March 25, 2004

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. - Senior Yuri Suguiyama (Ijamsville, Md.) earned first-team All-America honors for the first time in his career Thursday night and the North Carolina men's swimming and diving team is tied for 22nd place after the first day of the 2004 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Goodwill Games Aquatics Center located in East Meadow's historic Eisenhower Park.

Suguiyama, who was an honorable mention All-America last year in the 500-yard freestyle and the 1650-yard freestyle, finished eighth Thursday night in the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 3:47.45. Suguiyama has gone slightly faster in the preliminaries with a time of 3:44.89.

UNC is tied for 22nd place after the first day of competition with 11 team points.

Two Tar Heel entries will be in action on Friday as Suguiyama will swim in the 200-meter freestyle and senior Eric Poitras will compete in three-meter diving.