In its first inter-conference meet of the season, the NC State swim and dive team pulled off two decisive wins over Duke. The No. 5 men’s squad beat the Blue Devils 199-96, while the No. 4 women’s team outperformed No. 22 Duke 168-130.
Although several star swimmers were absent, opting instead to compete in the 2023 Pro Swim Series in Knoxville, the Pack’s victory only proved the swim team’s incredible depth heading into the back half of the regular season.
After a win for the men and women in the 200-yard medley relay, a trio of distance swimmers swept the men’s 1000-yard freestyle to rack up 16 points for the Wolfpack. Juniors Will Gallant and Owen Lloyd and freshman Lance Norris finished within 20 seconds of each other, all breaking the 9:30 barrier en route to NC State’s first sweep of the meet.
Freshman Katherine Helms took first place in the women’s 200-yard freestyle, beating out junior Abbey Webb by a little under two seconds. Seniors Noah Bowers and Ross Dant took the top two spots in the men’s 200-yard freestyle, Dant touching the wall a mere 0.07 seconds ahead of Duke’s third-place finisher Dave Hallaron.
Both the men and women swept the 100-yard backstroke events, led by freshman Kennedy Noble and senior Giovanni Izzo. Although senior and backstroke phenom Katharine Berkoff was missing from NC State’s lineup — most likely because of her appearance at the Pro Swim Series in Knoxville — the Wolfpack had no trouble in her absence. Alongside Noble, seniors Emma Muzzy and Maddy Flickinger were the only three in the field to post sub-56s.
After sophomore Grace Sheble took the top spot in the women’s 200-yard butterfly, junior Mikey Moore followed suit with a win in the men’s 200-yard butterfly. His time of 1:49.15 was less than a second off of his personal best of 1:48.69, set last October in a dual meet against Kentucky.
Senior Nyls Korstanje was the only swimmer in the field to break 20 seconds in the men’s 50-yard freestyle, finishing half a second ahead of freshman Drew Salls. Likewise, Arens was the only swimmer to finish sub-50 seconds in the women’s 100-yard freestyle, leading a top-four finish for the Wolfpack. Helms, Webb and sophomore Annabel Crush finished second, third and fourth, respectively.
Moore took home his second individual win of the meet with a 1:47.65 performance in the men’s 200-yard backstroke — although well off his best of 1:41.56, set at last year’s ACCs, Moore finished over two seconds ahead of Duke’s Michael Jiang.
Sally Foley garnered one of Duke’s few individual titles across the meet, blasting a 2:13.95 in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke to finish over three seconds ahead of senior Andrea Podmanikova. NC State’s pool of breaststrokers is noticeably shallower this year in the absence of Swedish Olympian Sophie Hansson — especially in the 200-yard event — but expect Arens and Podmanikova to lead the charge at ACCs this year.
In the men’s 400-meter individual medley, freshman Kyle Ponsler, junior Conall Monahan and Lloyd posted NC State’s final sweep of the meet. Although none of their swims counted for points — they swam in the exhibition category, likely because the Wolfpack had a sizable lead over the Blue Devils near the end of the meet — the three of them were the only swimmers in the field to post sub-4:00 times.
The Wolfpack will return to the pool to face ACC opponents UNC and UVA this Friday, Jan. 20 in Chapel Hill. On Saturday, Jan. 21, NC State will host UNC and UVA at Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center.
