20 Tar Heels to Compete in USA Swimming's Winter National Championships

Wednesday, November 28

Greensboro, N.C.

All Day

North Carolina

USA Swimming AT&T Winter Nationals

Photo by: UNC Athletic Communications

20 Tar Heels to Compete in USA Swimming's Winter National Championships

November 28, 2018 | Swimming & Diving

GREENSBORO, N.C. — For four straight days, USA Swimming will hold the 2018 AT&T Winter National Championships at the Greensboro Aquatics Center in Greensboro, N.C. on Nov. 28-Dec. 1. A total of 20 Tar Heels will be representing North Carolina in all but one event as they hope to test their long course training or even to secure a spot in the Olympic Trials as they swim against a number of prominent swimmers such as Olympians Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel.

"This is just a great opportunity to swim long course," said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm. "The ultimate goal would be for people to make an Olympic Trial qualifying time, but we're not doing a lot of special preparation for this. The fact that it's in Greensboro helps so if it were a lot further away, I don't know that we'd be going. Entries are pretty much based on their desire to go. I wasn't going to force anybody to go with exams coming up and our meet just last week. Of course any U.S. Nationals is going to have some of the best swimmers in the country and that's great. We like that. The meet relatively speaking isn't all that big so hopefully we'll get some swims at night, but the most important things really are just the individual performances and training for long course."

Leading the Heels in appearances, senior captain Zhada Fields and freshman Thomas Bretzmann will each swim in five events over the course of the competition. Fields is set to compete in four freestyle events (50-, 100-, 200- and 400-meter) as well as the 100-meter backstroke. In similar fashion, Bretzmann will swim four longer freestyle events (200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter) in addition to the 400-meter IM.

As for the rest of the Carolina representatives, two Heels are entered in four events while six are scheduled to appear in three events, four in two and six in one race. Two stellar UNC swimmers — sophomore Alvin Jiang and freshman Sophie Lindner — will have the chance to continue their successful seasons. Both will swim in three 100-meter competitions (fly, back, free) while Jiang rounds out his performances in the 50-meter freestyle and Lindner in the 200-meter backstroke.

On the men's side, Dimitrios Dimitriou will compete in the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyles. ACC/Big Ten Challenge competitor Chris Thames will swim both the 100-meter and 200-meter backstrokes with another appearance in the 400-meter freestyle and Jacob Rauch follows suit with two backstroke events and the 100-meter breaststroke as his third event. Luka Tomic is set to swim the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyles and Nick Palmer, Tucker Burhans, James Courtney, Jr. and Tom Bilden each have one scheduled appearance in the 400-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter backstroke and 200-meter butterfly, respectively.

The women's team also looks forward to seeing what their ten competitors will bring to the table. Freshman Grace Countie, another Carolina representative at the inaugural ACC/Big Ten Challenge, will swim in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter backstroke competitions, freshman Heidi Lowe in the 200-meter freestyle, 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke and sophomore Caroline Hauder in the 100-meter freestyle, 100-meter breaststroke and 200-meter breaststroke. Lilly Higgs and Allie Reiter will both appear in each of the two breaststroke events (100-meter and 200-meter) while Brooke Bauer prepares to swim the sprint free events in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyles. Robyn Dryer will represent UNC in the women's 800-meter freestyle on the opening day of competition and after a career performance at the Georgia Tech Invitational, Bryanna Cameron will swim in the 200-meter butterfly.

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow @uncswimdive on Twitter to receive information as results are made available. Webcasts will also be available on the websites for USA Swimming and NBC Sports (see schedule below). A meet recap and results will be posted on GoHeels.com following the completion of daily competition.

The 2018 Winter National Championships will be broadcast on NBC. Check local listings for times in your area.

Day 1, Wednesday, Nov. 28
800m Free Heats - 6 p.m. ET
Webcast: usaswimming.org

Day 2, Thursday, Nov. 29
Prelims - 9 a.m. ET
Webcast: usaswimming.org

A Finals - 5 p.m. ET
Webcast: nbcsports.com
TV: Olympic Channel

B Finals - 5 p.m. ET
Webcast: usaswimming.org

Day 3, Friday, Nov. 30
Prelims - 9 a.m. ET
Webcast: usaswimming.org

A Finals - 5 p.m. ET
Webcast: nbcsports.com
TV: Olympic Channel

B Finals - 5 p.m. ET
Webcast: usaswimming.org

Day 4, Saturday, Dec. 1
Prelims - 9 a.m. ET
Webcast: usaswimming.org

1500m Free Heats - 2:30 p.m. ET
Webcast: usaswimming.org

Finals - 5 p.m. ET
Webcast: usaswimming.org

Sunday, Dec. 2
Finals (Taped) - 10 p.m. ET
Webcast: nbcsports.com
TV: NBC Sports Network

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Day 1, Wednesday, Nov. 28
   •   800 Free (3)

Day 2, Thursday, Nov. 29
   •   400 Free (6)
   •   200 IM
   •   50 Free (4)

Day 3, Friday, Nov. 30
   •   400 IM (1)
   •   100 Fly (3)
   •   200 Free (1)
   •   100 Breast (4)
   •   100 Back (7)

Day 4, Saturday, Dec. 1
   •   1500 Free (1)
   •   200 Back (5)
   •   100 Free (6)
   •   200 Breast (3)
   •   200 Fly (2)

Short Course Yards Time Trials - Sunday, Dec. 2