The NC State swimming and diving teams completed a sweep in the ACC season openers against Florida State and Georgia Tech this weekend in Atlanta.
The women’s team (2-1, 2-0 ACC) downed the Yellow Jackets and Seminoles over the course of the competition, posting a 189-106 victory over Georgia Tech before knocking off No. 25 Florida State 164-131.
Despite the score discrepancy, State head coach Braden Holloway noted the difficulty of the competition.
“It wasn’t our sharpest meet,” said Head Coach Braden Holloway. “It was more of a grind for all of the schools. Luckily, we were able to out-grind Georgia Tech and Florida State and come away with some wins.”
During the meet, the Wolfpack took home 18 individual victories and finished first in one of the two relays it competed in.
To start off the meet for NC State, Alexia Zevnik, Lauren Poli, Yurie Nakano and Krista Duffield combined to finish the 200-yard medley relay in 1:43.53, placing second overall. The men’s team finished first in the 200 medley, as Andreas Schiellerup, Derek Hren, Soren Dahl and David Williams teamed up to finish with a time of 1:28.56.
The Wolfpack continued to show the spectrum of its talents, finishing first in many events across the boards, taking top honors in sprint and distance events.
In the 1000 free, NC State’s sophomore Rachel Muller touched first with a time of 10:10.05 before her teammate Kristin Connors, who finished with a time of 10:15.98. The men also impressed, sweeping first, second and third. Freshman Anton Ipsen touched first in 9:07.47, while Adam Linker came in second (9:18.28), and Austin Snyder brought home third (9:20.78).
Ipsen recorded another first place victory in the 500 with a 4:25.36.
The women also finished top three in the 500 free. Muller (4:55.70) and Connors (5:00.75) again placed one and two in the event, while their teammate, Kendall Pena finished third with a 5:04.26.
“Our distance girls came right back and scored big points,” Holloway said. “That put us back on track to set us up for a win.”
NC State junior Simonas Bilis had yet another tremendous performance representing the Wolfpack. For the second consecutive meet, Bilis swept all three of the freestyle sprint events. Bilis started out with his 200 free (1:36.52), then clocked in at 20.00 in the 50 free, and finished his sweep with a 44.35 in the 100.
On the women’s side, Riki Bonnema placed first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.68, and teammate Lauren Poli finished third in a 22.93. NC State’s Lotta Nevalainen clocked in at 50.47 for the 100 free to place second, while Natalie Labonge finished with a 50.51 for third.
In addition to having strong swimmers in freestyle events, the NC State women took first and second place finishes in the 100 back. Ashlyn Koletic won the event in a 55.49, while Zevnik placed second in a 55.78. Zevnik also placed first in the 200 back with a time of 1:59.32.
The Wolfpack men also swept the 100 and 200 backstroke events. In the 100, Schiellerup touched first in 48.33 and Stephen Coetzer won the 200 back with a time of 1:48.53. NC State’s Jacob Siar clocked in at 1:49.83 to finish second in the 200.
Christian McCurdy had another great meet, winning the men’s 200 fly with a 1:47.01 and Dahl placed first in the 100-yard fly clocking in at 48.01.
Sophomore Kayla Brumbaum impressively swept the women’s breaststroke events finishing first in the 100 breast with a 1:02.55, and rounding out the day with a 2:17.32 in the 200.
“Kayla Brumbaum really dominated in breaststroke,” Holloway said. “She’s really gotten off to a great start this season.”
Rachel Mumma stayed consistent and took first in the women’s 1-meter (302.00) and second in the 3-meter (271.60).
On Nov. 1 the diving team will compete in a quad meet with UNC-Chapel Hill, James Madison and Clemson at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
