Greg Duncan
GoHeels Exclusive: Historic Weekend For Duncan, Olympic Sports Notes
February 19, 2018 | Swimming & Diving, Featured Writers
by Pat James, GoHeels.com
Competing in the ACC Championships for the first time, freshman Greg Duncan accomplished a feat no North Carolina male diver had achieved in 60 years.
Duncan won the three-meter diving competition on Wednesday and the one-meter diving event on Thursday at the Greensboro Aquatics Center. In doing so, he became the first Tar Heel man to sweep the springboard events since Ned Meekins in 1958.
Entering the ACC Championships, Duncan had registered a three-meter score of at least 400 points just once during his young college career. That changed Wednesday, when he posted a score of 416.10 to become the first UNC man to win the three-meter diving event at the ACC Championships since Eric Poitras in 2004.
Duncan followed that up with another historic performance on Thursday. He registered a school record score of 428.05 in one-meter diving, becoming the first Tar Heel man to win that event at the ACC Championships since Joe Craft in 1994.
Behind both wins, Duncan was named the most valuable men's diver at the ACC Championships,  making him the first Tar Heel to earn that honor since Poitras in 2004.
The accolade added to Duncan's already impressive resume. In August, he won the national championship in three-meter diving at the U.S. Diving Senior National Summer Championships. He and Texas diver Grayson Campbell then won the men's synchronized three-meter event at the U.S. Diving Winter National Championships in December.
Baseball relies on catchers
Despite returning 80 percent of its innings pitched from last season, the baseball team's greatest strength might be its depth at catcher, according to coach Mike Fox.Â
So in an effort to get sophomore Brandon Martorano and junior Cody Roberts in the lineup together more often, the Tar Heels worked Roberts, the team's primary catcher the last two seasons, at multiple positions during the offseason.
That paid dividends this weekend, as both players were key in helping UNC clinch its opening series 2-1 against South Florida.
In Friday's 4-3 loss, Roberts started at catcher and Martorano at designated hitter. Martorano then started at catcher in the next two games, both wins, and Roberts moved to right field.
Defensively, both players were steady at catcher. Each threw out one would-be base stealer and combined for just one passed ball. But perhaps their most significant contributions came at the plate, as they combined to go 7-for-22 with three home runs, eight RBIs and three runs scored.
Bailey continues stellar freshman season
After earning ACC Rookie of the Week honors for the sixth time last Monday, Janelle Bailey could receive the designation again after an impressive week.
In the women's basketball team's losses against Georgia Tech and Louisville on Thursday and Sunday, respectively, Bailey averaged 15 points and 8.5 rebounds. She finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds against the Yellow Jackets, notching her 10th double-double of the season.
With two regular-season ACC games left, Bailey is averaging 15.4 and 9.8 rebounds during conference play. No Tar Heel has averaged a double-double during conference play since the 2008-09 season, when Jessica Breland averaged 13.3 points and 10.1 rebounds in 14 ACC games.
Gerard guides men's golf
Making his first career start, freshman Ryan Gerard helped steer the men's golf team to a second-place tie at the John Burns Intercollegiate in Lihue, Hawaii.
Gerard finished tied for seventh after shooting a 4-under-par 212 during the three-day tournament. Sandwiched between two even-par 72s, he carded a 4-under 68 during the second round, which was highlighted by an eagle on the ninth hole.
Across nine rounds in the fall season, Gerard finished in the 60s just once, during the final round of the Tar Heel Intercollegiate. He's been in the 60s in three of six rounds this spring.
Women's golf opens spring season
Through the first 18 holes of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate, the women's golf team's first tournament of the spring season, the Tar Heels sit in third place.Â
UNC shot a 4-over 292 during Sunday's first round, held at the English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans. Freshman Ava Bergner and sophomore Brynn Walker led the Tar Heels on the day, carding even-par 72s and tying for 16th.
The second and third rounds will be held Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Nettles notches impressive scores
En route to a third-place finish in Saturday's meet against N.C. State, Michigan and Brown, the gymnastics team received significant contributions from senior Madison Nettles.
Opening the meet on the uneven bars, Nettles finished in a four-way tie for sixth place after posting a season-high score of 9.825. She then took first on floor exercise with a career-high score of 9.950 before tying for fifth on vault with a career-high-tying score of 9.875.
Behind Nettles, UNC recorded a season-high score of 196.050, its highest competition score since March 20, 2010.
Perry proves crucial in overtime win
For the second straight game, the men's lacrosse team needed overtime to pull out a win. And after Justin Anderson scored the game winner in a 15-14 overtime victory over Furman on Feb. 10, fellow sophomore William Perry emerged as the hero in Saturday's 12-11 win over Lehigh.
The Tar Heels won the opening faceoff of overtime and called timeout. Just 28 seconds later, Chris Cloutier drew three defenders and found Perry, who scored from 10 yards out.
Perry finished with a career-high four goals. His previous career high was three, which he registered against Lehigh on Feb. 18, 2017.
Ortega shines for women's lacrosse
Looking to move on from a season-opening loss at James Madison, the women's lacrosse team did just that with wins over High Point and Liberty on Friday and Sunday, respectively. In both, Jamie Ortega proved worthy of her billing as the top incoming freshman attacker in the nation.
Ortega needed just 45 seconds to open the scoring in UNC's 14-10 win at High Point. She ultimately finished with three goals, matching Marie McCool for the most on the team.
Then in the Tar Heels' 23-4 victory over Liberty, Ortega scored five goals on seven shots in her first career home game. Through three games, she's scored nine goals, the second most on the team behind McCool.
Murray's bat stays hot
After going 8-for-14 during the softball team's season-opening games at the UCF Friends of Jaclyn Tournament, Leah Murray continued her torrid hitting last week.
Murray went 1-for-3 in Wednesday's 2-1 loss at Elon. She then went 6-for-15 during the ACC/Big Ten Challenge – which UNC finished with a 2-2 record – and extended her hitting streak to nine games, one shy of her career high.
Murray's .469 batting average (15-for-32) leads the team. Her 15 hits and seven stolen bases top the ACC.
Boyden's consistent playÂ
As a sophomore last year, Blaine Boyden won his first 12 matches of the men's tennis team's spring season. This year, he's off to another hot start.
Although the Tar Heels suffered their first loss of the season Saturday, falling 4-3 to No. 6 Texas A&M in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Seattle, Boyden improved to 5-0 in singles with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Barnaby Smith.
Boyden's win kept UNC alive, tying the match at 2. But after William Blumberg's victory gave the Tar Heels a 3-2 lead, they dropped the last two singles matches.
Women's tennis stays undefeated
Fresh off winning the 2018 ITA National Team Indoor Championship last Monday, the newly minted No. 1 women's tennis team remained undefeated with Sunday's 4-1 win over Michigan.
Much of the Tar Heels' success has been the result of their strong doubles play. And that continued against the Wolverines.
Although UNC faced a pair of 3-0 deficits to start doubles play Sunday, UNC seized the crucial point with wins from the tandems of Jessie Aney/Alexa Graham and Marika Akkerman/Makenna Jones. The Tar Heels have claimed the doubles point in all 11 matches this spring.
Greene matches personal best
As some of her teammates closed the indoor regular season at the UCS Invitational on Friday and Saturday, junior Nicole Greene also prepared for her final tune-up before the ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships, albeit on a larger stage.
Greene competed in the high jump at the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Sunday. And facing some of the top professional high jumpers in the country, she jumped 6 feet, 2 inches (1.88 meters) to take third.
The jump matched her personal best, which she previously set at the Dick Taylor Carolina Cup on Jan. 13. It's the best jump in the ACC and third best in the country this season.
Heilmann, Ramos finish regular season strong
In the final two regular-season matches of their college wrestling careers, redshirt seniors Troy Heilmann and Ethan Ramos continued their winnings ways in Wednesday's 28-14 win over Duke and Friday's 32-6 loss at Cornell.
Heilmann improved to 27-4 on the year, pinning Duke's Brandon Leynaud at 2:24 of the first period and then securing a 10-7 decision over Cornell's Will Koll. Ramos won a 9-6 decision against Duke's Matt Finesilver and then a 6-3 decision against Cornell's Brandon Womack to finish the regular season at 15-5.
Since Ramos returned on Jan. 19 from an injury that sidelined him for six weeks, he and Heilmann have gone a combined 13-3.
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Competing in the ACC Championships for the first time, freshman Greg Duncan accomplished a feat no North Carolina male diver had achieved in 60 years.
Duncan won the three-meter diving competition on Wednesday and the one-meter diving event on Thursday at the Greensboro Aquatics Center. In doing so, he became the first Tar Heel man to sweep the springboard events since Ned Meekins in 1958.
Entering the ACC Championships, Duncan had registered a three-meter score of at least 400 points just once during his young college career. That changed Wednesday, when he posted a score of 416.10 to become the first UNC man to win the three-meter diving event at the ACC Championships since Eric Poitras in 2004.
Duncan followed that up with another historic performance on Thursday. He registered a school record score of 428.05 in one-meter diving, becoming the first Tar Heel man to win that event at the ACC Championships since Joe Craft in 1994.
Behind both wins, Duncan was named the most valuable men's diver at the ACC Championships,  making him the first Tar Heel to earn that honor since Poitras in 2004.
The accolade added to Duncan's already impressive resume. In August, he won the national championship in three-meter diving at the U.S. Diving Senior National Summer Championships. He and Texas diver Grayson Campbell then won the men's synchronized three-meter event at the U.S. Diving Winter National Championships in December.
Baseball relies on catchers
Despite returning 80 percent of its innings pitched from last season, the baseball team's greatest strength might be its depth at catcher, according to coach Mike Fox.Â
So in an effort to get sophomore Brandon Martorano and junior Cody Roberts in the lineup together more often, the Tar Heels worked Roberts, the team's primary catcher the last two seasons, at multiple positions during the offseason.
That paid dividends this weekend, as both players were key in helping UNC clinch its opening series 2-1 against South Florida.
In Friday's 4-3 loss, Roberts started at catcher and Martorano at designated hitter. Martorano then started at catcher in the next two games, both wins, and Roberts moved to right field.
Defensively, both players were steady at catcher. Each threw out one would-be base stealer and combined for just one passed ball. But perhaps their most significant contributions came at the plate, as they combined to go 7-for-22 with three home runs, eight RBIs and three runs scored.
Bailey continues stellar freshman season
After earning ACC Rookie of the Week honors for the sixth time last Monday, Janelle Bailey could receive the designation again after an impressive week.
In the women's basketball team's losses against Georgia Tech and Louisville on Thursday and Sunday, respectively, Bailey averaged 15 points and 8.5 rebounds. She finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds against the Yellow Jackets, notching her 10th double-double of the season.
With two regular-season ACC games left, Bailey is averaging 15.4 and 9.8 rebounds during conference play. No Tar Heel has averaged a double-double during conference play since the 2008-09 season, when Jessica Breland averaged 13.3 points and 10.1 rebounds in 14 ACC games.
Gerard guides men's golf
Making his first career start, freshman Ryan Gerard helped steer the men's golf team to a second-place tie at the John Burns Intercollegiate in Lihue, Hawaii.
Gerard finished tied for seventh after shooting a 4-under-par 212 during the three-day tournament. Sandwiched between two even-par 72s, he carded a 4-under 68 during the second round, which was highlighted by an eagle on the ninth hole.
Across nine rounds in the fall season, Gerard finished in the 60s just once, during the final round of the Tar Heel Intercollegiate. He's been in the 60s in three of six rounds this spring.
Women's golf opens spring season
Through the first 18 holes of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate, the women's golf team's first tournament of the spring season, the Tar Heels sit in third place.Â
UNC shot a 4-over 292 during Sunday's first round, held at the English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans. Freshman Ava Bergner and sophomore Brynn Walker led the Tar Heels on the day, carding even-par 72s and tying for 16th.
The second and third rounds will be held Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Nettles notches impressive scores
En route to a third-place finish in Saturday's meet against N.C. State, Michigan and Brown, the gymnastics team received significant contributions from senior Madison Nettles.
Opening the meet on the uneven bars, Nettles finished in a four-way tie for sixth place after posting a season-high score of 9.825. She then took first on floor exercise with a career-high score of 9.950 before tying for fifth on vault with a career-high-tying score of 9.875.
Behind Nettles, UNC recorded a season-high score of 196.050, its highest competition score since March 20, 2010.
Perry proves crucial in overtime win
For the second straight game, the men's lacrosse team needed overtime to pull out a win. And after Justin Anderson scored the game winner in a 15-14 overtime victory over Furman on Feb. 10, fellow sophomore William Perry emerged as the hero in Saturday's 12-11 win over Lehigh.
The Tar Heels won the opening faceoff of overtime and called timeout. Just 28 seconds later, Chris Cloutier drew three defenders and found Perry, who scored from 10 yards out.
Perry finished with a career-high four goals. His previous career high was three, which he registered against Lehigh on Feb. 18, 2017.
Ortega shines for women's lacrosse
Looking to move on from a season-opening loss at James Madison, the women's lacrosse team did just that with wins over High Point and Liberty on Friday and Sunday, respectively. In both, Jamie Ortega proved worthy of her billing as the top incoming freshman attacker in the nation.
Ortega needed just 45 seconds to open the scoring in UNC's 14-10 win at High Point. She ultimately finished with three goals, matching Marie McCool for the most on the team.
Then in the Tar Heels' 23-4 victory over Liberty, Ortega scored five goals on seven shots in her first career home game. Through three games, she's scored nine goals, the second most on the team behind McCool.
Murray's bat stays hot
After going 8-for-14 during the softball team's season-opening games at the UCF Friends of Jaclyn Tournament, Leah Murray continued her torrid hitting last week.
Murray went 1-for-3 in Wednesday's 2-1 loss at Elon. She then went 6-for-15 during the ACC/Big Ten Challenge – which UNC finished with a 2-2 record – and extended her hitting streak to nine games, one shy of her career high.
Murray's .469 batting average (15-for-32) leads the team. Her 15 hits and seven stolen bases top the ACC.
Boyden's consistent playÂ
As a sophomore last year, Blaine Boyden won his first 12 matches of the men's tennis team's spring season. This year, he's off to another hot start.
Although the Tar Heels suffered their first loss of the season Saturday, falling 4-3 to No. 6 Texas A&M in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Seattle, Boyden improved to 5-0 in singles with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Barnaby Smith.
Boyden's win kept UNC alive, tying the match at 2. But after William Blumberg's victory gave the Tar Heels a 3-2 lead, they dropped the last two singles matches.
Women's tennis stays undefeated
Fresh off winning the 2018 ITA National Team Indoor Championship last Monday, the newly minted No. 1 women's tennis team remained undefeated with Sunday's 4-1 win over Michigan.
Much of the Tar Heels' success has been the result of their strong doubles play. And that continued against the Wolverines.
Although UNC faced a pair of 3-0 deficits to start doubles play Sunday, UNC seized the crucial point with wins from the tandems of Jessie Aney/Alexa Graham and Marika Akkerman/Makenna Jones. The Tar Heels have claimed the doubles point in all 11 matches this spring.
Greene matches personal best
As some of her teammates closed the indoor regular season at the UCS Invitational on Friday and Saturday, junior Nicole Greene also prepared for her final tune-up before the ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships, albeit on a larger stage.
Greene competed in the high jump at the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Sunday. And facing some of the top professional high jumpers in the country, she jumped 6 feet, 2 inches (1.88 meters) to take third.
The jump matched her personal best, which she previously set at the Dick Taylor Carolina Cup on Jan. 13. It's the best jump in the ACC and third best in the country this season.
Heilmann, Ramos finish regular season strong
In the final two regular-season matches of their college wrestling careers, redshirt seniors Troy Heilmann and Ethan Ramos continued their winnings ways in Wednesday's 28-14 win over Duke and Friday's 32-6 loss at Cornell.
Heilmann improved to 27-4 on the year, pinning Duke's Brandon Leynaud at 2:24 of the first period and then securing a 10-7 decision over Cornell's Will Koll. Ramos won a 9-6 decision against Duke's Matt Finesilver and then a 6-3 decision against Cornell's Brandon Womack to finish the regular season at 15-5.
Since Ramos returned on Jan. 19 from an injury that sidelined him for six weeks, he and Heilmann have gone a combined 13-3.
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Players Mentioned
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