North Carolina took control early and had two wins over South Carolina on Sunday, 1184-11 in the women’s encounter and 212-81 in the men’s.
The 20 men in the ranking opened with the best time of the season in the 400 medley relay, the Tucker Burhans, Valdas Abaliksta, Boyd Poelke and Tomas Sungaila scoring at 3: 09.85. Sungaila led the freestyle 100 and 200 victories in the 1-2-3 UNC finals, as did Burhans in the 100 coasts. Abaliksta swept the breaststroke events.
Chris Thames, who was second in the 100 backs, won the 200 back in another sweep of the podium. Santos Villalon reigned in the 100 and 200 butterflies, and Eli Coan claimed the 50 free. The triumvirate of the Anton Down-Jenkins, Alex Hart and Fabian Stepinski won the first three places in both events.
On the women’s side, 24th-placed Tar Heels won all five freestyle events. Heidi Lowe was victorious in the 50s and 100s. Sophie Lindner, who led the 400 winning medley relay, claimed the 200 free ones. Addison Smith delivered the 500 and 1,000 frees.
Grace Countie swept 100 and 200 back. Caroline Cooper (200 flights), Lilly Higgs (Mama 200) and Elle VanNote (100 fly) wins added. Aranza Vazquez-Montano and Emily Grund orchestrated 1-2 dives to North Carolina, Vazquez-Montano surpassed the program’s record score by one meter (344.03) that she had set two days earlier against Virginia.
“I am very proud of our team today”, North Carolina coach Mark Gangloff said. “We showed up after a really tough encounter on Friday night, and showing up and doing what we did – we won all but one event, both on the male and female side today – against a team like South Carolina is very Special.”
Taylor Steele won the 100 breast and was second in the 200 breast for South Carolina. Janie Smith and Emma Walker finished second and third, respectively, in the 50 free ones, and Mari Kraus was runner-up 200, as well as Bella Pantano on the 100 backs.
Jordan Yip and Rafael Davila each won a second and third place for the Gamecock men.