'Be your best self': UNC swim and dive striving to improve after loss to N.C. State

The North Carolina swimming team was swept by N.C. State on Friday, while the Tar Heels returned the favor in the diving portion of the dual meet in the first ACC meet of the season.

The day epitomized the season so far for UNC: continual progress, despite room for improvement.

On the diving end, first-year Alex Hart and sophomore Emily Grund had standout performances, both winning the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. This comes off of last week’s stellar performance against Navy, where the divers looked similarly impressive.

Head diving coach Yaidel Gamboa said that, despite their success, the team takes its training week by week and is not going to let a few great performances make them complacent.

“We won all of the events on the women’s and men’s side, so that’s always a positive,” Gamboa said. “Although, we always have room for improvement, and … the guys and girls respond really well.”

On the other hand, the swimming teams struggled to compete, with the No. 22 Tar Heel men falling to the No. 6 Wolfpack by a score of 187.5 to 112.5 and the No. 16 Tar Heel women losing to the No. 6 N.C. State women’s team by a score of 182 to 118.

However, instead of sullen faces and poor spirits, the only thing that was visible in the faces and voices of the athletes and coaches alike was energy, confidence and vigor.

Head swim coach Mark Gangloff said that there were definitely some places for improvement, but also a lot of really bright moments that can help the team grow.

“I think that we are constantly looking for personal evolution, so we want our athletes giving their best effort at meets as the season progresses,” Gangloff said. “We don’t ever want to let a competition affect our levels of performance, so you always want to be able to stay in your own lane, execute your best races, and be your best self.”

Gangloff also said that one of the most important aspects of the team is learning and growing after each meet, and that every experience will help make this team increasingly stronger and tougher.

“This is a team that is learning, and that’s what makes it exciting to be here right now, is that they’re learning new things every day,” Gangloff said. “You have to be resilient if you want to be a great team.”

One of the top individual swims for the women’s team came from first-year Ellie VanNote, who won the women’s 100-yard butterfly event. Despite knowing how dominant the Wolfpack program has been all season, VanNote was ready to go.

“We knew that N.C. State is a really good team, so … coming in, we had to prepare and we were ready to fight,” VanNote said. 

She said that even though N.C. State is ranked higher and presented a huge challenge, the Tar Heels were just as rowdy, loud and supportive as always.

“Cheering is the biggest thing, having your teammates behind you," VanNote said. "Everything that you see on deck is true, and it carries through practice as well, so that really helps.”

Another top performance for the women’s team came from junior Caroline Hauder, who won the 100-yard breaststroke, took third in the 100-yard freestyle and was part of teams that won the 400-yard freestyle relay and took second in the 200-yard medley relay.

“For me individually, and for our team across the board, knowing that we’re right there with them and having the confidence going into each race, even if we get knocked down … making sure that we’re resilient and coming into each race with a clean slate is important,” Hauder said. 

According to Hauder, they were.

“You have the choice: choose to give it your all or back down from the challenge," Hauder said. "And I think we’ve all really honed in on standing up to the challenge."

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