In a relatively easy meet against Johns Hopkins on Wednesday, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were able to rest up before entering a tough ACC schedule.
Riding high off the momentum of a big win against Clemson, the women’s team defeated the Blue Jays 206-73, while the men won 181-108.
Coach Frank Comfort used to coach at Johns Hopkins, and the Blue Jays’ current head coach, George Kennedy, used to be an assistant under Comfort, so the match was a family reunion of sorts.
“We like to have them come down,” Comfort said. “They are one of the best teams in Division III and we just wanted to practice racing. It’s as simple as that.”
“They are still competition, but they are also Division III,” said junior Leila Martin. “So we just got in the pool and did what we had to do to win.”
Martin captured both the 500 and 50-yard freestyle, posting times of 5:04.85 and 24.54, respectively. As a team, the women placed at least first in every event except the 200 individual medley, and the 200 freestyle relay.
The men’s team also dominated, failing to capture first place in only four events. Freshman Ben Asseff came up big in the 500 freestyle, with a first place time of 4:38.93.
UNC swept both the men’s and women’s sections of the diving half of the meet, despite the absence of Ben Herboth, who was instrumental in the team’s win over Clemson.
Ryan Funderburk stepped up in his absence, scoring a first-place 312.8 in the 3-meter dive. He also placed second in the one meter dive with a score of 253.06.
