North Carolina Women Rally To Win Nike Cup Championship
Nov. 20, 2005
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Led by a school record performance from freshman Nicole O'Donnell, the North Carolina women's swimming and diving team rallied to win the 2005 Nike Cup Swimming and Diving Championship Saturday night at Koury Natatorium. O'Donnell, senior Lizzy Bruce, sophomore Lindsey Marck, senior Chad Ames and sophomore Ryan Funderburk all won individual events for the Tar Heels Saturday night. The Tar Heel men finished second in the six-team competition while head coach Frank Comfort's women stood stop a seven-team field. The UNC women trailed Virginia Tech after the first two days of the meet but rallied to take the title with 883.5 points. The Hokies finished second with 853.5 points and Kentucky edged out Clemson for third place, 728 to 717 points. Syracuse was fifth, East Carolina sixth and Florida International seventh. On the men's side, Clemson won the title with 1053 points while the Tar Heels were second with 862.5 points. Virginia Tech took third with 773.5 followed by Kentucky, Syracuse and East Carolina. A pair of Tar Heels posted career bests in the 1650-yard freestyle and O'Donnell broke the school record with a time of 16:13.88. Her previous career best had been 16:20.56. Freshman Whitney Sprague finished second in 16:18.71, well under her previous career best of 16:43.00. Junior Erin Cutrell took fourth place as the Tar Heels went 1-2-4 in the event.
O'Donnell's time broke a school record with had stood since 1996 when Chrissy Miller went 16:17.88 in the event. Sprague moved into No. 3 on the UNC all-time Top 10 list in the event behind only O'Donnell and Miller. Virginia Tech's Gus Calado took top honors in the men's 1650 with a time of 15:32.28, edging Clemson's Sean Geary by 2.2 seconds. UNC swimmers were 3-4-5 in the event with freshman Yi-Khy Saw, freshman Harrison Browning and sophomore Philip Owen finishing in that order. In the 200-yard backstroke, Michelle Parkhurst of Clemson won the women's side while Scott Beard of Virginia Tech won his third individual championship of the meet on the men's side. Emily Reardon of UNC was third in the women's race. Jenny Bradford of Kentucky took No. 1 honors in the women's 100-yard freestyle and the Wildcats' Daniel Farnham won the men's event in a Nike Cup record time of 43.63. He broke the old record of 43.86 established by Tennessee's Renato Gueraldi in 2002. UNC junior Casey Kott was fourth in the men's race. Senior Lizzy Bruce led the field in the women's 200-yard breaststroke as she was timed in 2:16.07. On the men's side the winner was Syracuse's Luke Boral. Carolina's Lindsey Marck made it back-to-back titles for the Heels as she won the 200-yard butterfly easily at 1:59.72, 2.31 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. UNC's Hannah Mein was third. In a great race in the men's 200-yard butterfly, Carolina's Chad Ames and Virginia Tech's Gus Calado ended in a first place tie at 1:47.71. Carolina's Josh Glasco was third at 1:48.02. Kentucky's Jessica Thompson won the women's three-meter diving with Mandi Arak of the Tar Heels finishing third. On the men's side, UNC sophomore Ryan Funderburk won his second event of the meet with a score of 338.35. Five Tar Heels were in the championship final as Ryan Matuszak was fourth, Jon Fox sixth, Erich Gloege seventh and Josh Weavil eighth. Funderburk also won the one-meter diving on Thursday night. Virginia Tech's women and Clemson's men finished off the meet with wins in the 400-yard freestyle relay events.
TEAM SCORES
TEAM SCORES SATURDAY NIGHT'S INDIVIDUAL AND RELAY WINNERS |
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