Is there anything that can compete with the excitement of the NBA Draft? How about a thrity-six sport year-long competition nobody cares about? Because those results were also released today, and UNC picked up third.
The Tar Heels ended up with 1,161.33 points - the .03 coming as part of a women's gymnastic score - and lost only to Stanford (1,429) and UCLA (1,257). UNC still remains the only school besides Stanford to win the cup. This was the Heels' best finish since a second place in 1998.
UCLA's margin of victory can be wholly attributed to their 100th NCAA championship won in women's water polo, worth 100 points in the scoring. The women's water polo championship has never been contested by any team outside of the state of California, and only one has it been won by a school from outside the Los Angeles city limits. The only ACC school with a varsity team is Maryland.
Here's the breakdown of the UNC Athletic Season:
- Women's Cross Country, 31st
- Women's Field Hockey, First Round
- Women's Soccer, 1st
- Men's Soccer, Second Round
- Women's Basketball, Final Four
- Men's Basketball, Regional Finals
- Women's Fencing, 13th
- Women's Gymnastic, 31st
- Women's Swimming, 30th
- Men's Swimming, 27th
- Women's Indoor Track and Field, 16th
- Men's Indoor Track and Field, 32nd
- Men's Wrestling, 49th
- Men's Baseball, 2nd
- Women's Golf, 21st
- Men's Golf, 16th
- Women's Lacrosse, Quarterfinals
- Men's Lacrosse, Quaterfinals
- Women's Softball, First Round
- Women's Tennis, Third Round
- Men's Tennis, Second Round
- Women's Outdoor Track and Field, 21st
- Men's Outdoor Track and Field, 6th
- Women's Water Polo, a stupid little sport that cost UNC second place.
Carolina March mid-major favorite UC Santa Barbara was 61st, and got no points in women's water polo despite fielding a team (The coach resigned, much to the joy of women's water polo forum posters. Yes, no matter what the sport, someone, somewhere is advocating on the internet to fire a coach.)