There is no love lost between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Virginia Cavaliers, but their rivalry meets sure make for some fun fireworks a couple of times a year – both in the pool and out of the pool.
This year’s meet, with a total of just 15 points of separation total between the men’s and women’s tallies, was no different, and from each winning side came a conference Swimmer of the Week.
For the women, it was Virginia’s Ellen Williamson who took the award. She pulled off three wins – two individual and a relay – in four swims on Saturday. That included a 54.09 in the 100 fly and a 1:59.88 in the 200 IM. She also split a 24.1 on the winning 200 yard medley relay.
The men’s award went to Logan Heck, who was a perfect 4-for-4 in his swims. Individually, he won both the men’s 50 free (20.47) and the men’s 100 free (44.95) – two races that were significant point-swings in favor of the Tar Heels.
The other difference-maker for UNC was the diving. Virginia’s diving group has a lot more depth than UNC’s does, but UNC’s Jack Nyquist pulled off a win on the 1-meter and a runner-up finish on the 3-meter, and in the latter of those races he fought off a 2-3-4 finish from Virginia.
The lone weekly award in the ACC this week from outside of that meet went to Virginia Tech’s Ashley Buchter, who won the Female Diver of the Week award. Buchter won both the 3-meter event against UNC-Wilmington in a new lifetime best score of 353.47 and set the Pool Record at UNCW. She also was a personal best of 309.82 on the 1-meter.
Way to go Logan! That kid was always a true “racer” if I’ve ever worked with one. Glad to see him doing so well at the collegiate level and taking more and more responsibility for that team’s success on his shoulders.