Blue vs. White meet a good start for UNC swimmers

The intensity of competition was evident early Saturday morning at Koury Natatorium, even though the North Carolina swimming team members were only challenging each other in the annual Blue vs. White meet.

While it was much more informal than a regular season meet, many Tar Heels set meet records. A total of nine Blue vs. White records were broken, including two each by seniors Steve Cebertowicz and Laura Moriarty.

“Blue vs. White is always an interesting meet,” Cebertowicz said. “It’s good to see people putting down some fast times.”

As for his expectations for the season, Cebertowicz was clear.

“We have our sights set on Virginia and trying to take them down at the ACC Championship,” he said.

North Carolina has finished second in each of the past two seasons in both the men’s and women’s ACC championships, while the Virginia men’s and women’s teams have come in first for four consecutive years.

Moriarty, a co-captain, shared in the enthusiasm for the Tar Heels’ lofty goals.

“We are definitely going for an ACC Championship,” she said. “This is probably the most talented group of girls I’ve seen here.”

Coach Rich DeSelm, who was recently named to the 2011-12 United States Swimming National Team coaching roster, was also excited about the upcoming season, but maintained that it is important to stay focused on the present.

“Right now, we have a lot of long-term goals, but we have to focus on just coming in every day, working hard, and trying to raise the training level,” he said.

“Their spirit is there. Their enthusiasm is good. The team unity is there.”

The meet was accompanied by DeSelm’s commentary over the public address system. Throughout the races, he reinforced the need to work on turns, especially in close competitions. As the swimmers approached the end of the pool he would remind them to attack turns and gather speed off the wall.

He followed the same tune after the meet.

“There was some better focus on it today, so we saw some improvement,” DeSelm said.

“In collegiate swimming, turns are crucial. We need to learn to attack turns in practice, every single turn, and be as efficient coming off the wall as we possibly can.”

Cebertowicz, whom DeSelm called the best sprinter in North Carolina history, also showcased progress in Saturday’s intrasquad meet.

Cebertowicz swam his 50-yard freestyle event in 20.40 seconds, a meet record and faster than the 20.44 posted by Virginia’s Peter Geissinger, who beat Cebertowicz last year when the two teams met.

Back in action, the Tar Heels were eager to talk about their goals for the season.

But for now, the focus remains on the upcoming meets at Georgia Tech and Georgia on Oct. 21 and 22, respectively.

And even after seeing the potential in his 2011-12 squad, DeSelm knows his team has a lot of work ahead of it.

“It’ll be a challenging trip,” he said. “Georgia has a national championship women’s team, and their men are almost always top 10.”

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