For North Carolina men and women’s swimming and diving head coach Rich DeSelm, defining his senior class is a difficult task.
“This senior class has kind of an interesting mix,” he said. “But they’ve really been leaders on the team, they’ve embraced the message that I’m trying to convey and really competed on a very high level.”
That high level has included top-15 rankings for both teams, meet and team records and a legitimate chance at hoisting an ACC Championship trophy double for the men and women. For the men it would be their first championship since 1998, and for the women, their first since 2007 — something the senior class would be proud of.
That class, which will compete in Friday’s senior night meet against N.C. State, contains a little bit of everything.
It has local talent, such as redshirt senior Carly Smith, who swam just down the road at Chapel Hill High School. It has transfers, such as backstroker and freestyler Brad Dillon. It has underdogs, like former walk-on sprint freestyler Kyle Ficker. And finally, it has champions, like distance freestyler and record-holder Stephanie Peacock.
But for some swimmers, the four-year journey wasn’t as simple as a cool down swim.
For Wilmington native Cari Blalock, it took a year in Baton Rouge to figure out where she needed to be, as she transferred after her freshman year at Louisania State to come back home.
“I always grew up a Tar Heel fan and a Carolina girl,” she said.
“Even though it worked out in a bittersweet way, it all obviously ended up for the best.”
