Taishoff Records Fall on Senior Day

Saturday, January 30

Durham, N.C.

11:00 AM

Duke University

North Carolina

Duke Swimmers and Divers Honored at Team Banquet

Taishoff Records Fall on Senior Day

1/30/2016 4:42:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Swim/Dive Highlights: Duke vs. UNC Swim/Dive Post-Meet INT: David Armstrong Swim/Dive Post-Meet INT: Verity Abel Full Meet Replay: Duke v. UNC Swim/Dive Senior Day Highlights Results Team Scores

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – A number of Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion records went down Saturday as the Blue Devils wrapped up the regular season against Tobacco Road rival North Carolina on Senior Day. The Duke men kept things close with the Tar Heels, who emerged with a narrow 156-142 victory. The Blue Devil women lost to North Carolina, 179-121.

After honoring the 11 members of its senior class, Duke opened the meet in thrilling fashion, out-touching the Tar Heels in both 200-yard medley relays. The Blue Devils also received an early lift in diving, as freshman Mackenzie Willborn bested the field on the 1-meter springboard (295.28) and rookie Evan Moretti was second in the same event on the men's side.

Sophomores Verity Abel and Matt Johnson kept the momentum going with a pair of first-place finishes in the 1,000 freestyle.

“Our divers did a great job at the very beginning to get us started and then the medley relays came out and did what they did and Matt Johnson won the 1,000,” said head coach Dan Colella. “It absolutely got everybody ignited, and I think this is probably one of the best performances out of our group this season.”

Johnson smashed his own program record of 9:16.58 with a swift 9:08.00 clocking.

“It's absolutely remarkable, Colella said of Johnson. “He's had a great three weeks of training, sort of our last big push as we get into the taper period. He has been looking better and stronger every week throughout the season. He was just flat-out determined that he wanted to try to break his school record today. Congratulations to Matt on a phenomenal swim. I think that will set him up for some really big performances at ACCs.”

North Carolina claimed the next few events until the Blue Devils responded with a one-two-three finish in the men's 100 breaststroke. Junior Peter Kropp led the way in 54.16, followed by classmates Dylan Payne (54.77) and Mike Seaberg (54.86). Sophomore Isabella Paez was first to the wall in the women's 200 butterfly (1:59.81) and juniors Maddie Rusch and James Peek swept the 50 freestyle races. Rusch's mark of 22.80 broke a four-year old Taishoff record of 22.99.

Kropp returned to the water to take the 200 breaststroke in 2:01.64 and Abel also collected her second win in the 500 freestyle, turning in a time of 4:52.05. Trailing the Tar Heels by 12 late in the meet, the men saw junior Michael Miller take second in the 400 IM and closed out competition by edging the Tar Heels in the 200 freestyle relay. Senior David Armstrong, Seaberg, Payne and Peek combined for a 1:19.70 performance to reset the previous facility record of 1:21.08, which was established by Clemson in 2012.

“All season long, one of the things we've really harped on is, regardless of the meet, we need to swim like it's our last meet of the season,” Colella said. “It's something they've done a phenomenal job of all year – standing up and competing really, really hard. They've realized they're capable of doing things they didn't think they could do.”

Prior to Saturday's action in the pool and on the boards, seniors Armstrong, Victor Chen, Linsay Cooper, Kathryn Eckhart, Delaney Lagrew, Kendall McClenney, Lexi Mendes, Kiera Molloy, Kenny Ng, Ryan Prince and Chelsea Ye were recognized for their contributions over the past four seasons.

“When we recruited them, we said, we can really do something special here,” Colella said of the senior class. “We were hoping they would come to Duke and help us build something. We have been incredibly blessed to have them. They have been great leaders. This senior class has challenged me in a lot of different ways, which I think has only made me a better coach. As a result of it, we absolutely have a better program.”

The Duke women wrapped up the regular season with a 7-3 ledger (3-1 ACC) and the men with a record of 6-4 (2-2 ACC). Both squads will send representatives to the Carolina College Invitational this Friday through Sunday in Chapel Hill, N.C., before heading to the ACC Championships in Greensboro.

Team Scores:
No. 16 North Carolina Women 179, Duke Women 121
No. 19 North Carolina Men 156, Duke Men 142

Top Duke Finishers by Event:
Women's 1-Meter Diving: Mack Willborn (1st), 295.28
Men's 1-Meter Diving: Evan Moretti (2nd), 309.98

Women's 3-Meter Diving: Mackenzie Willborn (2nd), 338.85
Men's 3-Meter Diving: Josh Owsiany (2nd), 383.48

Women's 200-Yard Medley Relay: Mickayla Hinkle, Ashleigh Shanley, Leah Goldman, Maddie Rusch (1st), 1:40.78
Men's 200-Yard Medley Relay: Joe Maginnis, Dylan Payne, Michael Miller, Adriaan Venter (1st), 1:29.23

Women's 1,000-Yard Freestyle: Verity Abel (1st), 10:00.47
Men's 1,000-Yard Freestyle: Matt Johnson (1st), 9:08.00

Women's 200-Yard Freestyle: Lexy Aitchison (5th), 1:53.28
Men's 200-Yard Freestyle: David Armstrong (2nd), 1:39.55

Women's 100-Yard Backstroke: Maddie Hess (2nd), 54.26
Men's 100-Yard Backstroke: Max St. George (2nd), 49.18

Women's 100-Yard Breaststroke: Ashleigh Shanley (2nd), 1:03.54
Men's 100-Yard Breaststroke: Peter Kropp (1st), 54.16

Women's 200-Yard Butterfly: Isa Paez (1st), 1:59.81
Men's 200-Yard Butterfly: Kaz Takabayashi (2nd), 1:48.07

Women's 50-Yard Freestyle: Maddie Rusch (1st), 22.80
Men's 50-Yard Freestyle: James Peek (1st), 20.23

Women's 100-Yard Freestyle: Chelsea Ye (5th), 51.74
Men's 100-Yard Freestyle: Sean Tate (3rd), 46.23

Women's 200-Yard Backstroke: Maddie Hess (2nd), 1:59.20
Men's 200-Yard Backstroke: Brad Cline (2nd), 1:48.69