The NC State men’s swimming and diving team defeated defending national champion Texas 176-116 while winning all but three events. The Pack women’s team, however, lost its third meet in a row, 184-116. The meet was hosted by the Wolfpack Friday night at the Casey Aquatic Center.
Senior Olympian Ryan Held led the way for the Wolfpack men (5-0, 1-0 ACC) past the Longhorns, winning all three of his races. The women (4-3, 1-0 ACC) had senior Hannah Moore, who scored in all of her events.
The night did not start off well for either men’s or women’s diving teams, as Texas got first place in all four diving events. At the end of the diving competition, Texas had a 33-8 lead in the women’s and a 25-13 lead in the men’s.
“I think our divers were good today,” head coach Braden Holloway said. “The dives that I saw looked pretty good. I’m happy with how they have been.”
In swimming, however, the men for the Pack started off strong, placing first and third in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The men’s team continued to dominate the rest of the meet, only losing three events the entire night.
“I think our guys are known to be very, very passionate,” Holloway said. “All season long, whether it’s a great thing for us or it hurts us. I mean we wear our hearts on our sleeves every time out. I think when you have the national champions come to your house, you just want the best out of yourself and each other, so I think they know that if they are going to inch closer to the big win in March they have to go through teams like Texas that are ahead of them. I think the passion kind of took over for those guys.”
The crowd at Casey Aquatic Center was electric and a big part of the team’s passion and energy from the get go, as NC State had a full crowd of supporters who cheered it on all the way through the meet.
“I think we’re the best team in the NCAA that feeds off energy,” Held said “Our emotional energy, when someone has an awesome swim that fires everyone up and just gets the momentum rolling for the next swim swim after that. It just keeps going and going, having a rambunctious crowd helps a lot.”
While the big names on the team like junior Justin Ress, who won his relay and got first and second behind Held in his races, senior Olympian Anton Ipsen, who won both the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle and Held all had their usually dominant performances, it was names that are less known that really shined for the men’s team.
“The first name that comes to mind is [junior] James Bretscher,” Holloway said.“He has been a workhorse everyday and his confidence level is really high he feeds off that every day, it’s been pretty fun to see. I think another few guys, our breaststroke guys last year we had a senior, kind of lead the way every time and now it’s by committee we got [junior] Daniel Graber, [sophomore] Jacob Molacek, [junior] Quinlan Stuart and [junior] Patrick Schwarzenbach, those guys are kind of by committee now because they know they’ve got it get done.”
Held, who for the first time this season raced in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles and won both races. performed extremely well in what will be his last meet at home for the Wolfpack.
“A little rough around the edges,” Held said. “That happens the first time you swim anything in awhile, you can be a pro at an event but the first time you swim it in a while it’s going to feel a little rough. It pointed out some flaws that I need to work on throughout the season.”
The women’s team, which is young and still developing, suffered its third straight loss against a top-ranked team. The Pack, however, is growing and showing signs of greatness as the season progresses.
“That was goal of the schedule. It was to battle test the women,” Holloway said. “They don’t back down and they’re stepping up. I think there was some good performances, Hannah Moore, [freshman] Julia Poole and [freshman] Kate Moore. They are swimming way better and like seniors, that was something for us to keep building on.”
The Pack will continue its busy schedule next weekend, as it heads to Ohio State.
