For the third-consecutive year, the NC State men’s swimming and diving team was crowned ACC Champions this week in Atlanta.

The Pack finished with 1,297.5 points, 163.5 points clear of second-place Louisville. Junior Olympian Ryan Held led the way for the Pack, taking home seven gold medals in his seven events.

The Pack came out firing on all cylinders, winning the first six swimming events of the meet to sweep the competition over the span of the opening two days. This started out with a dominating relay performance, as the Pack captured the gold medal in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay for the fourth consecutive year.

In the 200-yard medley relay, the team of freshman Coleman Stewart, senior Derek Hren, senior Olympian Soren Dahl and Held set an ACC record with a time of 1:23.16 to secure the gold. Later on in the opening day, the 800-yard freestyle team anchored by Dahl and featuring junior Andreas Vazaios, Held and sophomore Justin Ress took first with a new ACC Championship meet record.

State carried its domination into the second day of competition, with junior Olympian Anton Ipsen starting it off with his third-straight win in the 500-yard freestyle, posting an NCAA “A” cut time of 4:11.92. Senior Adam Linker also medaled in the event, taking home third place. The success for the Pack continued into the 200-yard individual medley, where Vazaios set a new ACC record to finish first. Dahl and Ress finished third and fourth, respectively, in the event as well.

Held won his third gold medal of the meet on day two, with a dominating win in the 50-yard freestyle. His time of 18.68 broke the ACC record, and was the second-fastest time in the NCAA this year. Senior Andreas Schiellerup also made an appearance in the 50 free final, finishing seventh.

The Pack closed out its strong day two with its third relay gold of the meet, narrowly beating out Florida State in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Held led the relay off, capturing his fourth gold medal of the meet in just two days. The rest of the relay team featured Ress, sophomore Justin Bonk and Schiellerup.

The unblemished opening two days for the Pack saw the team shoot up to first place in the rankings, sitting with 494 points, 31 points clear of second-place Virginia Tech. This comes after the Pack divers, who competed two weeks early, finished their part of the competition in 11th place. The highlight of the diving performance was a seventh place finish from freshman James Brady in platform diving.

State slowed its pace on day three, winning just two of the six events. In the opening race of the day, Ipsen and Linker took fifth and seventh place, respectively, in the 400-yard individual medley.

The Pack returned to its gold medal form in the next event, as Held continued his absolute domination in the 100-yard butterfly. The Olympian won his fifth gold medal of the meet with an ACC record-breaking time of 44.79. Vazaios also found the podium in the event, capturing third place, while Stewart finished in a strong fifth to round out the Pack’s performance.

State had two swimmers on the podium again in the next event, with Dahl taking the gold in the 200-yard freestyle. Ress finished less than a second behind Dahl, capturing a third-place finish himself. The 100-yard breaststroke and backstroke events saw just one podium finish for the Pack, a bronze medal for Stewart in the 100-yard backstroke.

State finished up day three with a silver medal in the 400-yard medley relay, as the team of Vazaios, Hren, Ress and Dahl was barely beat out at the wall by Louisville. The stellar day three grew the Pack’s overall lead, as it held a 878.5-795.5 lead over second-place Louisville with one day remaining.

The final day brought more of the same for the Pack, as it finished strong to clinch the title. State got two swimmers on the podium in the 1,650-yard freestyle, with Ipsen finishing second and Linker coming in third. The 200-yard backstroke saw the same result for the Pack, with junior Hennessey Stuart taking second and Ress finishing in third.

Held won yet again in the 100-yard freestyle, his second-straight ACC title in the event and his third individual gold medal of this year’s meet, finishing a sweep of his solo events.

Vazaios captured his second individual gold of the meet, setting an ACC Championship meet record in the 200-yard butterfly.

State finished the meet in style, taking the gold medal in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Ress, Held, Schiellerup and Dahl broke the ACC record in the event, and posted the second-fastest time in the NCAA this year.