NC State swimming hosted its first home meet of the season on Friday, Nov. 3 when the team welcomed Duke and Georgia to Casey Aquatic Center. The No. 4 men’s team took down both opponents while the No. 4 women’s team lost to Georgia but defeated Duke.
On the men’s side, the Wolfpack beat Georgia 151.5-148.5 and Duke 246-53. The red-and-white collected plenty of podium finishes, highlighted by senior Luke Miller and fifth-year senior Noah Henderson’s tie for first place in the 50-yard freestyle. The duo’s time of 19.18 seconds is the second-fastest in the NCAA this season. Henderson and Miller also punched a 1-2 finish in the 100-yard butterfly — Miller took first with a time of 44.37 seconds and Henderson followed close behind at 45.57 seconds. Miller also notched a first-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly.
Sophomore Lance Norris and senior Owen Lloyd followed suit in the 1000-yard freestyle, taking first and second and clocking in at the second and third-fastest times in the NCAA. Fifth-year senior Ross Dant’s third-place finish in the event allowed the Pack to sweep the podium. For the Wolfpack’s third 1-2 finish of the day, junior Sam Hoover and senior Conall Monahan finished with times of 53.62 seconds and 54.54 seconds, respectively.
Not only did the men’s team dominate individually, but it cleaned house in the relays as well — the red-and-white collected two first-place finishes in relay events. Redshirt freshman Quintin McCarty, Hoover, Miller and sophomore Drew Salls dominated in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay. McCarty also finished first in the 100-yard backstroke.
In the deep end, sophomore Renato Calderaro finished first in both the one-meter and the three-meter to put up some crucial points for the Pack.
The NC State women faced a much heftier challenge when facingin No. 13 Georgia and No. 15 Duke. The Pack fell 137-161 to the Bulldogs and pulled out a slim 151-149 victory over the Blue Devils. To no one’s surprise, senior Katherine Berkoff led the Wolfpack with three podium finishes that included first place in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke and a third place finish in the 100-yard freestyle.
Freshman Tyler Driscoll collected the red-and-white’s only other individual first place finish in the shallow end of the pool, clocking in at 55.29 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly. The Wolfpack finished second in two relays, clocking in at 1:39.14 in the 200-yard medley relay and 3:20.00 in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Two NC State divers finished on the podium, with freshman Bayleigh Cranford taking first in the three-meter and fifth-year senior Helene Synnott taking first in the one-meter.
Next up, the Pack will host an invitational at the Greensboro Aquatic Center beginning on Thursday, Nov. 16.
