North Carolina Defeats Duke in Rivalry Showdown
Several of the dual meets between Tobacco Road rivals North Carolina and Duke have come down to the wire over the past several years, and this year’s showdown was another classic. North Carolina ended up winning by just eight points on the women’s side, 154-146, as the Tar Heels trailed the Blue Devils before finishing 1-2-3 in the 400 freestyle relay. The UNC men won by a greater margin with a final score of 168-132.
In the women’s meet, UNC was led by Ellie VanNote, who won the 100 fly (52.66) and 200 fly (1:57.29), and Grace Countie, who topped the field in the 100 back (52.61) and 100 free (48.41). However, Duke nearly stole the meet as Yi Xuan Chang won the 200, 500 and 1000 free and Sarah Foley won the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM, only for UNC to come out on top with its relay heroics.
On the men’s side, Boyd Poelke won the 100 fly (46.74) and 200 fly (1:46.81) for UNC, while Anton Down-Jenkins posted a pair of diving wins.
Full results are available here, and read the full press release from UNC below:
The University of North Carolina swimming and diving teams swept the home-standing Duke Blue Devils in a dual meet at the Taishoff Aquatic Pavilion on Friday.
The UNC men snapped a four-meet slide with a 168-132 victory to end their dual meet season at 2-4, while ladies improved to 3-3 with a 154-146 triumph.
The women’s team will host Texas on Saturday at 9 a.m. to wrap conclude their dual meet campaign.
Carolina claimed victory in 20 of 32 events with a foursome of Tar Heels posting multiple wins on the day.
Senior Anton Down-Jenkins swept the men’s diving events, winning the one and three-meter competitions with scores of 388.50 and 407.40, respectively. Boyd Poelke claimed first place in the butterfly races, winning the 200 (1:46.81) by more than three seconds and the 100 (46.74) by over a second.
Ellie VanNote duplicated Poelke’s feat on the women’s side as she captured first place in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly races. She finished 0.86 seconds ahead of the field in the 200 (1:57.29) and 1.10 seconds in front of her nearest competitor in the 100 (52.66). Grace Countie took first place in the 100-yard backstroke (52.51) and the 100-yard freestyle (48.41).
Heidi Lowe edged Duke’s McKenna Smith by 0.04 seconds to win the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 22.91 and Sophie Lindner touched first in the 200-yard backstroke (1:53.84), over three second ahead of the field. Aranza Vazquez was the seventh victor for the ladies, posting a score of 351.83 to stand atop the podium on the three-meter springboard.
The Tar Heel men had an additional six individual victories with Tucker Burhans (100 back), Dylan Citta (100 breast), Aidan Crisci (500 free), Patrick Hussey (1000 free), Nick Radkov (100 free) and Tomas Sungaila (200 free) each earning one first place finish.
The ladies swept the relay events, while the men claimed victory in the 400 freestyle relay.
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