Less than a week after taking on No. 1 Virginia, the No. 5 NC State women’s swim and dive team lost to No. 2 Texas by a margin of less than 15 points at Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center on Friday, Jan. 28. The No. 3 men’s team won easily against UNCW, cementing an undefeated record ahead of the championship season.
Friday afternoon’s session kicked off with a narrow first-place finish from the Wolfpack in the women’s 200-yard medley relay. Junior Katharine Berkoff, seniors Sophie Hansson and Kylee Alons and sophomore Abby Arens blasted a 1:36.68 to overtake the Longhorns’ A-team by 0.27. The men followed suit with a 1-2 finish.
It was clear from the beginning that the Wolfpack men would dominate the pool over UNCW. From start to finish, the Pack either swept or came close to sweeping nearly every event. Across the first five events, the men finished at least 1-2 with little competition from UNCW.
On the other hand, the women were fighting a tough battle. Although they finished ahead of Texas at last year’s NCAAs, the Longhorns still had the likes of 2020 Olympian Erica Sullivan and other National Team members to give the Wolfpack some tough competition.
The first individual win of the meet on the women’s side came from Berkoff’s sub-52 performance in the 100-yard backstroke. Berkoff has been a powerhouse for the Wolfpack in the last several dual meets, and Friday’s competition was no different — in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events, she finished first despite tough competition from Texas’ Olivia Bray.
Senior Giovanni Izzo followed suit with a first-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, touching in 47.65 — nearly two seconds ahead of second-place finisher, junior Zachary Cram. In the men’s 100-yard breaststroke, senior Jack Moranetz cemented another top finish with a time of 54.65. Although the men’s team have had problems with the breaststroke events in the past, Friday’s lack of tough competition from UNCW meant that the men cruised to an easy victory in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events.
Hansson finished second in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke. Although Hansson is the defending NCAA champion in both events, she fell just short of Texas’ Anna Elendt. Still, a sub 59.5-finish midseason is nothing to sneeze at, but it was a tad disappointing to see Hansson just barely miss the mark in the last dual meet of her college career.
On the other hand, Arens had an all-around incredible meet. She won both her individual events — the 200-yard butterfly and 200-yard individual medley. The 200 butterfly in particular was impressive — despite a late-race surge from her competitor, Arens was still able to hold off and finish in 1:55.42, 0.18 ahead of Texas’ Emma Sticklen. In the 200-yard individual medley, Arens pushed the pace to touch the wall in 1:57.70, her last event in what turned out to be an incredible regular season.
In the 50-yard freestyle, juniors Nyls Korstanje and Noah Henderson finished sub-20. Alongside freshman Aiden Hayes, the Wolfpack completed a clean sweep in the splash-and-dash. Shortly afterward, one of the biggest wins of the meet came from junior Kacper Stokowski — in the 200-yard backstroke, Stokowski cemented a first place finish in 1:42.88, an impressive five and a half seconds ahead of Cram.
Although the Wolfpack women didn’t have another individual win between Berkoff’s 200-yard backstroke and Arens’ 200-yard individual medley, Berkoff, Alons, sophomore Abbey Webb and freshman Annabel Crush had one more sweet win in the final relay of the meet. Sub-50 splits from all four swimmers contributed to a 3:16.57 finish, nearly three seconds ahead of Texas’ A-relay.
Among the diving events, junior Bayne Bennett, freshman Peter Edin and sophomore Matt Sexton hit a clean sweep in the 1-meter. The women didn’t perform quite as well against Texas, but they were up against undeniably tougher competition.
With the conclusion of Friday’s meet against Texas and UNCW, the men wrapped up a perfect season ahead of the championship season. Although the women fell short two weeks in a row, they were up against the two best teams in the NCAA, and the close competition bodes well for ACCs and NCAAs.
Junior Markus Wennborg competes in the men's 200-yard breaststroke during the NC State Wolfpack's swim and dive meet against the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks on Friday, Jan. 28th, 2022 at Willis R. Casey Aquatics Center. The Pack men beat the Seahawks 184-86.
