Jan. 14, 2008

Tar Heel Swimming & Diving Teams Post Wins Saturday

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The 10th-ranked University of North Carolina men's and women's swimming and diving team led from start to finish in defeating Clemson and Rutgers Saturday afternoon at the Maurice J. Koury Natatorium while the 15th-ranked Tar Heel men used their strength in diving and the distance freestyles to post a 168-132 victory over Clemson.

In their first outside competition since hosting Nike Cup in the middle of November, the Tar Heel women and men both improved to 2-2 overall and 2-0 in the ACC heading into dual meets in eight days against Virginia at Koury Natatorium.

On the women's side, North Carolina won both relay events and 11 of the 14 individual events to ease past the Tigers. It is the 25th dual meet win for UNC in 30 all-time meets against Clemson.

Individually, senior Erika Matheis swept the one- and three-meter diving events, senior Lindsey Marck copped both butterfly events and junior Whitney Sprague had decisive wins in the two distance freestyle events.

• More from North Carolina
• More from Clemson

H2Okies Sweep Seahawks to Kick Off 2008

WILMINGTON, N.C. - The Virginia Tech men and women combined to win the first 16 events as they cruised past UNC Wilmington in swimming and diving action Saturday at the Seahawk Natatorium. The men earned a 120-101 win while the 22nd-ranked women won 138-93.

The Hokies improved to 7-3 on the men's side while the women, who were ranked 22nd in the latest Collegeswimming.com poll, improved to 9-2. The Seahawk men dropped their third straight outing and dipped to 1-6 while the women moved to 3-7.

"Today was a real nice day for the H2Okies to get back into the swing of things on our way home from our two very strong weeks of training in South Florida," head coach Ned Skinner said. "Getting strong competition under our belt was a good way to get the spring semester started."

Florida State Swimming And Diving Go Undefeated On Senior Day

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida State swimming and diving team honored their seniors in the best possible way by beating Florida A&M, Florida International and Florida Gulf Coast Saturday morning at the Bobby E. Leach Center.

"I thought our team did well to rebound after last nights tough meet against LSU," said head coach Neil Harper. "We certainly weren't going to be any fresher, only more tired. We persevered and did what we needed to do."

Florida State's divers once again had an excellent meet. The No. 25 ranked men (8-3, 2-1) and the No. 20 ranked women (13-2, 4-0) swept the diving events with sophomore Terry Horner (Orlando, Fla.) taking the one-meter (368.95), junior Scott Derner (Grapevine, Texas) was victorious on the three-meter (383.75), freshman Katherine Adham (Orlando, Fla.) recorded her first collegiate victory on the one-meter (280.0) and sophomore Katie Sirounis (Indian Harbor Beach, Fla.) rounded out the group with a win on the three-meter with a score of 295.15.

Hurricane Swimmers Win Big At Vanderbilt, 186-74

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Miami swim team took 11 of 12 individual events and both relay events as the Hurricanes won easily at Vanderbilt, 186-74, Friday afternoon at the Centennial SportsPlex in Vanderbilt's first home meet in 15 years. Miami's 200-yard medley and freestyle relay teams each won in convincing fashion while four individual swimmers, Ryann Labreche, Kirsten Pomerleau, Britta Boesing and Kelly Peloquin all picked up two wins apiece to give UM its first win of 2008.

"This meet was a good chance for the girls to swim off events," head coach Christie Shefchunas said. "It was a nice way to finish off our Christmas training and we can now focus on preparation for the ACC Championships next month."

Labreche's two wins came in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events, finishing with a time of 1:54.24 in the 200-yard event to edge out Vanderbilt's Leigh-Ann Axt by less than a second before recording a time of 5:07.39 in the 500-yard free, winning by seven seconds over second-place Jennifer Molchan.

Terps Swim Past Spiders, 150-121

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland women's swimming and diving team captured a win at home against the Richmond Spiders, 150-121, on Saturday, January 12.

Maryland began the day by winning the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Jackie Davidson, Emily Smoak, Blair Cross and Maya Finkler swam final time of 1:46.22.

The Terps had an impressive showing in the 200-yard freestyle, taking the top three sports. Finkler placed first with a final time of 1:52.57, with Kathryn Snedeker (1:53.95) and Davidson (1:54.79) following close behind, respectively.

Annie Fittin and Kirsten Jones took the top two spots in the 100-yard backstroke. Fittin swam a 57.88 and Jones swam a 59.78.

Duke Swimming & Diving Squads Split Versus Davidson, South Carolina

DAVIDSON, N.C. - The Blue Devil swimming and diving teams returned to action on Saturday, as the Duke women posted a 160-83 win over Davidson and fell to South Carolina, 145-98, and the men's squad defeated the Wildcats, 146-58, and dropped a 137.5-93.5 decision to the Gamecocks.

The Blue Devil women got off to phenomenal start, as the foursome of senior Danielle Spearman, sophomore Shannon Beall and freshmen Jessica Perry and Katie Magee touched in 3:54.51 to set a Cannon Pool record.

Freshman Ashley Twichell continued the Duke success, touching in 10:00.07 in the 1000 free event to set yet another pool record.

For the Duke men, sophomore Andrew Clark was a double winner as he notched victories in the 500 and 1000 free events, touching in 9:44.08 and 4:46.07, respectively.

Terps fall to UMBC

BALTIMORE, Md. - The University of Maryland men's and women's swimming teams fell to UMBC in a duel meet on Thursday, January 10. In a tight race, the men's team lost 142-92 (2-1, 1-0) while the women fell 134-99 (1-2, 0-1).

The Terps started the meet by taking the first two spots in the 50-yard freestyle. Annie Fittin finished with a time of 24.24 with Blair Cross following close behind with a time of 24.68.

Dong Kim finished first with a time of 21.33 in the same event. Kim also won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.57.

Maryland placed in the top two spots in the 200-yard backstroke. Jackie Davidson won time a time of 2:08.92. Kristen Jones took second with a final time of 2:11.74.

The Terps had an impressive showing in the 200-yard breaststroke. Captain Eric Cullen took the event with a time of 2:10.79. Haywood Miller and Roger Dent followed close behind, placing second and third, respectively.

Florida State Swimming And Diving Loses To LSU

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida State swimming and diving team lost to the No. 21 and No. 24 ranked LSU Tigers Friday afternoon at the Bobby E. Leach Center Pool. The No. 23 Seminole men were defeated 187-113 while the No. 20 ranked women lost 164.5 135.5.

"We didn't win, but I could see that our kids were fired up and ready to go," said head coach Neil Harper. "This meet is always competitive and I like the fact that these kids hate to lose and they hate to be fatigued and tired, but we'd much rather be tired and losing now to a really good team than trying to win the meet and lose later."

The FSU women trailed for most of the meet, but were able to tie the score at 103.5 after junior Caroline Robertson (Ocala, Fla.) won the 500 free (4:59.78). However, LSU won the next four events to take the victory. Robertson added a win in the 1000 free (10:14.59) to go along with freshman Lowri Tynan's (Wrexham, Clwyd, Wales) win in the 100 breast (1:04.09), sophomore Tiffany Elias's (Phoenix, Ariz.) victory in the 200 butterfly (2:04.63) and junior Georgia Holderness's win in the 200 breast (2:19.67).