Feb. 13, 2005

ATLANTA, GA. - North Carolina will be one of three teams ranked in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America Top 25 which begin competition Wednesday in the Atlantic Coast Conference Swimming & Diving Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. Coach Frank Comfort's Tar Heels, who have finished second in the meet the past two years, will be led by a quartet of returning All-ACC swimmers -- senior Virginia Hanson, senior Jessie Brosch, junior Lizzy Bruce and junior Amanda Smith.

The championship will begin with event finals in the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Competition will continue Thursday through Saturday with trials each day at 11 a.m. and finals in those events at night at 7 p.m.

Carolina, which has won 15 ACC titles in its history, is currently ranked 16th by the CSCAA but ranks behind both Maryland at No. 12 and Virginia at No. 13. The Cavaliers have won the past two ACC titles after UNC won three straight from 2000-02.

Freshman Lindsey Marck goes into the meet as the conference's top seed in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:58.79.

Frank Comfort's UNC team is minus several key performers from the 2004 Championships. Gone are Jessi Perruquet, the ACC champion a year ago in the 100- and 200-yard freestyles, and Kelly Weeks, champion last year in the 200-yard butterfly. Those two Tar Heel stars combined last year with returnees Amanda Smith and Virginia Hanson to win the 800-yard freestyle relay in ACC record time.

Virginia won last year's title, its fifth, with 675 points with UNC second with 623.5 points. Florida State was third with 611, followed by Maryland with 506, Clemson, a four-time champion, with 294.5, Georgia Tech with 282, Duke with 262 and NC State, winner of two titles, with 229.

This year's meet will also feature Virginia Tech and Miami, both competing in their first-ever ACC Swimming & Diving Championships, after the schools officially joined the league last summer.