The UNC Tar Heels went on the road, knocking off 7-time defending ACC women’s champs Virginia to remain undefeated within the conference. The UNC men also triumphed, winning 13 of 16 events.
The women’s meet came down to the last relay, where UNC’s strongest event came up huge in a key moment. The men’s meet was all UNC dominance, including some breakout performances from a couple sprint freestylers.
Women’s Meet
An intense conference rivalry heated up early on in Charlottesville when Virginia made a bold gambit with one of it’s best swimmers.
The Cavaliers threw distance star Leah Smith into the 1650 free and 200 free back to back to open the meet, hoping to ride their dominant sophomore to an early lead, putting UNC in a big hole on the road.
Things started out according to plan for UVA, as Smith easily paced the mile in 16:18.22. In fact, Smith – who currently leads the NCAA in the mile – could have cruised much more than she did, winning by a whopping 35 seconds.
Resting through the men’s 1650, Smith jumped right back on the blocks for the 200, but was beaten by UNC senior and defending ACC champ Danielle Siverling. Nearly topping her season-best, Siverling went 1:47.45, coming from behind at the 100-mark to beat Smith’s 1:47.75.
That was clutch for UNC to deny Smith a win there, as Smith went on to take the 500 free easily in 4:45.01. Virginia also used its other stud, nation-leading backstroker Courtney Bartholomew, in three individual races. With Bartholomew winning all three, a six-win night between Bartholomew and Smith would have just about sealed things for Virginia.
Bartholomew was 51.56 to win the 100 back, the event in which she nearly broke the American record earlier this season. She was nearly a second and a half off her season best tonight but still among the best times put up in the nation this entire season, underscoring her dominance of the event.
The junior also won the 200 back (1:54.03) and 200 IM (1:59.82) for the Cavs.
But though UNC didn’t have any single swimmer who could match Smith’s and Bartholomew’s dominance, they made up for it in other ways.
One of those ways was depth. Though Virginia’s Laura Simon won the 100 breast, UNC was able to go 2-3-4 in the event to limit the point swing to just 1.
But the biggest boost to North Carolina was its sprinting corps, particularly the 100 free. The Tar Heels went 1-2-3-4 in the 100 freestyle, and even though only three of those swimmers could score, it was a giant boost to both momentum and the scoreboard, as the Cavs were outscored 16-3 in the event.
That race was led by Ally Hardesty. The junior went 49.75 with Caroline Baldwin and Lauren Earp in tow.
The 50 free was another big event for the Heels, with Hannah Lincoln going 23.18 to win. Sarah Hitchens tied with Virginia’s Ellen Thomas at 23.19 for second place. That .01-second margin between Thomas and Lincoln made a huge difference – the point swing between Thomas winning for Virginia or tying for 2nd was 11 points.
The meet came down to the final 400 free relay, with Virginia trailing by 4 and needing an event win to win the meet. But UNC’s 100 freestylers were just too dominant to be caught, and the Tar Heels rolled to a 3:21.07 win and a meet title over the reigning conference champs.
Key for UNC: Hardesty was 49.80 leading off the relay, the fastest split of anyone in the field, even compared to other swimmers beginning with a flying relay start.
Men’s Meet
The men’s meet kicked off with a nailbiting 1650 free race. UNC sophomore Josh Beals and UVA freshman Brendan Casey swam stroke for stroke for all of fifteen minutes, with Beals ultimately pulling out the narrow win, 15:16.15 to 15:16.90, and sending his team off with some great momentum.
Keeping the team fired up was sophomore Mitch DeForest, who popped a lifetime-best 1:37.88 to win the 200 free. That was DeForest’s first time ever under 1:40 in the race.
Virginia was never able to right the ship from there on out, winning just three events total on the night.
Two of those came from breaststroker Yannick Kaeser, who exploited UNC’s only major weakness. Kaeser, an NCAA B finalist last year swept the breaststroke races, going 54.78 in the 100 and 1:59.67 in the 200.
The other Virginia win was from All-American diver JB Kolod. Kolod won 3-meter, but was toppled by North Carolina sophomore Jack Nyquist on 1-meter.
A couple of UNC freestylers came up big. Junior Sam Lewis doubled up, winning the 50 free and 100 fly in near-season-best times. Lewis was 20.32 to win the 50 free, and actually hit a season-best with his 47.06 win in the 100 fly.
Meanwhile, second to Lewis in that 50 was junior Logan Heck. Heck had a great 19.68 split anchoring the medley relay, then went 20.42 in the individual 50. Heck went on to win the 100 free in 44.56.
Also strong for UNC was butterflying star Ben Colley, who won one individual and one relay. Colley led a 1-2-3 of the 200 fly in 1:45.96, and also anchored the winning 400 free relay in a field-best 44.37.
UNC did not rest for the meet and neither did UVa. It is clear that UNC stepped up to take out UVa and did preform better to win the meet. Let’s not make ridiculous assumptions that UNC “tapered” for the meet because they won and Wahoo fans are upset.
Glad to see UVa men getting humbled this year. This team is heading for a 7th or 8th place finish at ACCs. Has beens….
Topples Virginia? They did not topple them……they just won by over 10 points. Odd title, and I’m not even a VA fan
A- I don’t think “topples” implies a lopsided win so much as a team being “toppled” from their perch at the top. Considering Virginia has been the best team in the ACC for the past 7 years (and is still the odds-on favorites to win the conference this season), I’d say a lower-ranked team beating them is exactly the definition of the word “topple.”
Wow… Great job to UNC… Any rest? Looks like UVA is really giving up on their legacy of being the dominant team in this rivalry.
UNC women may won the meet, but I personally think this UVA women’s team is too good of a ‘championship team’. They will run away with the ACC title and challenge for the top 5-8 spots at NCAA.
On the men side, UVA is weak! I am expecting a more competitive meet against NC State next weekend. UNC is a very good duel meet team on the men’s side. I think UNC will take down NC State next weekend, but NC State will be a better team at the ACC and NCAA level.
The subject of rest is out of the question. Most of UNC has been faster than the times they put up this past weekend. And further more, what nationally-ranked team would be inane enough to taper this close to a conference meet? UNC won on the men’s side because they are more talented. UNC women were just plain lucky this past weekend. Conference is where UNC has a chance to shine with their amounts of depth, considering the impact of C-final scoring. NCAA’s will be a toss up, considering the number of women UNC qualifies.
Women’s ACC’s for UVA will include a number of ACC Champions, but I do not believe they have much more than a couple of stars.… Read more »
It is certainly not too hard to fathom that UNC rested at least some of their swimmers. Happens all the time. And there are lots of reasons for it – not just to get the upper hand at a dual meet, although that’s the most obvious reason. Recall that the UVa-UNC women’s meet went down to the last relay last year. And then we all saw what happened at ACCs, right? Agree that UVa women have some true stars but disagree that they lack depth. With a full slate of relays, championship scoring, more rest between races, etc., UVa will be in good shape. Look at recent history, too – Penn State beat UVa women in a dual last fall;… Read more »
I think it could be accurate to say that UNC had rest. In this time of season most likely that teams are starting to slowly decrease towards championship season.
However to disregard a 51. in the 100 back and 1.54 in the 200 back and say no rest? I think that blows my mind. Or Leah Smith coming back in a 26.1 in the mile followed by a 1.47 200 free. That is rest!
UVA RESTED AND PREPARED FOR THE MEET JUST AS UNC DID.
There is plainly no reason to believe that UVa women would rest or key up for this meet. It is possible that non conference meet swimmers got rest and shaved for a late season dual meet. UVa women have bigger fish to fry than UNC in a January dual meet. They have several relays that will be in the mix for NCAA titles and NCAA top 5 as a team is a realistic outcome for that program.
It’s not hard to split 26.1 in the last 50 when you are trolling for an entire 1600.