The NC State men’s swimming and diving team finished up its regular season this weekend with another victory against UNC-Chapel Hill. The victory against the No. 20 Tar Heels sealed the eighth-ranked Wolfpack men’s 15-0 undefeated season. The No. 12 women’s team finished its season with a close 146.5-134.5 loss to the No. 5 Tar Heels.
“I’m proud of our men and women for their efforts today. It was a great battle, and even though our women came up short it was a great competition all around,” head coach Braden Holloway said in an interview with NC State Athletics. “We knew our women had a chance win today, but despite the loss we still had some big performances and we look forward to continuing to progress and move into ACCs and NCAAs.”
The Wolfpack claimed 11 of the 12 records broken in the Casey Aquatic Center against Chapel Hill. The men’s 200 medley relay claimed the first record of the matchup. NC State sophomores Andreas Schiellerup, Derek Hren, Soren Dahl and senior David Williams won the event by almost two seconds with a time of 1:26.91.
NC State’s men and women’s 400 free relays broke two more records in the match up this Saturday. On the women’s side, freshman Krista Duffield, sophomore Natalie Labonge, junior Ashlyn Koletic, and junior Riki Bonnema finished first in 3:19.37.
The men swam the 400 in 2:53.73 where freshman Ryan Held, junior Simonas Bilis, Schiellerup and Williams out-touched second place by nearly five seconds.
Freshman Anton Ipsen not only took another pool record when he finished the men’s 1000 freestyle, but he recorded the second-fastest time in the country with a time of 8:55.70.
Ipsen trails behind Tennessee’s Evan Pinion by only .08 seconds for top time in the country. The Wolfpack freshman swept the men’s distance freestyle events, taking first in the 500 free in a time of 4:19.97, earning his second pool record of the meet.
The Wolfpack also made a splash in both the men and women’s breaststroke events. For the women, sophomore Kayla Brumbaum placed first in the 100 breaststroke with another pool record of 1:01.88 and finished her sweep in the 200, finishing with a time of 2:15.87.
The men added two more pool records in the Casey Aquatic Center in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Junior Christian McCurdy pulled ahead near the end of the 200 race with a time of 2:01.33, barely out touching teammate Hren by .05 seconds. However, Hren won the 100 breast and with a time of 54.50.
NC State and McCurdy continued their record-breaking swims in the butterfly events of the meet. McCurdy finished first in the men’s 200 fly with another new pool record time of 1:44.68. Dahl finished second in the 100 in 47.51.
The women’s team also had notable butterfly finishes. Sophomore Lydia Jones and junior Yuri Nakano finished second and third, respectively, in the 200 butterfly. Koletic placed second in a close 100 fly race, touching the wall at 54.22.
Wrapping up the swimming records of the meet, the Wolfpack claimed one more in the individual medley where sophomore Addisyn Bursch finished first in the 200 IM, clocking in with a time of 2:01.44.
Wolfpack diver and redshirt junior Rachel Mumma also claimed another Casey Aquatic Center record in the women’s one-meter. Mumma broke her own pool record when she placed first with a score of 332.32. Mumma rounded out her day with second place in the three-meter competition with a score of 301.80.
The Wolfpack continues to prepare for the postseason, and will next head to Georgia Tech in Atlanta for the ACC Championships. The women’s team will start competition Feb. 18 and the men will follow on Feb. 25 at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
