The women’s swimming and diving team finished up their season with a splash this past weekend at the NCAA Championship swim meet in Greensboro. The Wolfpack broke school records, received All-American honors and achieved the second-highest team finish in over 30 years at 17th place. Out of the 46 teams that attended the meet, California won the Championship title with 383.5 points, while Georgia and Stanford rounded out second and third, respectively.
“I think the weekend went great. Overall, Riki being top-eight is really great for our program and our relays just coming in and doing very well,” head coach Braden Holloway said. “I am very pleased with our ladies. Two years in a row we were top twenty and scored more points this year. The girls had a blast and came here to compete and the staff did a great job working with the athletes, so hats off to everyone.”
The Pack started out with very solid performances the first night of competition. The squad of senior Lauren Poli, junior Ashlyn Koletic, freshman Krist Duffield, and Bonnema finished seventh in the 200 freestyle in 1:28.13, earning NC State its first All-American honors of the meet.
“It’s absolutely being a part of a relay that’s accomplished this much,” Poli said. “I’ve been on the team for four years and I never thought I’d be able to be a part of something like this and I think it’s huge for our program.”
Many athletes had strong swims over the weekend, but junior Riki Bonnema had an exceptionally strong NCAA appearance. Bonnema competed in both relays and individual races. On the first night of competition, Bonnema earned two All-American honors in the 200 freestyle relay and the 50 yard freestyle where she finished seventh overall in the finals.
“It feels awesome. I achieved my goals which is really cool and its great to see how the program keeps improving,” Bonnema said. “And we had great teammates to make it all even better.”
Bonnema continued to swim well throughout the meet, including her part in the school record-breaking 200 medley relay. The team of Zevnik, sophomore Kayla Brumbaum, Ashlyn Koletic, and Bonnema finished 12th in the event with an honorable mention All-American honors.
The Pack’s solo women’s diver junior Rachel Mumma, also earned All-American honors after the first night. She finished fourth in the finals of the one-meter with a score of 318.45. After earning a score of 312.50 in the three-meter competition, Mumma finished 24th in the overall standings of the meet.
“It felt amazing earning All-American honors on the first day. It’s something I’ve been dreaming of since freshman year and finally accomplishing it is just a great feat,” said Mumma.
The last relay event of the meet proved to be one of the best swims from the Wolfpack. The foursome of sophomore Alexia Zevnik, Bonnema, sophomore Natalie Labonge, and freshman Krista Duffield finished fifth overall in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:13.2. The squad not only broke an Atlantic Coast Conference record, but also marked the second Pack relay team to earn All-American honors.
“That last relay was something else and something special for them. It was a very fun for our ladies and being so close to the top was just an outstanding relay,” Holloway said.
The Wolfpack men’s team will travel to Iowa City, Iowa on March 26-28 for the Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship.
