University of North Carolina men’s and women’s teams traveled to Navy’s Lejeune Hall in Annapolis on Saturday for a pair of dual meets against the Midshipmen. The Tar Heels won all but a handful of events in their defeat of Navy; the women’s score was 184-105, the men’s, 169-126.
Women’s Meet
The Tar Heel women began their perfect 16-for-16 sweep with a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay. Hellen Moffitt, Catherine Munch, Hannah Lincoln, and Allyn Hardesty combined for 1:42.37 ahead of teammates Megan Bestor, Emily Pfeiffer, Sarah Koucheki, and Caroline Baldwin (1:42.86). The Navy quartet of Elizabeth Graeff, Hanna Gillcrist, Kenzie Margroum and Maddie Thompson finished fourth with 1:47.56.
Individually, Tar Heels swimmers Danielle Siverling, Moffitt, Madison Burns, Sarah Hitchens, and diver Michole Timm each won two events. Siverling was first to the wall in the 200 free (1:48.03) and 500 free (4:50.18), leading a trio of teammates in each case. Megan Reutzel was the fastest Midshipman in both events, touching in 1:54.91 and 5:05.88, respectively.
Moffitt ruled the waters in the backstroke events. She went 54.97 in the 100 and 1:58.47 in the 200 and was followed by three teammates in each race. Kaitlyn O’Reilly (58.17) and Charlotte Meyer (2:06.00) led the respective Navy attacks. Burns won the 200 breast (2:18.04) and put up the fastest 200 IM time (2:02.58), although in exhibition. Burns came in a mere .18 ahead of teammate Pfeiffer in a great heat of the 200 breast; Pfeiffer was the winner in the 100 breast with 1:03.78, while Burns took third in that race.
Tar Heels sprinter Hitchens clocked a 23.31 to win the 50 and a 50.81 for gold in the 100 free. At 24.22 Thompson was Navy’s fastest 50-freestyler, finishing fifth overall. Annabel Tomes went 52.40 to grab fourth in the 100 free, a half-second ahead of teammate Thompson.
Timm garnered the most points among the meet’s divers, winning the 1-meter with 308.55 and the 3-meter with 308.70. Navy’s Hannah Collins was second in 1-meter diving with 279.88 points. Her teammate Amanda Zerphy earned 232.28 points for her dives on the 3-meter board. Other event winners for UNC included Emma Nunn (200 fly-1:58.38), Lincoln (100 fly, exhibition-54.61), and Liliana Casso (1000 free-10:06.23).
Navy posted event wins in the 200 IM (Meyer-2:06.84) and 100 fly (Gillcrist-57.26) and the 400 free relay (3:33.81-Tomes, Alyssa Dilldine, Amanda Thach, and Brianna Bilunas).
Results – Women’s Meet
University of North Carolina 184 – 105 U.S. Naval Academy
Men’s Meet
The men’s meet was not quite as one-sided, as evidenced by the fewer number of UNC exhibition swims.
The Tar Heel men began with the same display of power as did their women teammates, taking the first two spots in the 200 medley relay. The winning team consisted of Nic Graesser, Kurt Wohlrab, Sam Lewis, and Logan Heck (1:29.14). Behind them were teammates Ben Colley, David Speese, Dominick Glavich, and Chris Gondek. Navy was third by a mere .15, with DJ Rusiewski, Marlin Brutkiewicz, Jonathan DeBaugh, and Dain Bomberger (1:30.39).
Navy had several bright moments, notably in the doubles contributed by Brutkiewicz and Thomas Duvall. Brutkiewicz placed first in both breaststroke events. In the 100, he and teammate Mathias Porter went 1-2 with 55.18 and 55.82, respectively, ahead of UNC’s Speese (55.98). Navy was even more dominant in the 200 breast. Brutkiewicz outraced Speese, 2:01.59 to 2:02.03; Porter (2:02.43) and Young Tae Seo (2:03.49) finished third and fourth. Seo later won the 200 IM in 1:51.73. UNC’s Tyler Hill, who was swimming exhibition, had a 1.6-second lead after the backstroke leg. Seo nearly caught him over the last 100 yards, coming up .25 short. Hill touched in 1:51.48 but Seo scored the 9 points.
UNC got double wins from sprinter Lewis (50 free and 100 fly) and from diver John Nyquist. Nyquist earned 378.53 points on the 3-meter boards to just outscore teammate Osmund Moyer (375.68). The pair went 1-2 in 1-meter diving as well, led by Nyquist’s 393.08 points.
Lewis went 20.50 to win the 50 free, finishing ahead of teammate Heck (20.70) and Bomberger (20.83) of Navy. In the 100 fly, Lewis touched in 48.18 in front of teammates Glavich (48.49) and Nick Lowe (49.41) and Navy’s DeBaugh (49.55). Glavich won the 200 fly in 1:45.78. Teammate Colley finished second, .02 back with 1:45.78. DeBaugh placed third in 1:47.75.
Other Tar Heel victories came in the 100 free (Logan Heck-44.57), 100 back (Graesser-49.69), 200 back (Patrick Myers-1:48.28), and 200 free (William DeForest-1:39.10).
Results – Men’s Meet
University of North Carolina 169 – 126 U.S. Naval Academy
