Nov. 17, 2005

Complete Results

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - For the second time in as many years, a long-standing Tar Heel school record fell during Carolina's annual Nike Cup. In 2004, current senior captain Josh Glasco swam the fastest 200-yard butterfly in school history. This year, freshman Whitney Sprague became the newest record holder in the 500-yard freestyle. Sprague touched in at 4:44.25, over seven tenths of a second faster than Chrissy Miller's seven-year-old former school record.

"She is a tough competitor," said head coach Frank Comfort. "She was the first women's swimmer to commit to us last year. She just loves to race."

Sprague's banner day helped propel the women into third place behind Virginia Tech and Clemson after one day of competition. Sprague was joined by fellow freshman Nicole O'Donnell in the super final of the 500 free, finishing second and fourth, respectively. The two freshman were the only Tar Heel women to reach the super finals of the day's three individual swimming events.

With a shortage of swimmers in the super finals, the Tar Heel women used their strong depth to pick up substantial points in the final and consolation heats. Carolina had three entries finish in the top 11 of the 200-yard individual medley led by sophomore Lindsey Marck in sixth place. Another two Carolina women took home top 10 finishes in the 50-yard freestyle including freshman Aubrette Biegel who set a career-best time in the preliminaries at 23.74 and finished ninth in the event. The Tar Heels also had third place finishes in both the 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard medley relay.

The women's scores were greatly improved by the stellar performance of the diving corps which had three entries finish in the top eight overall on the one-meter board. Freshman Mandi Arak led the way finishing in fourth place, followed by senior captain gia Santoro in fifth and sophomore Erika Matheis in eighth.

The divers played a key role in the men's meet as well. The Tar Heel men enjoyed a distinct advantage over the competition on the one-meter board as sophomore Ryan Funderburk, junior Jon Fox, and junior Ryan Matuszak swept the first, second and third places. Senior Erich Gloege also made the finals of the diving competition placing sixth. The points copped by the four divers got the men off to a strong start on their way to second place after day one, just eight points behind leader Clemson.

On the swimming side of things freshman Yi-Khy Saw continued to bea budding Tar Heel star. The Penang, Malaysia native had the Tar Heels' highest finish of the day, taking second place in the 500-yard freestyle at 4:27.88, a personal best. Saw will also be aiming to make the super final in the 400-yard individual medley on Friday and in the 200-yard butterfly on Saturday. He is shooting for a high finish in the timed finals-only (no preliminaries) 1650-yard freestyle Saturday, too.

"We aren't sure what Saw's best event is," said Comfort. "He is so multi-dimensional. We are thrilled with his versatility."

Along with Saw, senior Chad Ames and junior Tristan Davidson each made super finals on Thursday. Competing in the 200-yard individual medley, Ames took third place with a time of 1:51.93 just one place and seven tenths of a second ahead of teammate Davidson. In the meet's only other individual event, junior Casey Kott won the final of the event in what would have been a career-best 20.56, four tenths of a second better than his previous personal record for an individual swim at the 50-yard freestyle distance. Earlier in the evening, Kott led off the 200-yard freestyle relay in 20.49. His relay start technically counts as his career best and the time was such that it knocked UNC's Michael Chenier off the all-time UNC Top 10 list. Kott's time matches that of early 1990s swimmer Mark Moore for No. 8 on the UNC career chart.

The men also scored well in the first swimming event of the night taking second place in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Kott led off the relay followed by sophomores Zach Swartz and Rob Swendiman and junior Stewart Norman. Norman had a career best relay split and he moved past his Kentucky competitor by .02 of a second on his split, allowing UNC to edge the Wilcat relay by .01 overall. Sophomore John Sands made his season debut with a 20.95 split as the second leg of the team's `B' relay in the event. Sands had missed the team's first four meets due to off season surgery on a nagging ankle injury.

The Nike Cup continues tomorrow with Day Two preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m. and the subsequent finals to follow at 6 p.m. Friday's events include the 400-yd. individual medley, 100-yd. butterfly, 200-yd. freestyle, 100-yd. backstroke, 100-yd. breaststroke, 200-yd. medley relay and the 800-yd. freestyle relay.

WOMEN-TEAM SCORES

1. Virginia Tech, 319; 2. North Carolina, 262; 3. Clemson, 232; 4. Kentucky, 228; 5. Syracuse, 112; 6. East Carolina, 69; 7. Florida International, 18.

WOMEN-EVENT WINNERS

200-yard Freestyle Relay- Virginia Tech (Mason Walsh, Sara Smith, Emily Guschke, Talita Ribeiro), 1:32.47; 500-yard Freestyle- Kim Routh, Clemson, 4:43.90; 200-yard IM- Sara Smith, Virginia Tech, 2:02.07; 50-yard Freestyle- Mason Walsh, Virginia Tech, 22.57; One-Meter Diving- Jessica Thompson, Kentucky, 581.35; 400-yard Medley Relay- Clemson (Michelle Parkhurst, Ashley Shafer, Jen Grove, Rachel Regone), 3:44.39.

MEN-TEAM SCORES

1. Clemson, 344; 2. North Carolina, 290; 3. Virginia Tech, 233; 4. Kentucky, 157; 5. Syracuse, 143; 6. East Carolina, 67.

MEN-EVENT WINNERS

200-yard Freestyle Relay- Clemson (Mark Vahle, Matt Balderston, Stephen Russell, Brian Regone), 1:21.29; 500-yard Freestyle- Gus Calado, Virginia Tech, 4:23.03; 200-yard IM- Attila Ruszka, Clemson, 1:50.18; 50-yard Freestyle- Daniel Farnham, Kentucky, 19.72; One-Meter Diving- Ryan Funderburk, UNC, 643.55; 400-yard Medley Relay- Clemson (Joel Johnson, Attila Ruszka, Mark Vahle, Brian Regone), 3:20.19.