Senior swimmers set new times in win over Duke

On a night that was supposed to be remembered for lasts, the North Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams refused to let the firsts go unnoticed.

During Friday’s dual meet against rival Duke, the Tar Heels managed to achieve a staggering thirteen career-best finishes — four by more than a one-second margin.

Coach Rich DeSelm couldn’t have been more proud.

“As a group for them to step up and swim many, many, many lifetime best times, that’s a confidence builder for the rest of the team for the next week or two,” he said.

Fourteen senior swimmers were honored in the pre-meet senior night festivities, but many will continue to swim for UNC in the upcoming ACC and NCAA Championships.

But on a pair of teams with more than 25 swimmers each, many Tar Heels know their names won’t be on the list for the conference team.

“I’m really excited for them,” sophomore Jacqueline Rudolph said. “Of course I’ll support them and it gives those of us who didn’t make the conference team a goal for next year. It’s a really deep team and I knew that coming in. My time will come.”

For the men, senior Tyler Smith finished his UNC career in style, posting a career-best time in his 100-yard breaststroke victory and taking first place in the 100-yard butterfly.

“That was my goal going into the meet,” Smith said. “I did what I wanted and that’s a really good feeling after four years here.”

The underclassmen from both the men’s and women’s teams showed promise for the future. The majority of the night’s career-best times were achieved by freshmen and sophomores.

Freshman Kyle Ficker took first place in the 50-yard freestyle and Dan O’Connor took the top spot in the 500-yard freestyle, both eclipsing their previous lifetime bests by more than a full second.

Rudolph had the biggest time cut of the evening, and she demolished her previous lifetime best by more than seven seconds with her second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle.

“This is what I can do,” Rudolph said. “I really want to improve so I can step in and fill the role of the seniors we’re losing.”

Senior Vinny Pryor beamed about his performance and those of his graduating teammates after the meet.

But the veteran swimmer made sure to acknowledge the feats his younger teammates accomplished.

“The most special thing about this meet is it’s not just the senior meet,” Pryor said. “It’s kind of a preview for ACCs because you’ve got the rest of the team who has shaved and tapered for this, and you get to see them go really fast … that’s really special.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.