Coming off a tough meet in Atlanta, the Men's and Women's Swim Teams traveled to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to take on the Tar Heels. Although the Blue Jays put up a tough fight, they ultimately lost against the nationally ranked Division I School.
The score was 98-187 for the men's team and 84-195 for the women's team.
Despite the losing effort, men's co-captain Scott Armstrong expressed optimism and stated, "To swim against them was a great opportunity."
Despite the unfortunate result of the swim teams, several Jays were able to win their races. Senior co-captain Scott Armstrong led the men's team with wins in the 500-meter and 1000-meter freestyle.
Sophomore J.P. Balfour also won his race, 200-meter backstroke, as did the 400-meter freestyle relay team, which consists of senior Justin Brannock, junior Kyle Robinson, freshman Zane Hamilton and senior Mark Levin.
Many other Blue Jay swimmers were very competitive, earning second place finishes. Justin Brannock finished in second in the 200-meter freestyle, David Lofthus came in second in the 200-meter backstroke, and Matthew Chana was second in the 1000-meter freestyle and the other 400-meter free relay came second as well.
On the women's side, senior Stephanie Harbeson led the way, winning the 500-meter freestyle. Also, the 400-meter freestyle relay team made up of freshmen Katie Herbst, junior Emma Gregory, junior Liz Schlicher and sophomore Kate Purvis also won.
The women also had other strong finishers as freshman Abiona Redwood came in second in the 100-meter freestyle.
Also, fellow freshman, Kristen Stepaniak finished second in the 200-meter backstroke. Junior Megan Rudinsky finished second in the 100-meter butterfly and sophomore Betsy Maragakes finished second in the 200-meter IM.
The trip to the home of the Tar Heels also had sentimental meaning, as it was the homecoming for George Kennedy, the coach for the Blue Jays, an alumnus and letterwinner on the UNC men's swim team from 1973 to 1976.
Also, the current UNC coach, Frank Comfort, was the head coach at JHU in the 1970s, coaching the last Johns Hopkins University championship swimming team in 1977.
"He gave us a little pep talk at the end of the meet that was great. I think it really made some of us hungry to win our own national championship. And he showed us the ring that he still wears from Hopkins winning the 1977 NCAA championships. We are in a position right now where that is in the cards," says Armstrong.
Despite losing at UNC, the Jays believe that they are ready for the big invitational at University of Miami of Ohio from December 5th through the 7th.
Armstrong states that, "Every one has been working hard and that our bodies are broken down, now we just need some rest and there will be some amazing times posted at Miami."
With the invitational a couple of weeks away, the Jays plan to recuperate and come back even stronger after having a strenuous schedule of seven meets in the past 28 days.
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