UNC Teams Sticking Close to Home for Tough 2014-2015 Schedule

North Carolina, if nothing else, should be well-prepared for the 2015 ACC Championship meet in Atlanta, Georgia.

That’s because, upon releasing their schedule for the 2014-2015 season, the Tar Heels announced that their dual meet schedule will include the top three teams from last year’s ACC Championship meets on the men’s side beside themselves, along with a difficult slate of out-of-conference competition, all without leaving the Eastern time zone.

This year, the ACC has scheduled each program to face right at five teams out of the 13 women’s and 11 men’s squads in the country.

This year, for the Tarheels, that will be Virginia Tech, Virginia, North Carolina State, Duke, and conference newcomers Louisville. On the men’s side, that’s the top three teams from last year’s ACC Championships, and on the women’s side, that’s the toughest schedule possible with the exception of Florida State. Throw in Louisville, who will battle for top 3 in both men’s and women’s meets in their first season in the ACC, and things don’t get any easier.

UNC will also have a tough out-of-competition schedule that includes Georgia (men were #5 at NCAA’s, women are the two-time defending champions) and Tennessee (men #15, women #7), and Navy.

The Tarheels will again host the Nike Cup mid-season Invitational from November 20th-22nd, which is around the same timing as it usually is. A full list of teams competing has not yet been released, but we know that in-state rivals NC State will be there (the first of four times these teams will run into each other this season).

In addition to their standard-form dual meets, UNC will be one of the first teams in the country to start their seasons this year when they take on the Pier-2-Pier open water swim at Wrightsville Beach, California.

ACC’s will be held in Atlanta, Georgia at the Georgia Tech/1996 Olympic pool, with the women’s meet running from February 18th-21st and the men’s from February 25th-28th. Women’s NCAA’s are in Greensboro, and the men’s meet is in Iowa.

The men’s NCAA Championship meet, on the safe assumption that UNC qualifies athletes, will be the team’s only significant road-trip this season, and their only trip outside of the Eastern time zone.

The North Carolina men were 38th and their women were 19th at last year’s NCAA Championship meets.

The team has also named their 2014-2015 team captains. For the women that will be senior diver Kelly Corish and All-American freestyler Danielle Siverling. For the men it’s senior Patrick Myers and junior Mitch DeForest.

See the team’s full meet schedule below.