No. 10 Women's Swimming and Diving Takes Down No. 16 North Carolina, 169-131
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Jan. 19, 2013
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.–The No. 10 Virginia women’s swimming and diving team came from behind to defeat No. 16 North Carolina, 169-131, Saturday afternoon (Jan. 19) at the Aquatic and Fitness Center in Charlottesville. With the win, the Cavaliers moved to 6-0 this season.
“It was a very intense and exceptional meet for both teams,” UVa head coach Mark Bernardino said. “It went down to the wire and we tried to save our best for the end of the meet and that proved to be a good strategy this year.”
In the first event of the day, Becca Corbett won the 3-meter diving with a school-record mark of 307.73, while Katie Warburg was second with a score of 301.27. Corbett already held the school record on the 1-meter boards.
“I truly didn’t know how this young team would handle the environment of a UNC-UVa swimming and diving meet,” Virginia diving coach Rich MacDonald said. “Obviously, they handled it very well and I’m extremely proud. We’ve been working really hard to get better every meet and so far we’ve been successful at that. That’s all you can ask for. It’s also a lot of fun when you’re breaking records.”
The women’s 200 medley relay of freshmen Courtney Bartholomew and Natalie Martin, sophomore Ellen Williamson and junior Emily Lloyd opened the swimming events and placed second in a time of 1:42.89. Junior Rachel Naurath followed that with a second-place finish in the 1,000 free in 9:44.93, a season-best time.
Senior Lauren Perdue won the 200 free in a time of 1:46.23 before Bartholomew and freshman Rachel Moore went 1-2 in the 100 back in 53.94 and 55.08, respectively.
In the 100 breast, senior Christine Olson was third in 1:05.98, while sophomore Alison Haulsee was UVa’s top performer in the 200 fly, touching third in 1:59.27.
Perdue won her second event of the day, the 50 free, in 22.99, while Lloyd placed second in 23.28. At the first break, North Carolina led, 72-59.
In 1m diving, Warburg placed first with 286.05, while Corbett was second with a score of 278.23.
In 100 free, Perdue won her third event, finishing in a time of 49.44. Bartholomew won her second event of the day in the 200 back in a time of 1:57.88, while junior Caroline Kenney was second in 1:58.24.
“Lauren had an outstanding meet,” Bernardino said. “To come out of the 200 free, which is one of the most grueling events in swimming and to come back and win both the 50 and 100 free, that’s a very difficult triple to pull off. There aren’t many athletes that can do that at a high level like she performs those three races.”
In the 200 breast, Olson was second by only 0.20, finishing in 2:18.80.
Naurath and sophomores Kelly Offutt and Shaun Casey went 2-3-4 in the 500 free, finishing in 4:45.73, 4:50.44 and 4:52.03, respectively.
Williamson picked up the win in the 100 fly in 54.44 and then followed that with a win in the 200 IM in 2:00.74. Sophomore Sarah White was second in 2:01.49. The duo’s performance clinched the victory for the Cavaliers.
In the final event of the day, the team of Naurath, Lloyd, Moore and Perdue won the 400 free relay in 3:20.60.
The Cavaliers return to action against Duke this weekend, with the diving portion taking place later Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and the swimming beginning Sunday at noon.