It's unusual for an athletic team to use a contest against a top 20 opponent as a "tune-up" event.
But when the Duke men's and women's swim teams travelled down 15-501 to take on highly-ranked North Carolina, they knew that they had little chance of winning. Instead, the Blue Devils used the meet to help prepare for Saturday's matchup with East Carolina.
Duke's men's and women's squads each lost to the Tar Heels, but both Blue Devil teams had some strong individual performances.
The women's squad, which was defeated by a 180-105 margin, was led by junior captain Abbey Jones, who swam well in the 500-meter freestyle.
"It's the fastest I have swam this year in 500," Jones said.
But Jones was not the only Duke woman to have a strong meet. Sophomore Sue Kresel swam well in the backstroke, as did junior Heather Reger in the 400-meter individual medley and junior Abby Huggins in the 200-meter freestyle.
Despite these swimmers' stellar performances, the Blue Devils were no match for UNC, a school which offers scholarships to entice swimming recruits.
"North Carolina is a great team," Jones said. "It's hard to get so psyched up against such a talented squad."
The Tar Heel men defeated Duke 187-111. Freshman David Tonini and Will Creighton had solid meets for the Blue Devils.
Tonini swam in four events, and did particularly well in the 400-individual medley.
"That event will kill you, and I was drained the rest of the meet," Tonini said. "As a team, I think we swam really well at the beginning and kind of lagged off at the end."
The Blue Devils were also pleased that several swimmers who have not placed in meets earlier this season scored points against UNC.
"A lot of new people came through and got third places," Tonini said.
For the past few weeks, the swim teams have been training hard in practice. In fact, the Blue Devils stayed on campus during Thanksgiving break to spend some extra time in the water.
"It was our first meet in a little while," Tonini said. "It got us focused on swimming fast again."
And the Blue Devils were pleased with how they competed.
"I think for how hard we've been trying all season, we really surprised ourselves [against UNC]," Jones said. "Since this meet is right before finals, it is a big stress reliever, but it also is a big stresser."
This weekend, the Blue Devils will head to East Carolina for one of their most competitive meets of the season. Duke will swim against the Pirates starting at 1 p.m. in Greenville.
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