The Duke men's and women's swimming and diving teams had a good meet Saturday at East Carolina in Greenville, N.C., even though the women lost to the Pirates 135-108 and the men were beaten 127-85.
Many of the younger Blue Devils fared well at Minges Coliseum Natatorium and earned some first-place finishes. Sophomore Lauren Hancock took the 1,000 and the 500 freestyle events and teammate Amanda Davis, also a sophomore, won the one-meter and three-meter diving events. Freshman Teddy Helfers won the 500 freestyle, handing the men's team its only first-place finish of the day.
The two teams last met at the Nike Cup in November, where the women's team had edged ECU by 165.5 points and the men finished below the Pirates by 60 points.
"The girls had a real good shot to win the meet.... They did better than the guys, but everyone swam well," said Ryan Spoon, a junior who swims the 200 breaststroke and the relay.
Hancock was also pleased with the team's showing. "We swam pretty well, as tired we are in our training," she said. "ECU just came out with some good times."
The Pendleton, S.C., native ended with a 10:30.66 time in the 1,000 free and 5:07.71 in the 500 free.
"I swam the 1,000 pretty much like a warm-up. I just went out fast and held on to it," she said.
Davis's dives took the first-place spot with a score of 251.7 in the one-meter and 271.65 in the three-meter.
While Helfers was happy with his first-place finish at 4:46.98, he believed that the competition was not as challenging.
"The top position in the 500 wasn't quite as steep as some of the other positions," he commented.
Helfers, who was an All-State selection in the 500 and a Junior National qualifier for the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 free, hopes to contribute more in the relays as well; however, he is a distance swimmer and the longer relays are only held in bigger meets.
The Pirates were led by Courtney Foster, Diane Parker, Casey Cronin and Ryan Faught, who each took two events. The men's and women's 400 medley relay teams also posted good performances, with the men earning their best time of the season. The Pirates will swim again Jan. 5 in the Palm Beach Relays.
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, the Blue Devils are optimistic. Their next challenge will be to face Virginia Jan. 18 at home.
"We have a real good shot at winning our two remaining non-conference meets," Spoon said. "Virginia is going to be tough. They're one of the top 10 teams in the nation... but it's a good rivalry," he added.
Before the Virginia matchup, the Blue Devils will travel down to Florida for their training trip.
"We'll go down there and train hard to get our endurance up and be ready to race for UVa," Hancock said.
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