NC State’s swim and dive team kicked off the 2022-23 season at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee on Friday, Oct. 14 and Saturday, Oct. 15.
The Wolfpack beat the Volunteers handily, posting 207.5-140.5 on the women’s side and 198-155 on the men’s side. Both the women’s and men’s teams, ranked No. 5 and 4 by Swimswam, respectively, have some heavy expectations to meet heading into the regular season.
Who said early-season meets couldn’t be exciting? In the second event of Friday evening, the men’s 400-meter medley relay squad garnered 11 points for the Wolfpack, winning the event by a nail-biting 0.01. Graduate Giovanni Izzo, seniors Kacper Stokowski and Nyls Korstanje, and junior Luke Miller posted 3:08.50 in response to Tennessee’s 3:08.51 to pick up NC State’s first win of the meet.
Furthermore, the men’s 1000-yard freestyle wasn’t even a competition. Junior Will Gallant, senior Ross Dant and freshman Lance Norris went 1-2-3, picking up 16 more points for the men’s squad. Norris, a newcomer from Rocky Mount, NC, was a mere 11 seconds off of his personal best.
Norris’ club swim buddy, freshman Michael Cotter, also had an outstanding college swimming debut. Cotter broke the meet record in the men’s 200-yard individual medley Friday evening, posting 1:47.43 to finish well over a second ahead of sophomore Arsenio Bustos.
In the women’s 200-yard butterfly, junior Abby Arens and sophomore Grace Sheble garnered a 1-2 finish to put up 13 points for the women’s squad. Furthermore, graduate Andrea Podmanikova shattered the competition by 1.4 seconds to win the 200-yard breaststroke. Podmanikova is expected to fill the shoes of NC State alum and Olympian Sophie Hansson, a four-time NCAA champion who led the women’s breaststroke squad for years.
Junior Abbey Webb and Cotter both won their respective 200-yard freestyle events on Saturday morning, picking up another 18 points for the Wolfpack. Webb beat second-place finisher, Tennessee’s Brooklyn Douthwright, by over two seconds, and Cotter proved his dominance in a field of more experienced collegiate swimmers.
In the deep end, senior Helene Synnott and sophomore Ashton Zuburg went 1-2 in the one-meter diving event. Synnott and Zuburg, who both competed in the one-meter and three-meter events at NCAA Zone B Championships earlier this year, are slated to lead their team of talented divers ahead of a tough schedule this season.
Another talented freshman, Kennedy Noble, might prove to be senior Katharine Berkoff’s perfect partner for both backstroke events this season. Noble, Swimswam’s No. 9 recruit for the class of 2026, finished less than a second behind NCAA champion Berkoff to pick up the second podium finish of her collegiate career after her win in the 200-yard individual medley on Friday evening.
Freshman Quintin McCarty is shaping up to be a real promising addition to NC State’s backstroke squad, too. The Colorado Springs native posted 47.23 in the 100-yard backstroke on Saturday morning, less than a second off his personal best. It seems that NCAA champion Stokowski might have a bit of inter-team competition to deal with this season.
NC State’s swim and dive team will return home for their first home meet of the season against Kentucky at Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center on Friday, Oct. 21.
