The No. 13 NC State women’s swimming and diving team competed against some of the best in the country over the weekend, but ultimately fell to No. 1 Stanford and No. 7 California.
On Friday, the top-ranked Cardinal handed the Wolfpack its first loss of the season, 189-104, then on Saturday the Bears overwhelmed State, 176-124. The Pack got a taste of what it takes to hang with the nation’s best, securing four wins over the star-studded Pac-12 teams.
Sophomore sprinter Ky-Lee Perry registered the lone event win against Stanford. She touched in first in the 50-yard freestyle in 22.57, fast enough for an NCAA ‘B’ time. Later on she gave arguably the world’s best distance freestyler a run for her money in Cardinal Katie Ledecky.
The six-time Olympic medalist finished just two-tenths ahead of Perry in the 100-yard freestyle in 49.25.
Senior distance specialist Hannah Moore competed against Ledecky as well. Moore raced to a second-place in her signature event, the 1000-yard freestyle, in a time of 9:38.29 behind Ledecky. She was just out-touched by Stanford’s Katie Drabot in the 500-yard freestyle, touching in at 4:43.54 versus Drabot’s 4:43.20.
Senior Krista Duffield rounded out the other individual second-place finish for the Pack in the 100-yard butterfly. Duffield stopped the clock at 54.25, good for another NCAA ‘B’ standard qualifying time.
With the swimmers carrying the bulk of the load, the divers don’t often get much recognition, but sophomore Madeline Kline had a great performance in the 1-meter and 3-meter. She placed third in both with scores of 255.68 and 262.73, respectively.
While the Wolfpack didn’t win against California, it performed significantly better on Saturday.
NC State won three individual events against the Bears, but failed to claim a relay title.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Perry, Duffield, junior Elise Haan and freshman Julia Poole finished second in 1:40.69, just behind Cal who won in 1:40.08. Haan, Perry, sophomore Vasiliki Baka and junior Lexie Lupton teamed up for the 400-yard freestyle relay and hit the wall in 3:21.75 for second.
This time around Moore and the distance crew swept the 1000 freestyle against the Bears. Moore touched in at 9:48.03 for first, freshman Tamila Holub secured second and junior Anna Jahns finished third.
Poole further established her dominance in the 200-yard breaststroke. She recorded an NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time with a first-place finish hitting the wall in 2:15.95.
Haan swam to a second- and third-place finish in the 200-yard and 100-yard backstroke events, respectively. Haan fell short against Olympian and Winston-Salem, North Carolina native Kathleen Baker, who won both backstrokes. She posted respectable times with two NCAA ‘B’ cuts in the 100 and 200 in 53.59 and 1:57.92, respectively.
The Pack produced adequate performances against not only the best the West Coast has to offer but also the NCAA’s top squads. The NC State men’s and women’s teams will have a four-day hiatus until it returns to the pool on Friday for another ranked matchup against the No. 5/2 Texas Longhorns.
