CHAPEL HILL – The men’s swimming and diving team entered Saturday ranked sixth in the ACC championships, but fell one spot to finish just behind Georgia Tech after the final day of competition.

N.C. State’s 400-yard freestyle relay team turned in an eighth-place effort in the championships’ closing event. The Yellow Jackets finished fifth in the relay to wrap up sixth place for the weekend and leave the Wolfpack with a seventh-place championship finish.

Junior Dan Glauber, who swam the last 100 yards of the relay, said he welcomed the intensity of being his team’s last swimmer in the event.

“It was definitely a lot of pressure, but I told the coaches that I’d like to be last because I always like that pressure. And it’s just what comes with swimming. It always comes down to the last race,” Glauber said. “It’s never easy.”

He also noted the 9.5-point margin Tech had on State, and at the end it came down to the details. He said some swimmers didn’t perform well in the morning and then performed better at night – costing the team points it could have earned if the team members had also swum well in the morning.

“It’s just little things. One place can make the biggest difference,” Glauber said. “And with them, it came down to one place.”

On Friday, redshirt senior Steve Cowling came in fourth in the 100-yard butterfly and fifth in the 100-yard backstroke. But as he looked back on his final ACC championship weekend, he said he’d hoped for a better finish.

“I had a rough day yesterday doubling up with the 100 fly and 100 back. I tied the school record in the morning. So I can’t be all too disappointed. I would’ve liked to get a medal, but I can’t be Cullen [Jones] or anyone else,” Cowling said. “So unfortunately I fell a little short.”

Redshirt sophomore Stephen Mellor finished sixth in the 200-yard backstroke on Saturday; Mellor said he was still feeling the effects of his performances from earlier in the week.

On Wednesday, he had swum in the 800-yard freestyle relay. He registered a fourth-place showing in the 200-yard individual medley Thursday.

But it was Friday’s performances, as a member of the 400-yard medley relay group and as a second-place finisher in the 400-yard individual medley- what he called “the swim of my life” – that took the most out of him.

“Tonight, like I said, I didn’t really have much left. It was a swim for the team; it was a swim of adrenaline. There was no real energy or strength left in it,” Mellor said. “It was just a matter of doing the job for the team and getting as many points on the board as I could.”

Mellor said the Pack did a solid job at the championships considering how many swimmers it had lost from last season’s fifth-place team.

“This year was a transition year from last year. We lost 11 seniors last year. It’s not easy to come back from that. We fought all the way to the last night for fifth spot,” Mellor said. “That’s a huge achievement in itself, even though we missed out.”

Even in the midst of the disappointment of missing out on a top-five finish after being close with Clemson and Georgia Tech, he said the team will be better for it.

“We’re going to come back, and we’re going to work even harder,” Mellor said. “We’re going to make sure this time next year we won’t miss out.”

Meanwhile, Cowling, the team’s only senior, said he was optimistic the team could make those types of strides.

“It’s looking good for them,” Cowling said. “Just if they can stay together, remain together, and be as one, then they’ve got some good years ahead of them.”