Tar Heels sink the Pirates

During the North Carolina swimming and diving teams’ meet Wednesday, one East Carolina swimmer proudly waved a purple flag adorned with his team’s pirate mascot.

But it might as well have meant abandon ship.

The Tar Heels dominated the meet with the No. 19 men winning 145-90, and the 15th-ranked women taking down the Pirates by a score of 139.5-95.5.

The men’s team improved to 8-2, 3-1 ACC on the year, while the women’s team pushed its record to 9-2, 4-1.

Both UNC teams bounced back from blowout losses last weekend at Virginia, posting better times or scores than ECU in all but three events.

“It gives some of our men an opportunity to compete,” said Frank Comfort, head coach of swimming. “The better swimmers to compete in their secondary events, or our best swimmers to polish stuff.”

One athlete who strove to hone his techniques was freshman diver Ben Herboth. He led the Tar Heels to a diving sweep of the Pirates by winning both events on the platform. UNC took home the top three spots in both the 1-meter and 3-meter.

“We did a fantastic job,” Herboth said.

Herboth has been one of the best performers for UNC all season, as he was the only event winner for the Tar Heel men against Virginia.

“He’s been a dominant, consistent force for us all year,” Comfort said. “And we are fortunate to have him here.”

Another outstanding performer for the men was freshman John Sands, who sped to a season best of 45.91 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle en route to one of his three victories of the afternoon. Sands also took home the title as a member of the 200 individual medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay.

On the women’s side, freshman Kelly Woodruff starred, winning the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle.

“It was real good because the 500 has been elusive for a long time,” Woodruff said. “So it was really nice to have a good swim in that.”

Woodruff recorded a season best in the 500 with a time of 4 minutes, 58.28 seconds.

“She’s a wonderfully versatile swimmer,” Comfort said. “The only problem with Kelly Woodruff is that she swims so many events so well. And that’s a wonderful situation to be in.”

The women’s divers also dominated. Paced by Lauren Karatanevski, they swept the top three spots on the 3-meter board and took three of the top four on the 1-meter.

North Carolina next takes to the water Saturday against ACC rival Maryland.

And with more performances like Wednesday’s, the Tar Heels could go a long way towards righting their ship.

“We are on the ascent,” Herboth said. “We want to peak around the ACCs, championship time, NCAAs. But for right now we are in good shape.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.