Swimming & Diving Splits With Auburn In Season Opener

Friday, October 25

Chapel Hill, NC

Dive: 12 pm EST Swim: 1pm EST

North Carolina

Auburn University

October 25, 2024 | Swimming & Diving

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina swimming and diving teams split its season opener with Auburn on Friday afternoon at Koury Natatorium. The Tar Heels had four double event winners in Mary Macaulay, Georgia Nel, Ben Delmar and Patrick Hussey.

The No. 21 Tar Heel women dropped a close 154-146 decision to the 19th-ranked Tigers. The unranked UNC men's team defeated No. 13 Auburn, 169-131, after winning both relays in addition to sweeping the 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke and 100 butterfly.

Tar Heel Event Wins

Aranza Vázquez Montaño – women's 1-meter diving (327.45)
Davis, Ruiz, Poelke, Dramm – men's 200 medley relay (1:24.30)
Georgia Nel – women's 200 freestyle (1:45.46)
Patrick Hussey – men's 200 freestyle (1:35.26)
Skyler Smith – women's 100 breaststroke (59.22)
Ben Delmar – men's 100 breaststroke (52.75)
Mary Macaulay – women's 200 butterfly (1:56.98)
Sebastian Lunak – men's 200 butterfly (1:43.10)
Georgia Nel – women's 100 freestyle (48.77)
Emma Karam – women's 200 backstroke (1:55.22)
Ben Delmar – men's 200 breaststroke (1:54.03)
Patrick Hussey – men's 500 freestyle (4:21.55)
Boyd Poelke – men's 100 butterfly (46.41)
Mary Macaulay – women's 200 individual medley (1:59.58)
Louis Dramm – men's 200 individual medley (1:44.13)
Hussey, Foy, Van Deusen, Lunak – men's 400 freestyle relay (2:54.12)

Aranza Vázquez Montaño, who competed in Paris with Mexico in her second Olympic Games, dove to the top spot on the women's 1-meter event with a score of 327.45. Making her collegiate debut was rookie Lanie Gutch who took second on both the 1-meter (309.00) and 3-meter (297.90).

On the men's boards, Chris Booler totaled 319.20 on the 1-meter for second place. Carter Loftin tallied a score of 321.60 on the 3-meter springboard for third.

Greer Pattison, Skyler Smith, Elizabeth Sowards and Georgia Nel began the swimming portion of the meet by taking second in the women's 200 medley relay with a time of 1:36.38. The men's 200 medley relay team of Walker Davis, Xavier Ruiz, Boyd Poelke and Louis Dramm secured UNC's first win of the day, as their combined time of 1:24.30 was just about a second faster than Auburn.

Lily Reader led the way for the Tar Heels in the women's 1000 freestyle in a time of 9:52.07 for second, eclipsing her lifetime best of 9:52.28 from a season ago. Aislin Farris also cracked the 10-minute marker in 9:52.37 for third.

Reader (4:50.64) later took second in the women's 500 freestyle with third going to Maren Conze (4:51.63).

Freshman Brady Begin kickstarted his collegiate career with a third-place showing in the men's 1000 freestyle, clocking in at 9:10.42 to finish third and set a new personal best by over a second.

Georgia Nel won a nail-biter in the women's 200 freestyle, as her time of 1:45.46 out-touched Auburn's Polina Nevmovenko by .17. Nel's time was roughly a half-second off her best set at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Maren Conze (1:47.75) took third.

Nel was a double-event winner after also taking the top spot in the women's 100 freestyle. Her time of 48.77 was just shy of her personal best 48.69 from back in March.

The Tar Heels also came out on top in the men's 200 freestyle with a 1-2 finish. Patrick Hussey, who competed for Canada at the 2024 Olympic Games, claimed the top spot in 1:35.26 followed closely by Dramm in 1:35.66.

Hussey also won two events on the day, following up his win in the 200 freestyle with a first-place finish in the men's 500 freestyle. He used a strong back half to take it in 4:21.55. Begin got another third-place showing with a time of 4:26.91.

Like in the 200 freestyle, Dramm later went on to clinch another runner-up spot, this time in the men's 100 freestyle with a time of 43.18 – just one-tenth off his PR from a season ago. In his third and final individual event – the men's 200 individual medley – he won in 1:44.13, with Delmar (1:46.72) taking third.

Finishing in second in the women's 100 backstroke was Pattison with a time of 52.36. It was a 2-3 punch for the home team on the men's side, with Davis (46.55) and JT Schmid (47.80) earning respective second- and third-place finishes.

Schmid, a freshman, then went on to place second in the men's 200 backstroke, ending with a time of 1:43.18 for a new best time.

Skyler Smith was the champion in the women's 100 breaststroke, sneaking under the 60-second barrier for the 13th time in her career in 59.22. Samantha Armand was third in 1:01.75.

Smith also took second in the 200 breast in 2:11.20, with Ava Muzzy (2:13.52) behind her in third for a new PB.

It was a Tar Heel sweep in both men's breaststroke events. In the 100, Delmar led the charge after getting his hands to the wall in 52.75, just .05 off his lifetime best. Xavier Ruiz was close behind in 52.98 for second while Carter Freudenstein rounded out the top three in 54.60. Ruiz and Freudenstein both notched personal bests.

In the longer of the two breaststroke distances, Delmar was again victorious with a time of 1:54.03. Ruiz (1:55.68) and Freudenstein (1:57.42) took second and third again, with the latter achieving a two-second personal best.

Mary Macaulay was the first of four swimmers under the two-minute marker in the women's 200 butterfly, winning the event by well over a second in 1:56.98. Taylor Bloom gave Carolina the top two spots as she raced to second in 1:58.29. Both swimmers set new personal records.

The win in the men's 200 butterfly was claimed by Sebastian Lunak, who stopped the clock in 1:43.10. Colin Whelehan raced to third in 1:44.83 to pick up more points for the Tar Heels.

Carolina saw a pair of second-place finishes in both the women's and men's 50 freestyle. Pattison sprinted home in 22.58 while PJ Foy (19.59) dipped under 20 seconds for the second time in his career.

Lillion Sawyer (53.56) flew to second in the women's 100 butterfly. Poelke (46.41), Foy (46.50) and Lunak (46.51) finished 1-3 in the men's 100 butterfly to hand Carolina its third event sweep of the meet. Foy's time set a new PR by 0.27.

Additional event winners for the Tar Heels included Emma Karam (1:55.22) in the women's 200 backstroke and Macaulay (1:59.58) in the women's 200 individual medley. Macaulay earned her second win of the day as the lone swimmer in the field to break two minutes.

The women's meet concluded with the 400 freestyle relay squad of Nel, Pattison, Sowards and Michaela Chokureva taking second in 3:15.00. Hussey, Foy, Matt Van Deusen and Lunak ended the meet with a bang, securing a three-tenths victory in the men's 400 freestyle relay with a time of 2:54.12.

North Carolina has a quick turnaround as it hosts another Southeastern Conference opponent in South Carolina on Saturday morning. Diving begins at 9 a.m. ET at Koury Natatorium with swimming commencing at 10 a.m.

Action can be viewed on ACCNX and admission is free of charge.

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