The North Carolina women were a bit short-handed when they hosted the Janis Hape Dowd Nike Cup Invitational meet in Chapel Hill this weekend, as they have been most of this year. They only graduated three swimmers last year, but ACC Champion Layne Brodie is no longer on the UNC roster, and their other ACC Champion Carly Smith hasn’t swum a meet yet this season for the Tar Heels.
But they have a young sophomore who is ready to take up the slack – Stephanie Peacock. She made her first national statement at this same meet a year ago, when she posted a 4:38 in the 500 that at the time was the best in the country by two seconds.
This year, she went out and re-introduced herself with an incredible 4:35.73, which is 5-seconds better than anyone else has been this year, and an NCAA Automatic qualifying time, and a career-best for her. It also would have scored 4th at NCAA’s last year.
She is now legitimately an NCAA title contender in this race, if she can avoid the NCAA slump that hit her last year. Despite having the 3rd seed headed into the meet, she added a lot of time and only made the B-Final.
Peacock posted another national-best in the 200 free to win in 1:45.37.
Beyond her, the Carolina freshmen women stepped up with some great freestyle swims. That includes a 1-2 finish in the 100 freestyle from Nikki Barczak (50.25) and Danielle Silverling (50.62). Those two combined with Peacock and sophomore Emily Kelly to win the 400 free relay in 3:22.18. That mark is only a second off of their time from the same meet last year, despite graduating their top sprinter and having an underclassmen relay.
South Carolina also had a strong meet on the women’s side. Sophomore Rachael Schaffer touched first in the 400 IM in 4:11.25, which is the #6 time in the country this year. She was 17th in the race at NCAA’s last year, and based on this swim should be expecting to score this year.
In Mid-major action, Erla Haraldsdottir of Old Dominion scared her own school record in the 100 breaststroke with a win in 1:00.79, and East Carolina’s Natalie Favoretto won the 50 free in 23.38.
Haraldsdottir was Old Dominion’s only representative at NCAA’s last year, but that could change this year. The ODU women smashed every school record except for 1 last season, and are on pace this year (with good swims at less-than-full rest) to perhaps send a few more this season.
The runner-up in that 100 breaststroke was sophomore Christine Wixted in 1:00.97. That broke her own school record, set last year, and made her the first Blue Devil woman ever under 1:01.
On the men’s side, Haraldsdottir’s counterpart senior Arni Arnason did break an Old Dominion record in the same race with a 53.32, which also scored him a significant win over strong Duke newcomer Piotr Safronczyk in 55.10. In a fun bit of parallel, that gave him the Duke men’s record, breaking the old mark set by Jim Zuponeck last year. Safronczyk is in his final year of eligibility, as a transfer grad-student, and was a two-time NCAA Division II Champion in the event for Bridgeport (2010, 2011).
Arnarson would come back the next day and win the 200 easily in 1:57.86, which is 4th in the country this year. Safronczyk has some work to do on his breaststroke endurance, which will come as he ages and matures physically, as he slipped back to 5th in 2:02.38. His splits were 57.9-1:04.4, which is a huge spread.
For the North Carolina men, who like the women have some strong pieces but are a bit thin on depth, Tom Luchsinger stood out above the rest. After a great summer, he’s off to a good start this year with a trio of wins in the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 fly.
In the 400 IM, he won in 3:50.79, which is 3rd in the country this year. His 200 fly time of 1:45.79 is the number-two time in the country this year, behind only defending USA Swimming champion in the race Bobby Bollier.
Luchsinger’s understudy, big-time freshman Dominik Glavich, had a big-time breakout meet. That included runner-up finishes in the 200 IM (1:49.30) and 200 fly (1:46.47). That 200 fly is the best freshman time in the country this year.
Duke super-sprint specialist Ben Hwang wasn’t as good as he was in the Maryland dual, where he posted what was the country’s best time, but he gave a solid follow-up of 20.03 to out-touch ODU’s aforementioned breaststroker Arnason in 21.13.
Hwang (like we discussed with Arnason’s breaststrokes) is a super-sprinter, as he was only 4th in the 100 free in 44.92. Steve Cebertowicz took a win there in 43.61, which is the fastest he’s ever been before NCAA’s or ACC’s.
Both North Carolina’s men and their women won the meet by a large margin. ‘
The Navy men were able to place 2nd without winning a single event thanks to a great 2nd day of competition that featured runner-up finishes from senior Steve Dukleth in the 100 fly (48.91) and his classmate Mac Anthony in the 200 fly (1:37.48) in back-to-back races.
Women – Team Rankings – Through Event 42
1. University of North Carolina 1494 2. Duke University 628
3. South Carolina, University of 619 4. East Carolina Swimming & Divin 388.5
5. Navy Women’s Swimming & Diving 365 6. Old Dominion University 315.5
7. North Carolina State Universit 61 8. James Madison University 27
Men – Team Rankings – Through Event 42
1. University of North Carolina 1334 2. Naval Academy 752
3. Duke University 572.5 4. South Carolina, University of 508.5
5. Harvard Men’s Swimming 280 6. Old Dominion University 217
7. East Carolina Swimming & Divin 214 8. North Carolina State Universit 40
Safronczyk is actually a grad student, and a senior in terms of eligibility. He was the D II national champion in the 100 at Bridgeport.
Thanks for the clarification. Was listed in the results as a freshman, but must just be the way Duke has him entered in their MM.