Men's ACC Championships: Reflecting on All of It

Wednesday, February 26

Greensboro, N.C.

All Day

North Carolina

ACC Championships

March 1, 2020 | Swimming & Diving

2020 Men's ACC Full Meet Results

North Carolina's men's swim team left the ACC Championships celebrating. The meet ran Wednesday through Saturday, and the Tar Heels finished seventh place, an improvement from last year, which reflected well on their new coaching staff.

"I'm really proud of the way our team was able to perform at ACCs," said head coach, Mark Gangloff. "We lost some talented people in last year's transition and were able to move up three places in the championship and score 242 more points than we did the previous year. That shows that the people who were here were able to perform. They really stepped up their game."

Highlights for UNC included Tomas Sungaila finishing third in the 200 freestyle, Valdas Abaliksta placing second in the 100 breaststroke, and Jack Messenger tying for third in the 100 freestyle. Sungaila tied the team record with his podium finish, and Abaliksta set a new team record with his.

Other notable finishes for the Tar Heels included eighth in the 200 medley relay, seventh in the 800 freestyle relay and fifth in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Dimitrios Dimitriou placed eighth in the 500 freestyle, as did Jacob Rauch in the 100 breaststroke. Chris Thames finished seventh in the 200 backstroke, and Abaliksta placed seventh in the 200 breaststroke.

North Carolina's athletes will train up until the NCAA Championships later in March. NCAA Zone Diving will take place in Athens, Ga. from March 9-11. The women will compete in Athens from March 18-21, and the men will finish the season in Indianapolis, Ind. from March 25-28.