The NC State swimming and diving teams suffered tough losses to the No. 1 and No. 6 Texas men and women’s teams this weekend.
The men’s team record moves to 1-3, while the women’s moves to 3-1 on the dual meet season. The Pack won 14 events during the weekend at the Casey Aquatic Center, and the women’s team fell by only a margin of 20 points.
“I think the high points for the women’s was a team effort,” head coach Braden Holloway said. “We had some people step up today. In a lot of these dual meets, small points add up, and I think our depth did a better job. At the end of the day in a dual meet scoring format, your studs have to be good, and our studs did a pretty good job. I’m proud, and the meet was a battle for the ladies side.”
In the past two weeks, the men’s team has fallen to three top-10 teams, including No. 2 California and No. 7 Stanford.
“For the guys, we got out-touched a lot, which stung, and those can add up a lot,” Holloway said. “Not to mention, it may not be enough points to add up to make a loss, but the emotion you take from getting out-touched can add up on a person.”
Despite the difficult losses, the Pack has learned from these meets and found new motivation to continue in the season.
“They’re better than they think they are, and they can take that next step,” Holloway said. “Even though the guys showed up and went 0-3 in eight days, they understand what it was in front of them. Last year they didn’t lose until NCAA. I need them hungry. I need them with a chip on their shoulder. With these three teams they now have a chip on their shoulder, they have something that they want to prove. They want to prove that they belong.”
Senior Kayla Brumbaum proved herself a key swimmer at the meet when she swept the breaststroke events. Brumbaum finished the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:01.74, marking a new pool record. In the 200, Brumbaum finished first in a close race at 2:14.32.
“I knew that breaststroke was a very weak area for us, especially with how good Texas is, so just to be able to get my hand on the wall first for the 100 and the 200 gave me confidence and also our team confidence with our points,” Brumbaum said. “I think the coaches were happy too.”
Redshirt senior Rachel Mumma also helped out the women’s team when she swept the diving events with a three-meter score of 332.40 and a one-meter dive score of 325.95.
The men’s team also found success in the pool, especially in the sprint freestyle and distance events. Sophomore Anton Ipsen had a very strong showing for the Wolfpack in the 1,000-yard freestyle where he beat his previous time by nearly five seconds. His time of 8:55.99 currently stands at the fastest in the nation.
“I’ve been training a lot more this year compared to last year,” Ipsen said. “I’m very excited that I’m doing a time now that I couldn’t do before February last year, so I’m very excited. I was really happy with my time and really excited to go into my next block of training to go even faster.”
Senior Simonas Bilis took first in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle with the respective times of 19.89 and 43.58, which also marks a new pool record. Teammate and sophomore Ryan Held finished closely behind Bilis in the 100 with a time of 43.64.
The Wolfpack will head next to the Nike Cup Invitational, hosted by UNC-Chapel Hill Friday–Sunday where it hopes to keep fighting and improving for the end goal in March.
