Minnesota’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams continued their decimation of opponents this weekend against North Carolina.
The men entered the meet ranked No. 10 in the College Swim Coaches Association of America poll and squared off against the No. 16 Tar Heels.
The Gophers won all but one event Friday night for a 134-52 advantage.
“On Friday, on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say we were an 11. We were on fire,” coach Dennis Dale said.
On Saturday they continued their dominance for a final score of 218-146 behind the strong performances of senior Mike Woodson and junior Jon Roberts.
Woodson swam the lead leg of the winning 200- and 400-yard free relays for Minnesota and also took home the 100-yard freestyle event.
“Mike had a good meet. He swam lights out,” Dale said.
Roberts continued to perform like he has all season as he won the 100 and 200 breaststroke events and contributed on the winning 400 medley relay team.
Women sink Tar Heels
The women continued to excel against ranked opponents when they faced No. 10 North Carolina
The No. 9-ranked Gophers won 208.5-160.5 in a complete team effort.
Minnesota won all but one event Friday night but placing first in the initial relay once again set the tone for the rest of the meet.
“We expected it to be a battle but when you start with a win in the medley relay it sets the tone,” coach Terry Nieszner said.
Junior Jenny Shaughnessy turned in a stellar performance during the weekend and picked up her second win of the meet in the 400 individual medley.
Freshman Megan Braun won three events, placing first in the 100 butterfly for her final victory.
Fellow freshman Jillian Tyler continued her fantastic first year by winning the 200 breaststroke, finishing five seconds ahead of the competition.
After swimming four consecutive weekends, Niezner said the team needs a little break and she will move swimmers away from their better meets next weekend to give them a rest.
The Grand Prix meet next weekend will feature the nation’s top competition as Olympic swimmers and Olympic hopefuls will compete against Minnesota.
