Five Tar Heel seniors swim last race at NCAA Championships, help UNC finish 19th

Six months ago, North Carolina senior Cari Blalock dove into the pool for the first meet of the season — the annual blue and white scrimmage .

On Saturday, she dove in for the last time of her career while wearing the blue and white .

Blalock and four other Tar Heel seniors swam their last race this past weekend at the NCAA Championships. All five earned All-American honors together to cap off their careers at UNC, and, together with junior Danielle Siverling , helped UNC finish 19th at the event with a score of 41 .

“We’re just really proud of and grateful to these young ladies for their commitment and their hard work and their results that they’ve produced not only in this meet but over their careers,” coach Rich DeSelm said.

This was the third consecutive year that UNC finished in the top 20 at the NCAA meet . The Tar Heels finished 12th last year and DeSelm said the team was hoping to move into the top ten, but was unable to do so.

“We swam well, we didn’t swim great,” Deselm said. “I think we’re a little bit disappointed we couldn’t be as good or better as last year. I think we have the people to do that, but at this particular meet we fell a little bit short of our expectations.”

DeSelm praised the contributions of his seniors though. He said the leadership they provided the younger swimmers at the meet and the passion they had for the team was invaluable. He said he and the coaching staff will be sad to see them leave.

“We get very attached to our team members, I don’t want to pretend that we’re immune to this just because we’ve been doing it for decades,” DeSelm said. “It’s always hard to let go of some fantastic seniors when they contribute so much.”

The five UNC seniors — Blalock, Stephanie Peacock , Katie Rechsteiner , Carly Smith and Meredith Hoover — are a tight knit group. The team as a whole shares a close bond, and the seniors are representative of the camaraderie the Tar Heels have had all season.

“I’ve never felt so cohesive with a group than I have with this team,” Blalock said. “It’s very inspiring to be leaving a team like this behind, because I feel like they’ve taught me a lot.”

Blalock, a North Carolina native, began her career at LSU before transferring back to UNC where she felt more at home . At this season's NCAA meet, she earned an honorable mention All-American in the 400-yard individual medley and was a part of a school record-breaking 200-yard medley relay team .

Smith, in her fifth year at UNC because of a medical redshirt, and Rechsteiner, one of the team captains, were both also a part of the record-breaking medley swim .

Peacock, the other captain, placed 13th in the 500-yard freestyle to earn her All-American honor — the third of her career . Peacock is the most decorated senior on the roster — she holds two NCAA records, three ACC records and six UNC records .

Hoover earned first-team All American for the second straight year with an eighth place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, the highest finish by a Tar Heel for the meet . Last year, she finished fourth in the same event , but was unable to improve upon that success, similar to the UNC team as a whole.

But Hoover says she and the rest of the Tar Heels will be holding their heads high.

“It was a really emotional race,” Hoover said. “To have my last college race finishing top eight, I can’t be disappointed in that.”