This past week, the North Carolina men’s swimming and diving team (Dual meet record: 3-4, 1-2 ACC) competed in the ACC Championship at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Strong swims throughout the tournament — coupled with a good performance from the divers the week prior — saw the Tar Heels finish in seventh place, three better than last year.
What happened?
The week before the men’s swim championship began, the male divers had their tournament. Solid performances from first-years Fabian Stepinski and Alex Hart meant that the swim team would begin the tournament in third place.
The swimming began on Wednesday, with Tar Heels securing seventh and eighth-place finishes in the 800-yard freestyle relay and 200-yard medley relay respectively. On Thursday, UNC kept up the strong swims, placing fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Junior Dimitrios Dimitriou also performed well, coming eighth in the 500-yard freestyle. Even with good swims, stiff competition meant that North Carolina had fallen to sixth by Thursday’s end.
Friday saw two podium finishes and personal bests for the Tar Heels. Sophomore Tomas Sungaila finished third in the 200-yard freestyle, with his time tying a team record. Junior Valdas Abaliksta placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke, and his time of 52.00 set a new team record. The Tar Heels closed the day in seventh place overall.
On Saturday, the last day of the meet, North Carolina was able to keep good swims coming. Abaliksta and junior Chris Thames placed seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard backstroke, respectively. With the Tar Heels placing fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay and junior Jack Messenger tying for third in the 100-yard freestyle, North Carolina was able to close the meet at seventh place.
Who stood out?
Abaliksta was one of the standout swimmers of the tournament for the Tar Heels. In addition to his record-setting podium finish, he placed seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke event. He also participated well in team events, contributing to the fifth-place 200-yard freestyle relay and sixth-place 400-yard medley relay.
Sungaila, with his third-place finish and record-equaling time, also shined during the tournament. He was a member of the 400-yard medley relay team, as well as the team that took fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay on Saturday. He also helped the Tar Heels to a seventh place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay.
