The men's and women's swimming and diving teams had an impressive weekend in Chapel Hill, shattering seven school records at the NCAA Nike Cup Invitational Championship. Out of a field of eight teams, the women finished fifth with 370 points, while the men placed sixth with a score of 261 points. UNC won the meet on both sides, its women tallying 874 points to destroy second-place Virginia Tech (639 points), and its men winning an only slightly closer race over Louisiana State, 875-764.
"The way we swam this weekend really exceeded our expectations," assistant coach Whitney Greene said. "It was just inspiring to watch some of their performances."
Two of the most impressive swims of the weekend came from sophomores Lauren Cornet and Lauren Hancock, who each broke one of the school records set by former Olympian Nancy Hogshead in 1980. Cornet shattered the record in the 200-yard breaststroke by over a second on her way to a second-place finish in 2:02.87; while Hancock claimed the record in the 100-yard butterfly, besting Hogshead's time by nearly half-a-second, and finished ninth with her time of 56.03. Hancock's time was also fast enough to qualify for an NCAA "B cut," meaning that she may receive an invitation to the championship this spring.
"To have two of Nancy Hogshead's records fall in the same meet is incredible, especially since they're 21 years old," Greene said. "We're really hoping Lauren Hancock will make it to NCAAs to give Cornet some company. To have two athletes at NCAAs would be unheard of for a non-scholarship program."
Transfer Katie Fay also made her mark on the Duke record boards over the weekend, setting two of her own. Her leadoff split in the 400-yard medley relay of 57.69 was the fastest in Duke history, while her time of 2:03.5 in the 200-yard backstroke earned her both the school record and a 10th-place finish in the event.
Sophomore Amy Halligan also had a good weekend,, finishing fourth in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:26.16. She also swam the butterfly leg of the 400-yard medley relay along with Fay, Cornet and Hancock that set a school record with its fifth-place finish in 3:51.40. Halligan, Cornet and Hancock later joined with freshman Chrissy Anderson to break yet another relay record, this time in the 800-yard freestyle relay, in 7:38.03 to place fifth.
"There's no one else you'd want to see succeed more then these two," senior captain Lauren Nathan said of Halligan and Hancock. "They're two of the hardest workers on the team, and they really deserve it."
Junior Justin Ward led the men's team, setting a new school record in the 200-yard IM. Ward's time of 1:53.86 landed him in 12th place in the event and broke the old record, set at 1:54.01 in 1992 by Scott Davis.
Senior captain Chris Fleizach swam well, finishing 12th in the 100-yard backstroke (51.55), 11th in the 200-yard backstroke (1:51.92) and 18th in the 200-yard butterfly (1:53.85. Junior Ryan Spoon placed 11th in the 100-yard breaststroke with his time of 56.74, missing the school record by only 37 hundredths of a second. Spoon later came back to have an amazing swim in the 200-yard breaststroke, swimming a 2:04.88 to finish second.
The swimmers return to action after Thanksgiving to take on East Carolina, a fellow Nike Cup competitor. The men were defeated by the Pirates at the invitational by 60 points, but the women destroyed ECU by 165.5, giving them a little extra confidence heading into their duel meet.
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