thomas Bretzmann, 4th, 9:22.60
200-Yard Freestyle: Dimitrios Dimitriou, 2nd, 1:37.57
100-Yard Backstroke: Alvin Jiang, 1st, 47.21
100-Yard Breaststroke: Sterling Smith, 2nd, 55.65
200-Yard Butterfly: Noah Cairns, 3rd, 1:51.28
50-Yard Freestyle: Tucker Burhans, 1st, 20.66
Three-Meter Diving: Andrew Owsiany, 3rd, 330.15
100-Yard Freestyle: Alvin Jiang, 1st, 45.23
200-Yard Backstroke: Chris Thames, 2nd, 1:48.82
200-Yard Breaststroke: Valdas Abaliksta, 1st, 1:59.64
500-Yard Freestyle: Dimitrios Dimitriou, 3rd, 4:32.09
100-Yard Butterfly: Alvin Jiang, 1st, 48.07
One-Meter Diving: Sean Burston, 2nd, 315.38
200-Yard Individual Medley: Tyler Hill, 3rd, 1:51.51
400-Yard Freestyle Relay: North Carolina (Tucker Burhans, Valdas Abaliksta, Sterling Smith, Jack Messenger), 1st, 3:01.79
Record: 2-0, ACC 0-0

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORE: NORTH CAROLINA, 157 • SOUTH CAROLINA, 143
TOP CAROLINA WOMEN'S FINISHERS IN EACH EVENT
200-Yard Medley Relay: North Carolina (Sophie Lindner, Lilly Higgs, Emma Cole, Grace Countie), 1st, 1:40.83
1000-Yard Freestyle: Robyn Dryer, 2nd, 10:00.55
200-Yard Freestyle: Zhada Fields, 1st, 1:49.89
100-Yard Backstroke: Sophie Lindner, 1st, 53.85
100-Yard Breaststroke: Lilly Higgs, 1st, 1:02.04
200-Yard Butterfly: Bryanna Cameron, 3rd, 1:59.96
50-Yard Freestyle: Kate Boyer, 1st, 22.87
One-Meter Diving: Emily Grund, 2nd, 272.55
100-Yard Freestyle: Brooke Bauer, 1st, 50.47
200-Yard Backstroke: Sophie Lindner, 1st, 1:55.40
200-Yard Breaststroke: Lilly Higgs, 2nd, 2:16.14
500-Yard Freestyle: Robyn Dryer, 1st, 4:56.16
100-Yard Butterfly: Sophie Lindner, 1st, 54.00
Three-Meter Diving: Emily Grund, 1st, 336.38
200-Yard Individual Medley: Caroline Hauder, 3rd, 2:04.31
400-Yard Freestyle Relay: North Carolina (Virginia Marsh, Zhada Fields, Kate Boyer, Brooke Bauer), 2nd, 3:21.52
Record: 2-0, ACC 0-0