The North Carolina Tar Heels closed out the weekend with seven wins in twelve events on the final night of the Dowd Nike Cup Invite, including five meet records.
Final team scores:
Women:
1. UNC – 2676.5
2. East Carolina – 1504
3. North Carolina State – 1480
4.Duke – 1456.5
5. Navy – 866
6. Old Dominion – 647
7. Georgia Southern – 74
Men:
1. UNC – 2751
2. NC State – 1554
3. Navy – 1365.5
4. East Carolina – 1214.5
5. Duke – 1167
6. Old Dominion – 792
Stephanie Peacock continued her impressive weekend with a meet record in the women’s 1650. Given that she is coming off a great summer and is the NCAA record holder in this event, it’s not particularly surprising to see her win, but her final time of 15:49.11 would have been good for third at NCAA’s last year. She’ll have a chance to better that time (and possibly challenge her NCAA record) when UNC travels to AT&T Winter Nationals in a couple weeks.
500 free champion Thomas Duvall of Navy added another title to his name by winning the men’s 165o in 15:19.15, a lifetime best time for the sophomore. Duvall took the lead early before settling in, consistently splitting between 27.9-28.1.
UNC reestablished control by winning the next three events. Freshman Annie Harrison ran away with the 200 backstroke, setting a new meet record in 1:54.44, which would have been the #3 time in the country prior to this weekend. The men’s 200 back was a great battle between Tar Heel teammates Brad Dillon, Nic Graesser, Patrick Myers. Dillon (1:45.17) had the best closing speed to come away with the win. Graesser (1:45.24) and Myers (1:45.55) settled for second and third, respectively.
Lauren Earp took her second individual event of the weekend in meet record fashion, this time in the women’s 100 freestyle. Her 48.98 was a lifetime best time, and would have been good for a top 25 finish a year ago at NCAA’s. Earp would later join Allyn Hardesty, Hannah Lincoln, and Danielle Silvering to win the 400 freestyle relay in a very quick 3:17.48, crushing the 2002 meet record for nearly three seconds.
Old Dominion got their second event win of the weekend from Sidni Hoxha in the men’s 100 freestyle. Hoxha dropped a 43.15, breaking Alex Righi’s meet record of 43.31 from 2007. That’s a great early-season swim for Hoxha; his 43.15 was the fastest time in the country prior to this weekend, and just 0.01 off the final 2013 NCAA invite time of 43.15. Together with his 19.44 from day one, he could be a severe disruptor in March.
Christine Wixted carried the meet record torch through the women’s 200 breaststroke, where she clocked a 2:10.10 to set a new standard in a three-second victory. The two-time ACC Championship individual runner-up a year ago was a triple-winner this weekend, and looks primed to climb the podium this winter.
East Carolina got their first win of the weekend in the men’s 200 breast, courtesy of Rokas Cepulis, who went out like a shot (55.32 over the opening 100) to put away the field early. He ultimately finished in a very respectable 1:57.66, narrowly missing the meet record of 1:57.60.
UNC took the reins again in the 200 butterflys, the final individual events of the session, with Meredith Hoover crushing her own meet record (1:55.44, nearly three seconds faster than her 1:58.17 from 2011) in the women’s, and Dominick Glavich taking men’s in 1:46.07.
NC State closed out the meet with another impressive relay win in the men’s 400 free relay, finishing in 2:54.42, narrowly missing Tennessee’s 2003 meet record of 2:54.37. Three of the four legs are the same from the 2013 Wolfpack relay that placed tenth at NCAA’s, with Simonas Bilis leading off (44.13), David Williams swimming the second leg (43.73) and Jonathan Boffa putting together a great anchor leg (42.78). The new leg is Danish freshman Andreas Schiellerup (43.78), who put together a very impressive midseason meet overall. Schiellerup seems like the real deal so far, and with a few more months training with the quality sprint group in Raleigh, NC State has the personnel to finish 10th or 11th at NCAA’s this year.
ECU women beat NC State! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
So much for that “This is Our State” marketing campaign!
Great job Tar Heels! You guys are awesome.
Right on, Brad Kline!!
Brad, how are you doing big fella! I hope you are keeping it tight, tight, tight.
A fine showing by the Tar Heels! They are re-establishing themselves as the team to beat in the ACC. The fast times from this past weekend (not just the winners), along with the top notch recruiting classes announced last week, set them up nicely for the next few years. Plus, they know which lane their relays are supposed to swim in.
Great work Coach Deselm!
A comment by a UNC elitist. VT is becoming the team to beat in ACC … 2nd in ACCs last year.
Graduating from Carolina gives you the privilege to be an elitist. Call me old fashioned, but I still consider VT a Big East school. Carolina is head and shoulders above the other ACC schools (both old and “new”) in terms of class, academics, athletics, and to be frank, the good looking women. If you are lucky enough to visit Chapel Hill, you will quickly see why UNC is considered The Southern Part of Heaven. I once had a cousin (a redneck, obviously) who visited Blacksburg, and we didn’t talk to him or let him visit for two years, for fear that he contracted some illness or disease from that Virginia mountain town. Luckily, he pulled through and maintained his good… Read more »
How can a team earn get 2751 points in a meet? That sounds like a video game!
Must be a different scoring system than the usual 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11, 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, double points for relays…
kcswimjk – they scored three finals, much like they do at Pac 12’s, so it was 32-28-27…17-16-15…9-7-6. Considering that UNC took 1st or 2nd in almost every event, that’s nearly 500 points right there. Relays counted for nearly 300 points. B and C relays scored as well so that’s another 350-400 points as well. Already north of 1100 without even getting into the meat of the lineup.
Different scoring system…but sure rewards team depth, especially when you allow ‘C’ relays to score.
ECU women came in 2nd!!!!