Lithuanian Breaststroker Valdas Abalikšta Gives Verbal to Tar Heels

Valdas Abalikšta, who is from Šiauliai, Lithuania and swims for Siauliu Delfinas, has made a verbal commitment to attend the University of North Carolina next fall. “I committed for University of North Carolina. GO HEELS”

Abalikšta’s main events are the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. He finished 2016 ranked third in Lithuania in LCM and fourth in SCM in the 100 breast, and fourth in LCM and second in SCM in the 200 breast. Abalikšta told SwimSwam “I began swimming very young, had a chance to play basketball, but chose swimming, so now I am 2.02 meters height (6′ 7-1/2″) breaststroker 😀”

SCM (SCY)

• 100 breast – 1:00.97 (55.23)
• 200 breast – 2:10.01 (1:57.78)

LCM (SCY)

• 100 breast – 1:02.89 (54.46)
• 200 breast – 2:16.18 (1:58.20)

At the recent Lithuanian Open Winter Championships in March, Abalikšta finished fourth in the LCM 50 breast with a PB of 29.47 and won silver medals in both the LCM 100 breast (1:03.29) and LCM 200 breast (2:17.03).

His best times in the 200 breast would have made the B final at the 2017 ACC Championships, while a 54.5 in the 100 would have just made the C final. North Carolina’s top-scoring breaststrokers at the conference meet, Craig Emslie (8th in the 100, 7th in the 200) and Michael McBryan (13th in the 100, 5th in the 200) will be seniors next year and Austin Sellers (18th in the 200) will be a junior, so Abalikšta will join a strong training group.

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