Tar Heels Sweep Pirates in Greenville

Friday, October 5

Greenville, NC

5:00 P.M.

North Carolina

East Carolina University

Caroline Hauder

Photo by: Justin Caterline

October 5, 2018 | Swimming & Diving

Meet Results

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The University of North Carolina swimming and diving teams kicked off the 2018-19 season with two wins at East Carolina on Friday. While the Tar Heel women nearly doubled their competition's score, 196 to 99, the men's team fought a battle to the bitter end and won 159 to 141.

"You never quite know what you're going to get out of the first competition every year," said UNC head swimming coach Rich DeSelm. "This was a great meet. ECU put up a great fight especially their men. We had to get everything we could out of our men to get the win so credit to them. We learned a lot about what we need to work on. This is going to give us a great opportunity to learn and grow and to see where we can improve. I was proud of our women for dominating. We had some people really step up."

The Carolina women's swimming and diving team took first in all but one event throughout the whole competition. Sophie Lindner, a freshman from Matthews, N.C., continues to impress her coaches and racked up four first-place finishes across two individual events and both relays. Junior Brooke Bauer was a member of the winning medley relay and captured first-place honors as an individual in the 100-yard freestyle. Sophomore Caroline Hauder collected event titles of her own in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard medley relay while senior Robyn Dryer took first in both of the distance freestyle events.

On the men's side, Alvin Jiang started his season just as well as he ended his last. Named the Most Valuable Swimmer on the men's 2017-18 roster, Jiang further established himself as a staple to the team by capturing both the 100-yard backstroke and butterfly titles and leading off both of Carolina's top relays. Valdas Abaliksta joined Jiang on the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays while also winning both men's breaststroke events. Even new members of the Carolina squad — Thomas Bretzmann and Tomas Sungaila — showed up ready to swim, each swimming a leg of one of UNC's top relays and earning an individual event title.

As Carolina showed its prowess in the pool, the Tar Heel divers enjoyed just as much success on the boards. UNC diving swept its competition with all five women taking the top five of eight spots in both the one-meter and three-meter diving and both men finishing among the top two of five spots in each event.

"They did really well," said diving coach Abel Sanchez. "The kids dove well even though it's way too early for anyone to be diving. They stayed composed, both the men and the women. I'm really proud of them so we've got to get home and get back to work."

In an interesting turn of events, Maria Lohman edged out teammate Emily Grund for the one-meter title and Grund just outscored Lohman in the three-meter. A similar situation ensued for men as Andrew Owsiany took first in the one-meter and Bryan Allen earned the three-meter title.

"It's kind of a new team," DeSelm said. "Over the past couple years, we've lost a lot of frontline people and there are opportunities to step up on both the men's and the women's side. I like what we're seeing. We're working hard as I'm sure every other team in the country is so we'll go back to Chapel Hill tonight, have practice tomorrow morning and by the next meet in three weeks, I hope we're a lot sharper and a whole lot better."

UP NEXT: The Tar Heels host the South Carolina Gamecocks in their first and only home competition of the fall season. The meet begins at 3 p.m. ET in Koury Natatorium on Friday, Oct. 26 with free admission.

MEN'S TEAM SCORE: NORTH CAROLINA, 159 • EAST CAROLINA, 141
TOP CAROLINA MEN'S FINISHERS IN EACH EVENT
200-Yard Medley Relay: North Carolina (Alvin Jiang, Valdas Abaliksta, Greg Brocato, Tomas Sungaila), 2nd, 1:31.01
1000-Yard Freestyle: Thomas Bretzmann, 1st, 9:32.31
200-Yard Freestyle: Luka Tomic, 1st, 1:40.79
100-Yard Backstroke: Alvin Jiang, 1st, 47.81
100-Yard Breaststroke: Valdas Abaliksta, 1st place, 56.02
200-Yard Butterfly: Noah Cairns, 2nd, 1:54.01
50-Yard Freestyle: Jack Messenger, 2nd, 21.36
Three-Meter Diving: Bryan Allen, 1st, 304.58
100-Yard Freestyle: Tyler Hill, 2nd, 46.65
200-Yard Backstroke: Jacob Rauch, 3rd, 1:53.67
200-Yard Breaststroke: Valdas Abaliksta, 2nd, 2:04.68
500-Yard Freestyle: Dimitrious Dimitriou, 2nd, 4:37.20
100-Yard Butterfly: Alvin Jiang, 1st, 47.78
One-Meter Diving: Andrew Owsiany, 260.78
200-Yard Individual Medley: Tyler Hill, 3rd, 1:54.07
400-Yard Freestyle Relay: North Carolina (Alvin Jiang, Luka Tomic, Valdas Abaliksta, Jack Messenger), 1st, 3:02.65
Record: 1-0, ACC 0-0

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORE: NORTH CAROLINA, 196 • EAST CAROLINA, 99
TOP CAROLINA WOMEN'S FINISHERS IN EACH EVENT
200-Yard Medley Relay: North Carolina (Grace Countie, Caroline Hauder, Sophie Lindner, Brooke Bauer), 1st, 1:43.66
1000-Yard Freestyle: Robyn Dryer, 1st, 10:01.47
200-Yard Freestyle: Zhada Fields, 1st, 1:50.82
100-Yard Backstroke: Sophie Lindner, 1st, 54.25
100-Yard Breaststroke: Lilly Higgs, 1st, 1:04.84
200-Yard Butterfly: Bryanna Cameron, 1st, 2:01.51
50-Yard Freestyle: Grace Countie, 1st, 23.28
One-Meter Diving: Maria Lohman, 1st place, 264.00
100-Yard Freestyle: Brooke Bauer, 3rd, 52.99
200-Yard Backstroke: Sophie Lindner, 1st, 1:56.86
200-Yard Breaststroke: Lilly Higgs, 1st, 2:19.34
500-Yard Freestyle: Robyn Dryer, 1st, 4:56.00
100-Yard Butterfly: Sophie Lindner, 1st, 55.82
Three-Meter Diving: Emily Grund, 295.13
200-Yard Individual Medley: Caroline Hauder, 2:04.28X
400-Yard Freestyle Relay: North Carolina (Zhada Fields, Kate Boyer, Brooke Bauer, Emma Cole), 3:27.78X
Record: 1-0, ACC 0-0