Tar Heels Drop Meets To Visiting Georgia

Friday, October 25

Chapel Hill

3 p.m

North Carolina

Georgia

Photo by: Barron Northrup

October 25, 2019 | Swimming & Diving

Final Results

CHAPEL HILL --- Valdas Abaliksta, Sophie Lindner and Alex Hart were double even twinners to lead the North Carolina swimming and diving teams in a pair of losses to visiting Georgia Friday afternoon at Koury Natatorium. The 14th-ranked Bulldog men won by a 163-137 score while the No. 12 UGA women scored a 176-124 victory.

"Georgia is a perennial powerhouse, so to get up and compete against a team that has such a rich history, it means a lot to me as a coach," head coach Mark Gangloff said after the meet. "I think we represented UNC really well today. We fought tough when we needed to, so it was great."

Coach @MarkGangloff took a lot of positives from today's meet. Hear it from the head man: pic.twitter.com/GbXJaeo8dH
— Carolina Swimming & Diving (@uncswimdive) October 25, 2019

Abaliksta swept the men's breaststroke events with a pair of season-best times. The 6-8 junior from Lithuania held off teammate Sterling Smith to take the 100 breast in 54.94 before besting Georgia's Jack Dalmolin to win the 200 in 1:59.65.

Lindner continued her strong start to her sophomore campaign with a sweep of the backstroke events for the second time in as many meets. She (53.83) and teammate Grace Countie went 1-2 in the 100 back before Lindner took the 200 in a season-best 1:57.88.

Alex Hart made his Carolina debut a memorable one with a pair of dominant victories in men's diving. The freshman from Vienna, Austria, scored 383.77 points in taking the 3-meter competition before posting a score of 341.03 in the 1-meter dive. Fellow newcomer Fabian Stepinski was second in both events.

"It was a pretty solid day," head diving coach Yaidel Gambao said. "I'm happy with the overall outcome of the divers on both sides, men and women. It's just the beginning of the season so everyone is trying to pick up the rhythm, but we had some really good dives...Overall, I'm very pleased with the performance today."

And it was a very successful afternoon for the UNC divers. Here's head diving coach Yaidel Gamboa after the meet: pic.twitter.com/IsJ4CL599s
— Carolina Swimming & Diving (@uncswimdive) October 25, 2019

Carolina's relay teams were strong again on Friday, winning all four relays to bookend the meet. The quartet of Grace Countie, Allie Reiter, Lindner and Emma Cole opened the day with a win in the women's 200 medley, with Cole out-touching Veronica Burchill of Georgia to get the victory in 1:40.58. Tucker Burhans, Sterling Smith, Tyler Hill and Jack Messenger then matched their counterparts with an impressive swim in the men's 200 medley in 1:28.95.

Messenger gave the alumni weekend crowd a shot of energy in the men's 50 free, winning with a late burst to touch the wall in 20.46, just off a personal best. He then led off the men's 400 free relay that ended the day with a victory, posting a time of 3:00.21. The women's foursome of Caroline Hauder, Cole, Countie and Heidi Lowe also won, besting UGA by more than a second in 3:21.77.

Emily Grund had a win and a runner-up finish in the women's diving competition, taking the 3-meter event with a score of 308.85. Teammate Taylor Hockenberry was second in the 3-meter, with Grund and Hockenberry going 2-3 in the 1-meter event.

Carolina is back in action next Friday, Nov. 1, at South Carolina.