As the swim and dive season nears the halfway mark, the Wolfpack remains undefeated ahead of a slew of meets in January. Although the No. 5 women face some tough competition in the weeks to come — No. 1 Virginia and No. 2 Texas, to name a couple — that’s not to say that the team has underperformed so far this season.
Katharine Berkoff, Sophie Hansson dominant on the world stage
Last month’s FINA World Championships in Abu Dhabi were absolutely electric for two Wolfpack women in particular — junior Katherine Berkoff and senior Sophie Hansson. Berkoff picked up three medals for the United States: gold in the 4×50 and 4×100 freestyle relays and bronze in the 100-meter backstroke. Hansson, who competed for Sweden, not only won five medals but set a world record in the 4×50 medley relay alongside her teammates.
Of course, these times don’t translate into NCAA standards — all of the events were in short course meters, not short course yards. Still, with a combined four gold medals between Berkoff and Hansson, it’s not hard to imagine that they’ll bring some serious speed to the pool in front of tough competition such as Virginia and Texas. Both of their performances bode well for the next couple months of swim meets leading up to ACCs and NCAAs.
Men’s breaststroke showing some deficiencies
Breaststroke has been the men’s team’s weakest discipline for years, and unfortunately, the 2021-22 season hasn’t been any different. Senior Rafal Kusto has been running a one-man show in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events for the last several meets, thanks to the Wolfpack’s lack of depth in this stroke.
Things were looking up slightly when freshmen Nathan Kempiak and Sam Hoover joined NC State’s roster last year, but both have failed to show any outstanding swims since the beginning of the season — plus, Hoover’s more often put into freestyle and I.M. events.
There are some promising recruits in the distance, such as star breaststroker Will Heck who is slated to join the Wolfpack in fall 2023, but nothing in the short term suggests that the No. 2 men will be within scoring range in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke at NCAAs.
Small freshman class a bit of a boon for the Wolfpack women
Although NC State’s swim and dive program boasts one of the best recruiting classes to date, there are noticeably less star-studded freshmen recruits on the women’s side than the men’s. Since the Wolfpack women retained the majority of last year’s NCAA squad, they’re still in contention to place top three once again, but there may be only so much talent the team can truly add at NCAAs this year.
That’s not to say that there aren’t some fast first-years on the women’s team. The Sheble twins and Annabel Crush consistently finished in the top eight at the GAC Invitational in November, and freshman Kenna Smallgange has shown some impressive talent over the past few meets. However, there’s only so far this new talent will go, and the NC State women will have to double down in the weeks ahead to take on Virginia and Texas.
No slowing down for the Wolfpack, even with losing Ponti
Preemptively ranked No. 1 in the nation by Swimswam ahead of the 2021-22 season, the men’s team gained some incredible swimmers last year, including the No. 1 recruit in America. Amid all the talented freshmen, Noe Ponti was arguably the most exciting — fresh off a third-place finish in the 100-meter butterfly at the Olympics in August, fans were thrilled to have the Swiss native swimming with the Wolfpack.
However, that all took a turn when Ponti decided to return to Switzerland to train in late September, leaving NC State short of one incredible butterflyer. Luckily, the Wolfpack didn’t seem too affected by Ponti’s move back, retaining its winning streak in the process. Freshmen Aiden Hayes, Arsenio Bustos and David Curtiss have had some incredible swims throughout the season, and veterans such as juniors Ross Dant and Kacper Stokowski have been consistent in their respective events.
