The Chapel Hill High School men’s and women’s swimming teams both placed second in the DAC VII conference in late January, ending a four-year run as conference champions for the men and a three-year run for the women.
Both the men’s and women’s teams started their seasons at a tri-meet against the East Chapel Hill Wildcats and the Carrboro Jaguars on November 28 at Homestead Aquatic Center.
The men’s team placed third at the meet, while the women finished ahead of the defending North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) 3A three-time state champions, the Carrboro Jaguars, aided by the performance of the 200-yard women’s medley relay team, featuring juniors Lily Burton and Anna Taub, as well as seniors Juliana Galeano and Tanvi Gaur, who took first place with a time of 2:04.86.
The Tigers’ next tri-meet took place on December 7 at Campus Hills Pool in Durham against the Jordan Falcons and the Hillside Hornets. The women came out on top, while the men took second, losing to Jordan by two points. Junior Luca Pirone won the 50-yard women’s freestyle with a time of 27.07.
Both the men’s and women’s teams finished first or second in three of their next four meets, and then each took second in the conference championships on January 24.
Senior and United States Military Academy commit Eddie Wang helped lead the Tigers to their strong finish, contributing to all four of the men’s gold medals in the conference championship.
Wang placed first in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events, posting times of 21.68 and 48.54, respectively, while he also swam on the 200-yard medley and freestyle relay teams that both won gold in times of 1:37.02 and 1:29.07 respectively.
The women racked up two gold medals in the 200-yard medley relay and the 100-yard freestyle events. The women’s medley relay team—consisting of sophomore Alena Volpe, juniors Burton and Prione and senior Lula Caress—posted a time of 1:59.59 to claim gold. Prione won the 100-yard freestyle event as well with a time of 54.40.
“I had so much fun swimming my events, especially relays, and cheering on my teammates,” Prione said.
With conference championships out of the way, the Tigers faced a new challenge: the 2024 NCHSAA 4A Central Regionals, held February 1-2 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
This was a make-or-break meet, determining whether the teams would advance to the state championships.
The women’s team earned 81 points at the regional championship and weren’t able to place in the top three of a single event, finishing 12th at the meet.
The men, however, claimed a gold medal and three bronze medals, resulting in 162 points and seventh place at regionals, allowing four swimmers to participate at the state championships in Cary the following weekend.
Once again, Wang played a key role in the Tigers’ success, grabbing bronze in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events with times of 21.36 and 47.48 respectively.
The men’s 200-yard freestyle and medley relay teams—consisting of sophomore Ethan Liang and seniors Andrew Volpe, Collin Zhang and Wang—found success as well. The freestyle team grabbed gold with a time of 1:26.60, while the medley team grabbed third with a time of 1:36.14, breaking a school record in the process.
“Our relay team got together at the beginning of the season with eyes on the school record, and it was an extremely surreal experience to see that we set a school record for Chapel Hill High School,” Liang said.
Wang was extremely proud of his individual and team accomplishments.
“It was an honor to qualify for states and regionals with my teammates. I am grateful for the opportunity to represent my school and my peers for the last four years,” Wang said.
Like Wang, head coach Greggor Zoltners was content with the men’s performance.
“I was pleased with our regional results. We had a lot of swimmers do personal best times, and the boys qualified for two relays for the state championships, including our 200-yard freestyle relay, the regional champion,” Zoltners said.
The state championship meet was held February 9-10 in Cary, and the Tigers sent four swimmers to compete in four events.
The Tigers arrived early Friday morning for the preliminary day. Preliminaries, according to Rio Swim Club, are “the portion of the competition that determines which swimmers or relay teams qualify for the championship and consolation finals in events.” In this case, the top eight swimmers move on to the championship finals, and the next eight move on to the consolation finals.
Unfortunately, the Tigers only qualified for one championship final, which was the 50-yard freestyle event. However, the Tigers also reached three consolation finals.
Saturday, February 10, was finals day. The Tigers started the day by capturing silver in the 200-yard medley relay consolation finals. The relay team improved its time from the day before by 0.07 seconds, breaking their previous school record once again. The Tigers’ time of 1:35.61 contributed 14 points to the Tigers’ score.
Following the relay came the 50-yard freestyle championship, the event in which Wang was swimming; Wang took eighth place overall, contributing another 11 points to the team.
Hoping to bounce back, Wang next swam in the 100-yard freestyle consolation finals.
And bounce back, Wang did. Wang posted shaved 0.07 seconds off his time in the preliminary race, to take third place, earning the Tigers another six points.
The final event was the 200-yard freestyle relay consolation finals. The Tigers posted a time of 1:26.34, beating their previous time by almost a full second and netting the Tigers 18 points.
The Tigers total of 49 points during the meet put them in 16th place at the 4A NCHSAA State Championships.
