Oct. 20, 2000

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Swimmers from the University of North Carolina swept all eight events Friday night at the 23rd annual Tar Heel Invitational held at the Maurice J. Koury Natatorium.

Carolina swept the 200-yard medley relay event with the men's team of Kert Johnson, Chris Helin, Sebastien Moity and Kevin Erndl touching in 1:35.48. The Tar Heel women's relay of Heather Stiles, Katie Hathaway, Melissa Fiss and Jennie Gardner won in time of 1:50.20.

Junior Katie Hathaway outraced senior teammate Erika Acuff to capture the championship in the 400-yard individual medley. Hathaway won in 4:21.70, just .04 seconds ahead of Acuff. On the men's side, Carolina junior Chris Helin beat the rest of the field by more than three seconds, winning in 4:01.78.

There was a tie for first place in the women's 50-yard freestyle as UNC sophomore Christy Watkins and freshman Jessi Perruquet both touched in 24.13 seconds. UNC junior Kevin Erndl won the men's race in 21.22 seconds, significantly outdistancing the rest of the field.

The women's 1650-yard freestyle was captured by Tar Heel junior Molly Sullivan, whose time of 16,39.57 was almost 15 seconds faster than the second place time. The men's mile race was won by Tar Heel freshman Yuri Suguiyama who outraced sophomore teammate Stephen Mohr to win by .04 of second. Suuiyama's winning time was 15:46.44.

UNC's women will return to action October 28 when they host Rice in a dual meet at 12 p.m. at Koury Natatorium. The men will next be in action against Minnesota in a two-day dual meet format on November 3 at 6 p.m. and November 4 at 12 noon.