March 23, 2008

COLUMBUS, OHIO - University of North Carolina junior women's swimmer Whitney Sprague of Bronxville, N.Y., captured second place Saturday night in the 1650-yard freestyle at the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at The Ohio State University.

It is the second successive Top 3 finish for Sprague in the event at the NCAA Championships. Sprague was third in the event last year.

"Whitney prepared very well and was put up against some very strong competition," said University of North Carolina head coach Rich DeSelm. "She swam the third best time of her career to finish in second place, up a couple notches from last year. She is an awesome competitor and represented UNC well. Even after she had a little trouble in the 500 on Thursday, she swam a great race today. We are very, very proud of her."

As a team, the Tar Heels finished in a tie for 32nd place with 17 team points.

Sprague had a time of 15:57.77 the event, her third best time of her career at the 1650-yard freestyle. Freshman Katura Harvey also had an outstanding swim in the 1650 as 14.0 seconds off her previous career best to finish 17th, just one place off earning All-America status in the event. Harvey's time of 16:16.57 was exactly 14 seconds better than her previous career best of 16:30.57 set at this year's ACC Championships.

Harvey's time moves her into third place all-time at Carolina in the event behind only Sprague and Nicole O'Donnell.

UNC's men's team will begin its NCAA participation next Thursday in Federal Way, Wash. UNC's qualifiers are seniors Ryan Funderburk and Philip Owen and freshmen Joe Kinderwater and Tyler Harris.