Men's swimming dominates

By Rachel Soder

Assistant Sports Editor

On what was to be Senior Day at Koury Natatorium on Saturday for the North Carolina men’s swimming and diving team, it was the freshmen who shined.

The No. 22 North Carolina men demolished Maryland, 207-93. The 15th-ranked UNC women fell to the No. 13 Terrapins, 175-125.

Six different North Carolina swimmers on the men’s side won two or more events, while the men’s diving team swept both the 1-meter and 3-meter events.

“It was excellent,” said UNC coach Frank Comfort. “We had a lot of people continue to mature. A lot of our freshmen continued to mature as college swimmers, and we had a real good outing.”

John Sands represented the freshman talent present for the Tar Heels (9-2, 4-1 in the ACC). Sands garnered first-place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle, the 200-yard medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay.

“This was good to get our confidence back that we can beat the people in our conference and really excel,” Sands said.

Freshman Philip Owen also powered the men to victory, effortlessly taking the 500 and 1,000 freestyle.

“The men did a real good job, and we made a lot of progress,” Comfort said.

Additional solid performances included wins by Jon Van Assen in the 100 butterfly and the 400 freestyle relay as well as Aaron Burns in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 medley relay.

Sophomore Casey Kott flew to a victory in the 100 freestyle and joined up with his teammates for a win in the 400 freestyle relay.

“We’re starting to come together; people are starting to have good swims, which is showing,” Kott said. “As we start to taper, more speed will come along, and people will start to swim even faster.”

Junior Jon Albrecht also contributed to the two relay victories for the Tar Heels. In addition, divers Ryan Funderburk and Jon Fox collected victories in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives, respectively.

The significance of the day as one meant to honor the seniors on the team served as additional motivation for the men's team.

“It was a big win, but the main thing was it was Senior Day, so it was really important that we won it for the seniors,” Kott said. “We'll hopefully carry this momentum over to N.C. State next week.”

But the UNC women’s team was a different story. The Tar Heels (9-3, 4-2) faltered against an undefeated Maryland squad.

“Maryland’s ranked ahead of us,” Comfort said. “And I’d like to think that our women understand that they can be more competitive and more successful than they were this afternoon.”

The lone highlight for the Tar Heels came in freshman Lindsey Marck’s continuing dominance in the butterfly events. She collected the only two victories for UNC in the 200 and 100 butterfly.

Despite the tough loss, Comfort considers it a minor setback in the bigger picture of the upcoming ACC postseason.

“We’ll catch them on an even playing field when everybody’s tapered and shaved in two and a half weeks.”

 

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.