The NC State swimming and diving team will travel to Virginia Tech Saturday, Feb. 1 for its final meet of the regular season.
The No. 7 Wolfpack men’s swim team (6-1, 3-0 ACC) is coming off a solid victory against No. 17 Virginia by a score of 169-131. The No. 3 Wolfpack women’s team (6-2, 2-1 ACC) is coming off a disappointing loss against then-No. 3 Virginia by a score of 173-127. Somehow, the NC State women switched up rankings with Virginia after losing to them. The No. 20 Virginia Tech men’s team (5-0, 1-0 ACC) is coming off a close 158-141 victory against Virginia. The Hokies’ women’s team (3-3, 0-1 ACC) is coming off a blowout loss against Virginia by a score of 111-186.
The Virginia Tech men’s team is underrated, being undefeated this far in the season and beating ranked opponents Ohio State and Virginia. The Hokies don’t have as many standout swimmers as the Wolfpack, but is a well-rounded team. One of its standouts is Antani Ivanov who has the No. 9 time in the 200-meter fly and the No. 28 time in the 100 fly. Another standout is Sam Tornqvist who has the No. 23 time in 200 back and the No. 39 time in the 100 back.
The NC State men’s team outmatches Virginia Tech with the faster time in every event besides 200 Fly. Senior Coleman Stewart should dominate the backstroke events being No. 10 at 50 back, No. 2 at 100 back, and No. 3 at 200 back. Sophomore Nyls Korstanje should blow out the short-distance freestyle events with the No. 4 time in the 50 free and No. 6 time in the 100 free. He also has the advantage in the 100 fly with the No. 13 time in that as well. The Wolfpack also have the long-distance freestyle events on lock with Stewart and freshman Hunter Tapp having the faster times in the 200 free and junior Eric Knowles, freshman Ross Dant and sophomore Curtis Wiltsey leading the 500 free and 1000 free. The Wolfpack have an advantage in all relay events as well.
The very strong NC State women’s team should dominate the struggling Virginia Tech women’s team. The Wolfpack have better times in every event and Virginia Tech only has one standout swimmer. Virginia Tech’s Joelle Vereb has the No. 19 time in the 50 free, No. 33 time in the 100 breast, and the No. 43 time in the 100 free. There aren’t really any other standouts from VT’s women’s team.
The Wolfpack on the other hand has several top times in the nation. Senior Ky-lee Perry, sophomore Kylee Alons and junior Sirena Rowe all have top times in 50 Free. Alons also has top times in 100 Free and 200 free and Perry has a top time in the 100 free. Junior Julia Poole also has the No. 19 time in the 200 free and junior Kate Moore has the No. 15 time in the 500 free and No. 9 time 1000 Free. So, the Wolfpack will dominate freestyle. Freshman Katharine Berkoff, sophomore Emma Muzzy, Moore and Alons will hold down the backstroke events as well, all having top times in backstroke. Sophomore Sophie Hansson should blow the competition out of the water with the No. 4 time in the 100 breast and No. 10 time in the 200 breast. Neither team is great at butterfly, but the Wolfpack still have the advantage. The Wolfpack have the clear advantage in IM events and all relays.
From the diving team, senior James Brady looks to continue his impressive season against VT. In the last meet against Virginia, Brady achieved a season best score of 369.15 on the 3-meter. Freshman Bayne Bennett also had a season best score against Virginia. Senior women’s diver Madeline Kline is also coming off a season-best on 3-meter with a score of 299.55 and had two second place finishes in 1-meter and 3-meter.
The meet will start at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1 at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
