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The Daily Tar Heel

North Carolina men's swim and dive team finishes 36th at NCAA Championships

UNC NCSU senior meet

The North Carolina swim and dive team celebrated it senior night on Jan. 26 against N.C. State in Koury Natatorium.

The North Carolina men’s swim and dive team came in 36th overall at the NCAA Swim and Dive Championships that concluded on Saturday.

What happened?

Two Tar Heels competed in the NCAAs that finished up this weekend. Michael McBryan, a senior co-captain, swam in the 100-and 200-yard breaststroke events. The other teammate at the meet was first-year Greg Duncan, who competed in the one-and three-meter diving events.

At the ACC swim and dive championships back in February, McBryan and Duncan were quite successful. McBryan took the bronze spot for the 100-yard breaststroke, and Duncan swept the one-and three-meter events. 

Neither McBryan nor Duncan competed on the first day of the championships, both making their opening appearance on Thursday.

McBryan swam in the 100-yard breaststroke preliminaries Thursday morning, placing 30th. He finished with a time of 53.15, 0.59 seconds slower than his entry time. It was not enough to send McBryan through to the finals for that event the next day.

McBryan came in 24th for the Tar Heels in the 200-yard breaststroke on the final day of the championship meet.

Duncan placed 23rd in the one-meter dive preliminaries on Thursday. The 316.70 points he earned were not enough to move him through into the finals for that event.

Duncan showed up with something to prove Friday morning. He scored 403.00 points in the three-meter dive preliminaries to place ninth. His strong performance earned him a spot at the finals the next day where he finished 11th, scoring 394.40 points.

UNC finished 36th overall at the championship meet, winning six team points. Texas won its fourth consecutive NCAA swim and dive title, barely squeaking out the win over California and Indiana.

Who stood out?

Duncan,a first-year from Oakton, Va., earned honorable mention All-America status for his performance in the three-meter dive finals on Saturday. His 11th place finish earned UNC six points, which were the only ones it would win at the meet. Concluding just his first year at North Carolina, Duncan has set a high bar for the remainder of his tenure with the UNC diving program.

Why does it matter?

After placing 24th in the 200-yard breaststroke on the last day of the meet, McBryan jumped out of the pool for his last time as a Tar Heel in his senior year.

During his time at UNC, McBryan set the university record in the 200-yard breaststroke.

“Michael McBryan has had a stellar career at UNC, and we appreciate so many things that he brought to our team,” head coach Rich DeSelm said. “He is one of the toughest and most consistent competitors we've had -- a hard worker, a leader and a role model.”

“It was a fitting end for his terrific career."

When do they play next?

The team has an extended break before heading to the United States National qualifiers in May.

@petrucci_daniel

@DTHSports | sports@dailytarheel.com

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