UNC men beat rival Duke while the women lose a close meet

In its last dual meet of the regular season on Saturday, the North Carolina swimming and diving team faced off against its rivals, the Duke. 

After a long day of competition, the two teams ended up splitting the meet, with the Tar Heel men defeating the Blue Devils by a score of 162-138, and the No. 15 Tar Heel women falling to Duke in a close match, 152.5-147.5.

What happened?

Neither the men nor women had a strong start to the day, with UNC dropping the first three events to the Blue Devils. The Tar Heels’ first win of the day came from junior Dimitrios Dimitriou, who won the men’s 1000-yard freestyle, beating his opponent by under half a second.

After that victory, the Tar Heels exploded, winning seven of the next eight events. Two of those events had UNC swimmers in both first and second place. Junior Caroline Hauder and sophomore Lilly Higgs took first and second in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke, respectively. Then, junior Valdas Abaliksta and sophomore Jacob Rauch did the same in the men’s 100-yard breaststroke.

Other big victories in this stretch included the women’s 200-yard butterfly, where senior Bryanna Cameron took a huge lead and beat the second-place swimmer by almost two seconds. 

After this, the Blue Devils went on a winning streak. Duke picked up victories in the next four events, including the women’s 100-yard and men’s 50-yard freestyle events.

The Tar Heels responded in a big way, winning the next four events. Abaliksta and Rauch once again shined in the breaststroke, taking first and second in the 200-yard event, respectively. On the women’s side, sophomore Sophie Lindner dominated the 200-yard backstroke event, winning by almost four seconds.

The men’s team continued its dominant run of form, with Dimitriou winning the 500-yard freestyle event. Junior Tyler Hill, senior Greg Brocato and first-year Santos Villalon then took the top three spots in the 100-yard butterfly event. 

However, the women’s team began to encounter very tough resistance from the Blue Devils, with junior Emma Cole losing the 100-yard butterfly event by just a tenth of a second. Other big defeats to the women’s team came in the 500-yard freestyle and 400-yard IM events, where senior Robin Dryer and Cameron both fell just short of defeating Duke’s Easop Lee.

Who stood out?

Abaliksta and Dimitriou were the only swimmers of the day to record two first-place finishes, with Cameron and Hauder recording first and second-place finishes. The best performance of the day for the Tar Heels came in the 100-yard butterfly event, where Hill, Brofato and Villalon swept the top three spots. 

When was it decided?

The women kept it close until the very end, always staying within a few points of the Blue Devils. However, by the final event, the Duke women pulled away. Despite a victory for the Tar Heels in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the defeat was already complete.

The men, despite their good run of form, did not go completely unscathed in the end, losing by just over a tenth of a second in their 400-yard freestyle relay. However, thanks to their previous victories, they were able to hold on for the victory.

Why does it matter?

After an outright loss to the Virginia Cavaliers, the Tar Heel men came into this match with a 2-4 record, with the women coming in 3-3. After this meet, both teams now sit at 3-4, despite the fact that the women came into the match ranked 15th in the country, while the men were unranked.

When do they play next?

The Tar Heels will not swim again until the ACC Championships in mid-late February. The women and divers will swim on the 15th, while the men will go on the 26th.

@pjdaman12

@DTHSports | sports@dailytarheel.com