With men’s and women’s basketball coming to an end this week, a large portion of the NCAA spring championship slate has drawn to a close and honors and awards are being handed out to players and coaches.
NC State Athletics has had its fair share of postseason award recipients and winners, highlighted by a national championship for redshirt senior wrestler Michael Macchiavello and five individual national championships, won by six different student-athletes, in men’s swimming.
Here is a recap of just some of the awards that Wolfpack athletes and coaches have garnered:
Pat Popolizio, ACC Wrestling Coach of the Year
In his sixth season in charge of the NC State Wrestling program, Popolizio was honored with the coach of the year award for the first time, after leading the Wolfpack to a program-record fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
NC State finished the ACC regular season at 5-0, capturing the school’s first ACC Dual Championship since 2004. At the ACC Championships, the Pack finished second before going to NCAAs and capturing fourth, behind Macchiavello’s national championship at 197 pounds.
It was a banner year for the Pack wrestling program, and the honor for Popolizio was well earned. Popolizio was also named one of eight finalists for the Theraworx Coach of the Year, given to the top coach in the country.
Michael Macchiavello, ACC Wrestler of the Year
Macchiavello capped off his collegiate career with an improbable national championship, beating conference foe Jared Haught of Virginia Tech in the national title match. Macchiavello finished the season 22-3.
With his national title, Macchiavello became the first Wolfpack wrestler since Nick Gwiazdowski in 2015 to capture gold at NCAAs, and also became just the second ever wrestler from the state of North Carolina to bring home a national title.
Braden Holloway, ACC Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year
This award might as well be named after Holloway at this point, as the front man for the Wolfpack has now collected it four years in a row, and five times in his seven-year stint with NC State. Holloway led the men’s team to its fourth straight ACC Championship this season, and also brought the Pack to its third straight fourth-place finish at NCAAs.
Holloway has molded NC State into a national powerhouse in the pool, and the awards will continue to pile in for him as long as the Pack keeps winning.
Andreas Vazaios, ACC Men’s Swimmer of the Year
Vazaios, a junior from Greece, captured the top honors for ACC men’s swimmers after an impressive season for the Pack. Vazaios won two national titles at the NCAA Championships, individually in the 200-yard butterfly and as a member of the 800-yard freestyle relay team.
Vazaios was also a force at the ACC meet, winning two relays and the 200-yard individual medley. He also had podium finishes in two other events at ACCs, to help lead the Pack to its fourth straight conference title.
With the ACC Men’s Swimmer of the Year nod, Vazaios makes it four years in a row that an NC State swimmer has won the award. Simonas Bilis won for the Pack in 2015 and 2016, and senior Ryan Held took home the honor in 2017.
Chelsea Nelson, All-ACC First Team
Nelson, the senior leader of the Wolfpack women’s basketball team, was named first-team All-ACC for the first time in her career. As the only returning starter for the Pack, Nelson helped lead her team to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in what should have been a rebuild year.
Nelson fronted the Pack with 12.9 points per game this season, and also added a team-high 9.4 rebounds per game. In the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament against Duke, Nelson grabbed an outstanding 22 rebounds.
