March 2, 2002

Complete Results

COLLEGE PARK, MD. - Highlighted by junior Sean Quinn's school record setting swim in the 200-yard breaststroke Saturday night, the North Carolina men's swimming and diving team recorded a third-place finish at the 2002 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Maryland's Campus Recreation Center Natatorium.

Virginia won its fourth successive conference title with 872 points while Georgia Tech finished as the runnerup with 580.5 points and the Tar Heels were third with 501.5 points. The rest of the field had Florida State in fourth place with 395 points, Clemson in fifth place with 383 points, Maryland in sixth place with 280 points, NC State in seventh place with 259 points and Duke in eighth place with 88 points.

North Carolina has finished either first, second or third in every ACC men's swimming championship meet since the league was formed in 1953-54.

Quinn had broken his own school record in the 200-yard breaststroke in Saturday morning's preliminaries and he went even faster at night as he finished second in the event. Quinn's time was 1:56.39 and it automatically qualified him the NCAA Championships last this month at the University of Georgia.

Also finishing as a runnerup on Saturday night was sophomore diver Eric Poitras who took second in the three-meter diving competition with 525.15 points. Poitras' effort highlighted some strong diving for Carolina as junior Stephen Krebs was fifth with 475.55 points and junior Rob McMillen 11th with 401.15 in the three-meter event.

North Carolina's 400-yard freestyle relay took third place on the final night of competition as it clocked a time of 3:00.11. The relay included senior Kevin Erndl (45.75), junior Michael Chenier (44.99), freshman Eddy Matkovich (45.11) and sophmore Justin Donato (44.26).

In the 1650-yard freestyle the Tar Heels were led by sophomore Yuri Suguiyama who took fourth place in a time of 15:17.19. Junior Stephen Mohr finished ninth with a time of 15:31.66 and senior Seth Laughlin was 10th with a clocking of 15:38.94. Senior Greg Johnson took 15th in the mile with a time of 15:50.76. Swimming as an exhibition swimmer, UNC senior Andrew Biedrzycki clocked a time of 15:45.64.

In the 200-yard backstroke, freshman Reid Owen, who had already shattered his career best in the prelims, lowered it again to 1:49.40 to finish 11th. Freshman John Hartmann was 14th in a time of 1:50.25 and freshman Jonathan Hoyle took 20th in 1:53.00.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Tar Heel swimmers took the top two spots in the consolation finals. Donato set his personal best with a 45.28 time to finish ninth and Erndl was 10th with a time of 45.34. Chenier finished 12th in 45.81 and Matkovich was 13th in 45.92. In the bonus consolation heat senior Kert Johnson was 21st in 46.78 and sophomore Dan Vick was 22nd in 46.90.

Besides Quinn, UNC also had sophomore Sinisa Haberle in the 200-yard breaststroke. He finished 17th in 2:04.85.

Greg Johnson, after already swimming the mile, swam in the finals of the 200-yard butterfly where he finished eighth in 1:52.87. In the consolation heats, senior Chris Helin took ninth in a career best 1:48.59, freshman Griff Helfrich was 10th in a career best 1:49.59, sophomore Casey Coble was 12th in 1:50.34 and freshman Eric Mohr was 21st in 1:53.78.