Carolina Edged Out By UVA; Vazquez Sets Diving Records

Friday, January 22

Chapel Hill

5:00 PM

North Carolina

Virginia

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

January 22, 2021 | Swimming & Diving

Final Results

CHAPEL HILL - The University of North Carolina hosted the University of Virginia at Koury Natatorium Friday night for the first home meet of the new year. The Tar Heels put up a tough fight but fell to the Cavaliers, the women falling 174-121 and the men by a narrow 154-144 margin.

"I'm extremely proud of our team and the way they competed today," said head coach of the Tar Heels, Mark Gangloff. "Going into the meet, we talked about UVA being one of the best teams in the country. During our post-meet team meeting, I looked at our team and said to them, 'If we can look over there and say they are one of the best teams in the country and we almost beat them, then why can't we say the same about our team?' Ultimately we can say that we are and that we can compete with almost anyone."

The Tar Heel women finished the night with multiple podium finishes. Grace Countie placed first in the 100-yard backstroke (53.11), and Heidi Lowe and Brieanna Romney tag-teamed first and second in the 50-yard freestyle (23.33, 23.47). Similarly, Sophie Lindner and Amy Dragelin finished first and second in the 200-yard backstroke (1:56.19, 1:59.41).

Additional second-place finishes for Carolina included Countie in the 100-yard freestyle (50.40), Addison Smith in the 500-yard freestyle (4:54.77) and Ellie Vannote in the 100-yard butterfly (54.92).

UNC's women finished the night on a high note with a team of Countie, Lindner, Lowe and Romney finishing first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:31.45.

Carolina's men's team had an outstanding night, beginning with a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay by Tucker Burhans, Valdas Abaliksta, Boyd Poelke and Jack Messenger (1:27.03).

Like the women, the Tar Heel men also had an abundance of top-three finishes, including Abaliksta placing first in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke (53.34, 1:56.86) and Poelke came in first in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly (47.11, 1:46.96).

Tomas Sungaila also performed well, placing second in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle (45.07, 1:38.02). On top of that, Patrick Hussey finished second in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:19.86), Eli Coan came in second in the 50-yard freestyle (20.26), and Dimitrios Dimitriou placed second in the 500-yard freestyle (4:27.18).

"I'm really proud of all of our divers tonight and this whole season," said head diving coach, Yaidel Gamboa. "We are doing much more with less, and that's what this unprecedented season is about. We had a lot of strong performances tonight, and the most exciting thing is that we still can and will do better."

The Tar Heel divers also brought their game Friday night. For the women, Aranza Vazquez placed first (337.50, 390.08) and Emily Grund placed second (307.73, 356.33) in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. In an outstanding feat, Vazquez, a first-year, broke team records in both the 1- and 3-meter events with these performances.

The men also competed phenomenally, sweeping first through fourth in every event. Anton Down-Jenkins (368.70, 414.30) placed first in both events followed by Fabian Stepinski (337.90), Alex Hart (335.03) and Connor Watling (273.98) in the 1-meter. In the 3-meter, Hart placed second (399.75), followed by Stepinski (378.00) and Watling (326.70).

UNC returns to Koury Natatorium on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. to host South Carolina.