Tar Heels Split Dual Meets With Gamecocks

Friday, November 1

Columbia, S.C.

3 p.m.

North Carolina

South Carolina

Bryanna Cameron

Photo by: Baird Photography

November 1, 2019 | Swimming & Diving

Final Results

COLUMBIA, S.C. --- Led by triple winner Bryanna Cameron, the University of North Carolina women's swimming and diving team improved to 2-1 on the year with a 159-141 over South Carolina Friday afternoon at Carolina Natatorium. The Gamecock men scored a 172.5-127.5 win over the Tar Heels, who were led by double winner Valdas Abaliksta.

"It was a hard fought meet with some ups and downs," head coach Mark Gangloff said after the meet. "You always want to come away with a win, which is what our women's team did. Some very tough racing from Bryanna Cameron and many of the women.

"On the men's side, we were a little flat and we lost a couple of close races which decided the outcome of the meet. Tyler Hill stepped up today and had some very nice swims which was nice to see.

"Overall the entire program was tough and we fought hard."

The Carolina women won 10 events on the day and had multiple instances of teammates finishing in the top three. Among those included Sophie Lindner and Emma Cole in the 200 free (1-2), Grace Countie and Heidi Lowe in the 100 back (1-3), Lilly Higgs and Allie Reiter in the 100 breast (1-3), Higgs and Reiter again in the 200 breast (1-2), and Cole and Brooke Perrotta in the 100 fly (2-3).

Cameron took first in the 500 and 1000 free as well as the 200 fly. Her time of 1:58.94 in the 200 fly was just off her season best in the event and her second time reaching the NCAA B standard in the event.

Despite being defeated by the Gamecocks, the men also had some solid performances. Tomas Sungaila and Dimitrios Dimitriou finished 1-2 in the 200 freestyle, both of them with personal bests for the season (1:39.30 and 1:40.53). In addition to his personal best in the 200 free, Dimitriou won the 500 freestyle and shaved more than two seconds off of his seed time for a new personal record of 4:33.20.

Abaliksta and Jacob Rauch finished 1-3 in the 100 breast with personal bests of 54.50 and 56.64. Chris Thames and Alex Mays also finished 1-2 in the 200 back. On the 100 back, Mays, Thames, Tucker Burhans, and Luka Tomic secored second through fifth, a strong showing for the Tar Heels.

Freshman diver Paige Burrell won the women's 3-meter diving with a score of 283.88, a 23.03 point improvement from her former personal best in the event. Her teammate, Emily Grund, placed third in the event. In the 1-meter, Grund placed first with a personal best of 284.33, and Burrell came in third.

"It was a great day on the women's side with wins in both competitions," head diving coach Yaidel Gamboa said after the meet. "Another really solid performance on the 1-meter for Emily getting close to 300 points and the first win for freshman Paige Burrell. I was also excited with freshman Gracyn Segard's performances as she showed a lot of improvement on both boards. Credit to Taylor, Emma and Sabrina as well."

"On the men's side, a solid day by Fabian with a second on 1-meter and a third on 3-meter, with personal best scores on both. Alex also did well, specially on 3-meter. With solid performances from Andrew and Bryan, in general pretty satisfied with the effort by the whole team.

"Everyone is continuing to improve and that's the main goal at this point of the season."

Fabian Stepinski posted a pair of top-3 finishes for the men, with Bryan Allen joining him with a third-place finish in the 1-meter and Alex Hart taking second in the 3-meter.

The Tar Heels, who have had three meets in the past month, will take a three-week break from competition before traveling to the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta from November 22-24.