Swimming Sweeps State in Finale

Unfortunately for N.C. State, it had little to do with the actual competition.

On Friday's Senior Day, both the UNC men's and women's teams made quick work of their Wolfpack counterparts. The No. 12 women were victorious 179-112, while the No. 21 men cruised to a 193.5-94.5 win.

All-American Katie Hathaway's last meet at Koury Natatorium was somewhat routine. Her times in 100- and 200-yard breakstroke wins didn't come close to beating her own school records, but considering the emotion of the meet, they might as well have been world records.

"My head was in about 100 different places today," Hathaway said. "I didn't think I was going to cry at all, but at the beginning of the meet, I started to get a little emotional."

Hathaway was hardly the only one feeling the emotion of Senior Day.

"It's emotional for old farts as well as other people," said UNC coach Frank Comfort. "I've never taken her great swimming for granted. We've been fortunate to have her."

Sophomore Jessi Perruquet added two individual wins for the Tar Heel women (7-2, 4-1 in the ACC), who saw just about everything go their way.

The only downside to the win against the Wolfpack (3-4, 2-3) was the impromptu "senior relay" team of Hathaway, Jennie Gardner, Stefanie Rulis and Molly Sullivan placing a mere second in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

"We went and asked Frank, 'Do you mind if we do a senior relay?'" Hathaway said. "But we weren't just doing it to win. We were just swimming to swim together."

The UNC men (5-4, 3-2) were more businesslike in dismantling the Wolfpack (3-4, 2-3). After being upended by underdog Clemson in their Jan. 13 opener, the Tar Heels weren't taking a win against a lesser opponent for granted.

"That loss really hit home and made us realize there are other teams out there gunning for us big time," said Michael Chenier, who won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events. "Meets like this are taken very seriously now."

Said Comfort: "That (meet) was in the back of my mind. I was whiny and aggravated this morning with my coaches. I wanted to get started."

The Tar Heels got the start they wanted. UNC won 10 of the meet's first 12 events before swimming the last two races as exhibition heats. Sophomore Sean Quinn led the men, winning both the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes.

Despite hitting their strides against the Wolfpack, UNC has some fine tuning to do before heading to Maryland for the ACC tournaments later this month.

"We're starting to rest and get our tapered practices in now," Chenier said. "The majority of the work is done but the technical stuff can still be improved on. We've got plenty of work to do."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.