The UNC women’s swimming and diving team came away with a meet win over South Carolina Friday afternoon at Carolina Natatorium while the men’s team fell against the Gamecocks. The women’s team is now 2-1 in the season with new head coach Mark Gangloff.
What happened?
The women had solid team performances all around with 10 event wins throughout the day and many swimmers landing in the top three.
In women’s 200 Yard freestyle race, sophomore Sophie Lindner finished first (1:49.49) and junior Emma Cole snagged the third spot (1:50.71) just shy of South Carolina’s Emma Alexander. In the 100 Yard backstroke, sophomores Grace Countie and Heidi Lowe took the first and third spot, respectively, with Countie making the race in 54.13 and Lowe in 55.89.
Sophomore Lilly Higgs and junior Allie Reiter also made a splash in the 100 Yard Breaststroke coming in second and third after the Gamecock’s Taylor Steele. Higgins and Reiter also placed in the top-three in the 200 Yard Breaststroke placing first and second.
Senior Bryanna Cameron took the top place in the 500 Yard Freestyle, the 200 Yard butterfly and the 1000 Yard Freestyle.
Despite the men’s team not sealing a win, many Tar Heels had a respectable showing with a few athletes setting new personal records for the season.
UNC sophomore Tomas Sungaila and junior Dimitrios Dimitriou finished first and second in the 200 Yard Freestyle, 1:39.30 and 1:40.53, which were both personal bests for the season. Dimitriou went on to win the 500 Yard Freestyle, shaving more than two seconds off of his seed time for a new personal record of 4:33.20.
Junior Valdas Abaliksta and sophomore Jacob Rauch finished first and third in the 100 Yard Breaststroke with personal bests of 54.50 and 56.64. In the 200 Yard Backstroke, junior Chris Thames and first-year Alex Mays took the top two spots and on the 100 Yard Backstroke, Mays, Thames, sophomore Tucker Burhans and senior Luka Tomic placed second through fifth in that order.