In his fourth appearance at the NCAA swimming championships, Tom Luchsinger was the silver lining for the North Carolina men’s swimming team Saturday.
The senior placed fifth in the 200-yard butterfly and received first-team All-America honors in an otherwise disappointing outing for the swim team, which finished 29th overall.
“He’s a great pressure swimmer, and he lived up to that billing once again,” coach Rich DeSelm said.
Of the nine other swimmers who qualified for the national meet, six, unlike Luchsinger, had never been to nationals, and five were freshmen.
Senior Brett Nagle, who took 26th place in the 1650-yard freestyle in his first appearance at nationals, said the meet was an opportunity for the relatively young squad to gain experience at a higher level of competition.
“It was a good learning experience for the younger guys, and I think they’re going to be better for it moving forward,” Nagle said. “But we came up a little bit short of what we wanted to do at the meet.“
The freshmen did not manage to record any individual points, but Luchsinger, who had been in the same position three years ago and fared the same, had some advice for his teammates.
“This is an eye-opening experience for any freshman,” Luchsinger said. “I sat them down and … let them know that you can turn this around and use it as motivation to improve next year.”
The team will need all the motivation it can get as it continues next year without Luchsinger.
