The NC State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will dive back into action as the team competes in the All North Carolina Invitational. The meet will be held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center this Friday and Saturday. This will be the third straight year that the Wolfpack will open its season with the All North Carolina Invitational.
The competition will feature most teams from the region excluding UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke and Pfeiffer University.
The swimming and diving program is coming off an extremely successful 2013-14 season. Both men’s and women’s squads earned a top-16 finish in the NCAA Championship from last season for the first time in program history.
The men’s team was the highest-finishing ACC team in the NCAA last year, winning four out of five relays including the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relay, as well as the 200 medley relay. The men also placed second in the 400 medley relay.
The women’s relays also found great success at the national championships, winning the 200 freestyle relay for the second year in a row and earning All-American honors in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays and the 200 medley relay.
NC State welcomes several promising newcomers to the group as well as embracing the seasoned Wolfpack veterans. A combined total of 10 All-Americans from last season’s team will return for the Wolfpack this year, four from the men’s squad and six from the women’s.
Among the key newcomers for the men’s team are Ryan Held, Colin Ellington and Hennessey Stuart. These swimmers will add new depth to the freestyle sprints. The women’s team also added several additions to their freestyle sprints as well. Freshmen Lauren Rhodes and Krista Duffield as well as junior college transfer Yurie Nakano will all be nice additions to the already strong women’s freestyle core.
There are also has returning swimmers on the team that will play key roles in the success of the Wolfpack’s relays. The men’s team has sophomores Simonas Bilis, Andreas Schiellerup and David Williams returning to maintain strong freestyle relays. For the medley events, two of the returning members from the 200 medley who earned All-American honors last season are Schiellerup, who swam the backstroke leg, and Williams who swam the freestyle leg.
Most of the swimmers on the women’s squad are returners with Zina Grogg as the only loss upon graduation. The young group continues to have strong freestyle relay events with the return of Riki Bonnema and Natalie Labonge. The NC State women also have three out of the four members returning for the medley relays, including the first-team All-American 200 medley team.
The NC State swimming and diving program continues to prove the strength of its program and this season is looking to further that trend. There are a lot of good swims to look forward to starting with the All North Carolina Invitational this Friday and Saturday.
