North Carolina truly did just keep swimming this weekend.
A mere 11 hours after completing their post-tri-meet cool down on Friday night, the UNC swimming and diving teams were back in the pool warming up before trekking to Durham to face Duke on Saturday morning.
Friday, in the biggest meet of the season, North Carolina fell flat. The No. 16 UNC women (7-3, 2-2 ACC) lost to No. 8 Virginia 178-122 and No. 15 N.C. State 162-138.
On the men’s side, No. 19 UNC (7-3, 3-1 ACC) defeated No. 21 Virginia 201.5-98.5, but it fell to No. 8 N.C. State 162-138.
“I thought we had some really good spots," Coach Rich DeSelm said. "I wanted us to be, and I know the team wanted to be, better overall,”
The Tar Heel men delivered a solid performance in the tri-meet. Senior Ozzie Moyer and junior Jack Nyquist won the one-meter and three-meter diving events, respectively. Sophomore Michael McBryan earned a first-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke, as did senior Sam Lewis in the 100-yard butterfly.
The Tar Heel women could not keep up with the swimming powerhouses, earning just two first-place finishes. Junior Hellen Moffitt placed first in the 100-yard butterfly and sophomore Elissa Dawson won the three-meter diving event.
“I think our energy was a little flat,” senior Ally Hardesty said. “Once you get started and start off in a little bit of a stump, it’s hard to get back up. We had some races where we were coming back and fighting, but it wasn’t enough in the end.”
But Saturday was a different story.