Last week, the NC State women’s swimming and diving team finished fifth overall at the ACC Championships in Atlanta, capturing several ACC titles and a number of NCAA qualifying times.
The Wolfpack broke eleven school records, one conference record and one ACC record.
“We had very high expectations, but we still had some really good highlights,” junior Riki Bonnema said. “It shows that even though a lot of people weren’t on point with the meet, that we all support each other.”
On the first night of competition in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, the Wolfpack captured two top-five finishes in the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay. Sophomores Alexia Zevnik, Kayla Brumbaum, junior Ashlyn Koletic and Bonnema finished third to Virginia and Louisville with a time of 1:37.22, qualifying the team for the NCAAs.
In the 800 freestyle relay, sophomore Rachel Muller led the team with a 1:45.21 split, which broke a school record and earned her an NCAA invitation. Sophomores Natalie Labonge and Lotta Nevalinen, and freshman Lauren Rhodes followed Muller, and the squad placed fifth at 7:09.21.
As the meet progressed, NC State’s relay teams continued to make a statement. The Wolfpack took home first in the 200 freestyle relay for the third consecutive year.
The squad composed of senior Lauren Poli, freshman Krista Duffield, Koletic and Bonnema finished the event with a time of 1:28.18 and also earned another NCAA qualifying time for the Pack and an ACC and Georgia Tech Aquatic Center pool record.
The Wolfpack finished the meet with one more event title on the last day of competition, as Zevnik, Bonnema, Nevalainen and Labonge took first in the 400 freestyle relay.
“Finishing it off on the last relay on the last night, that was something I don’t think any of us expected, and it was a good way to end a meet,” Zevnik said.
In addition to strong relay performances, the Wolfpack also had several notable individual swims. Bonnema earned herself an NCAA ‘A’ cut and broke the ACC meet and conference record in the 50 freestyle prelims with a time of 21.87. She also won the event in the finals, clocking in at 21.97.
“The fact that I won hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Bonnema said. “You think about it for a really long time and once it happens it’s very exciting.”
Zevnik also had a few standout individual swims over the four-day meet in addition to her key role in several relays.
She finished fifth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:58.01. That race broke a school record and gave her an invitation to the NCAA. As the runner-up in the 100 backstroke, Zevnik received another NCAA invitation and school record with a time of 52.18. She also finished second in her 200 back, setting yet another school record with the time 1:52.98.
“It’s been something I’ve been training for the past two years,” Zevnik said. “Everybody thought I could do it, but I was still iffy on it, but once it happened it was a big relief, and being able to secure a spot for the NCAA’s was a positive note.”
The Wolfpack had some help with points from junior diver Rachel Mumma. Mumma moved up three spots from prelims to finish fourth in the one-meter competition with a final score of 313.40. In the platform dive, Mumma earned some points for the Pack as she finished sixth with the score 262.85.
At the end of competition, Virginia landed the conference title with 1308.5 points, followed by UNC-Chapel Hill with 1255 points and Virginia Tech with 1018 points. Louisville finished just in front of the Pack in fourth place.
The men’s team began competition Wednesday.
