Coming off an ACC Championship title, the NC State women’s swimming and diving team finished seventh in a field of 49 teams at the 2017 NCAA Championships in Indianapolis on Saturday, marking the highest finish in Wolfpack history.
In four days of competition, the Pack finished with 194 points, collected 25 All-America honors and shattered five school records and two conference records in the process.
Junior Hannah Moore, senior Alexia Zevnik, senior Kayla Brumbaum and the 400 free relay team all finished top-eight in their respective events and were awarded first team All-America honors. Sophomore Courtney Caldwell also finished in the top 16 in her event to earn honorable mention All-America honors.
The final day of competition was one for the books for the Wolfpack, as it began with Moore swimming a time of 15:52.75 in the 1,650-yard freestyle to take fifth overall. The stellar finish earned the junior the fifth All-American honor of her career.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Zevnik touched the wall with a blistering time of 1:49.09 to secure the runner-up spot in the event. The senior’s performance was good enough to smash the conference and school records, and stand as the sixth-fastest time in NCAA history. Her standout display gave her the 10th individual All-America honor of her career.
NC State’s seniors continued to lead the way, as Brumbaum finished fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke. She swam in at a sizzling 2:05.55, breaking her own previous school record and marking the second-fastest time in ACC history. The senior finished her collegiate career by claiming her second individual All-American award and seventh overall.
“[Brumbaum] has put in a lot of work,” head coach Braden Holloway told NC State Athletics. “She got stronger, she got smarter and she saw it pay off. She earned that, that’s how she trained all year and we’re so happy for her.”
The 400-yard freestyle relay team, featuring Zevnik, Caldwell, senior Lotta Nevalainen and freshman Ky-Lee Perry tied the NC State and ACC record with a time of 3:10.31. Caldwell, Nevalainen and Perry also represented the Wolfpack in the 100-yard freestyle. Caldwell touched in with a time of 47.80, taking 13th overall in the event out of the total 53 swimmers, capturing her first individual honorable mention All-America honor in the process. Perry stopped the clock at 48.37 to grab a 24th place finish and Nevalainen swam in at 48.42, placing 26th.
“We needed to be good and we came out swinging,” Holloway said. “We had some unbelievable performances today. I’m so excited just to think about how the day went over and over in my head and I’m just proud of these women.”
