UNC swimming sweeps ECU in season's opening meet

Despite the North Carolina swimming team racing to a pair of wins against East Carolina in the season-opening meet, it often takes weeks for swimmers to hit their strides.

On Friday, senior and six-time ACC champion Tommy Wyher wasted no time picking up right where he left off.

The 6-foot-4 sprinter took first place in the 100-yard freestyle in his first individual event of the season, registering a career-best time and beating the second-place finisher by more than two seconds.

With a time of 44.62 in the event, Wyher slashed his previous personal best time of 45.37, which he set during ACC Championships his freshman year at North Carolina.

“He’s going to end up being one of the greatest swimmers to ever swim at UNC,” coach Rich DeSelm said.

Wyher, who also won the 100-yard butterfly and swam on the winning 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relay teams, was the only member of the men’s team to take home four first places.

But even though he’s already at the top, the Florida native isn’t bogged down by complacency.

“He’s very astute,” DeSelm said. “He’s quiet, but he knows himself very well as an athlete. I know that, despite his success last year, he’s not at all satisfied.”

Senior Rebecca Kane’s list of accolades, including two individual and two relay wins, helped the women’s campaign against the Pirates, while sophomore Carly Smith and freshman Stephanie Peacock each added three first-place finishes.

UNC swept all 32 events against East Carolina and only allowed the Pirates to take four second-place finishes.

DeSelm was quick to point out that the depth of his Tar Heel team not only creates strong competition against opponents, but also within the squad itself.

“We have four lanes per event, and we’re sometimes six-plus deep,” DeSelm said. “There are some talented people that didn’t even get to swim their events today.”

Coaches put senior and men’s team captain Joe Kinderwater, who finished seventh in the 1,500-yard freestyle at U.S. Nationals this summer, in just one event on Friday to secure a good finish for their top distance swimmer.

With his first-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, it proved a successful strategy.

Kinderwater owns the school record in both the 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle events.

“It was the only thing I swam all day, so I knew that I had to go out there and post up a good time,” he said. “I didn’t want to bag the only thing I had. I got a little tired at the end, but I’m happy with the time.”

The win against East Carolina was a much-expected successful kickoff for both the men’s and women’s teams, who finished last season ranked in the top 15 nationally.

Though both squads are already in the forefront of collegiate swimming, there’s still one thing missing.

Having coached three years at UNC, DeSelm has yet to lead either team to an ACC Championship. But the Tar Heels are looking at the first win of the season as motivation to bring the conference crown back to Chapel Hill.

“Every year we’ve gotten better but haven’t quite won the ACC title,” Kinderwater said. “Since we are the senior class that started with Rich as a freshman, that’s what we want our goal to be. This is the best chance we have.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.