University of North Carolina has spent their fall break on a tour through the Lone Star State. They started in Austin on Thursday, then Dallas Friday and a brief visit into Fort Worth this morning before heading back to Dallas tonight.
The Tar Heels faced the Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University. The men won 188-109, while the women who relied primarily on the 11 women not competing in the SMU classic were victorious as well, 200-97.
The UNC women A & B relays would tie for first place to kick off the meet. The men’s team of Nic Graesser, Kurt Wolhrab, Sam Lewis and Logan Heck won the men’s event – Graesser with a strong 22.99 lead off split.
The SMU Classic squad would be used sparingly throughout the meet, and Tar Heel distance queen Stephanie Peacock made an appearance in the 1000 freestyle. She won the event in 10:02.27, with a slight negative split. Her teammate Meredith Hoover would finish second, 10:15.30.
After a strong showing on Friday against Texas, JT Stilley had an individual victory today in the 1000 in 9:27.34. TCU’s Thor Stenfjord would finish second, 9:31.49.
Lauren Earp, UNC, would dip under 1:50 in the 200 freestyle in 1:49.72. Mikayla Winkler finished second for TCU in 1:51.17. Brad Dillon won the men’s 200 in 1:39.82. Anthony McMurry from TCU was able to stop a 1-2-3 sweep from UNC by finishing second in 1:41.91.
The women would get a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 backstroke, with 56.77, 57.08, 57.56 by Hellen Moffitt, Carly Smith and Ally Hardesty.
TCU had their first individual victory on either side in the men’s 100 backstroke. Adam Szilagyi hit the wall at 48.90, over Graesser at 49.20. Szilagyi’s teammate, Cooper Robinson would also get under 50 at 49.56 to finish third.
Danielle Jansen and Katie Rechsteiner would give UNC another tie, now in the 100 breaststroke. They finished 1:50.38, just a hair ahead of their teammate Rachel Canty, 1:05.49, for a sweep for the Tar Heels. Wolhrab and David Speese would go 1-2 in the men’s event, 57.20 and 57.22. Just ahead of Ford Story, TCU, at 57.60.
200 butterfly is the strength of the UNC women’s team. They had three US Open finalists in the event this summer. They continued their dominance, with Emma Nunn finishing in 2:00.42, with Meredith Hoover behind her in 2:02.27. Dominick Glavich had another 200 butterfly, after Friday’s victory, today in 1:47.04.
TCU had third place finishers in both the women’s and men’s event with Catherine Rash, 2:03.84, and Luis Azarias, 1:52.96.
UNC won both the 50 freestyle events. Hannah Lincoln lead the effort for the women in 23.60, while Heck had it for the men, 20.89. TCU had the second spots with Julia Sanders at 23.65 and Garrett Hills in 21.35.
Danielle Siverling lead a sweep in the 100 freestyle after the first diving break. Her winning time was 51.52. Brad Dillon and Heck finished first and second for the men, 45.69 and 45.92.
Annie Harrison had the 200 backstroke for UNC in 2:00.21. And after many events where TCU kept getting beat at the wall, Robinson claimed about Horned Frog victory in the 200 backstroke at 1:46.19; easily over UNC’s Patrick Myers at 1:49.27.
Following their performances in the 100 breaststroke, UNC’s Rachel Canty (2:19.48) and Speese (2:05.13) had the victory 200 breaststroke for the Tar Heels.
Nunn finished 4:55.14 for her individual victory of the afternoon in the 500 freestyle. Winkler and Sara Brzozowski finished 2-3 for TCU, just under 5:00 – 4:59.35 and 4:59.39.
Four swimmers, with four different strategies, raced in the 500 freestyle. Eugene Tee laid a hammer of a final 50 to best his teammates Mitch Deforest and Josh Beals – 4:37.62, 4:38.38, 4:38.53. Stenfjord was in the mix, and even with a final 50 nearly as fast as Tee, he finished fourth, 4:38.93.
Cari Blalock’s 55.56 won the 100 butterfly by over a second. Glavich and Lewis would finish 1-2, and TCU would find themselves again on the wrong side of the finish with Szilagyi in third.
By this point, UNC would go on to exhibition all their swimmers. Nunn had the best time in the field with a 2:05.07 200 IM, and Tee would return back to the pool with a 1:53.04 winning time.
UNC won all the diving events on both sides. Including a 1-2-3 sweep in the women’s 1m & 3m event.
The Texas Christian women had their first win of the meet in the women’s 200 freestyle relay. Averaging 23-highs, Sanders, Mackenzie Schuler, Meagan Thompson and Winkler finished in 1:35.35. UNC men had the fastest time in the men’s race at 1:22.68.
Fall Break. Does anyone know origin of Fall break as for the reason for it, when and what university and it is lost on all college students that I ask.