The NC State swimming and diving team won in dominant style over rival UNC-Chapel Hill on Friday, with the No. 3 men winning, 192-105, and the No. 9 women securing their own victory, 185-112.
The Wolfpack cruised its way to victory from the very beginning of the meet, as both the State men (4-0, 1-0 ACC) and women (3-1, 2-0 ACC) won 13 of their 14 swimming events. In addition, the Pack swept the podium, taking the top three spots, in five of the 24 individual events.
“Anytime you go against Carolina you have a little edge,” head coach Braden Holloway said. “We were able to create some momentum. We had some out-touches where we out-touched them, which just sets the momentum and gets it rolling in your direction. They were able to capitalize on that.”
The Tar Heels (1-4, 0-3 ACC men’s; 1-4, 0-3 ACC women’s) found what little success they had in the diving competitions, sweeping all four events. Elissa Dawson won both the one-meter and three-meter women’s events for the Heels. For the Wolfpack, junior Harrison Mitchell and sophomore Stewart Spanbauer finished in second and third, respectively, in both men’s diving events.
The Pack was great in the pool throughout the night, but was especially dominant at the long-distance events. On the men’s side, the Pack swept both distance events led by junior Anton Ipsen, who posted a winning time of 8:58.84 in the 1,000-yard freestyle and 4:22.60 in the 500-yard freestyle.
Right behind Ipsen were senior Adam Linker and freshman Jack McIntyre. Linker finished second in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:25.63 and third in the 1,000-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 9:09.54. McIntyre placed second in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:05.87 and third in the 500-yard freestyle, stopping the clock at 4:28.42.
The women were equally as strong in the distance events, with a sweep in the 1,000-yard freestyle and earned the top two spots in the 500-yard freestyle. Junior Hannah Moore led the way for the Pack, winning both distance events. She posted a time of 9:44.06 at the 1,000-yard distance and touched in at 4:44.47 in the 500-yard freestyle.
“We definitely didn’t back down in training this week,” Moore said. “We came in here ready to go and really pumped up. I just fed off of the energy that the team created.”
Along with her two wins in the long races, Moore provided the moment of the night for the Pack with her victory in the 200-yard butterfly. Tar Heels’ senior Sarah Koucheki took control of the race early, holding a significant lead for the first 150 yards. However, in the final two laps of the race, Moore was able to track down Koucheki and out-touch her at the wall, winning by a mere .02 seconds.
“I saw she was ahead of me going into the last 50 [meters],” Moore said. “I thought I had a chance if I was close enough to her on the last lap. I put my head down about four strokes out and timed out my finish and I guess she didn’t time hers out quite as well. I just reached for the wall, and when I saw that I had won I was so excited.”
The other highlight of the night for the Pack came in the women’s 50-yard freestyle. Freshman Ky-Lee Perry won the sprint, posting a time of 22.54, breaking the Casey Aquatic Center record. Perry also won the 100-yard freestyle, recording a time of 49.14.
The Pack jumped on the Heels early and often, and was absolutely dominant throughout the entirety of the meet. The strong performance from State was taken in by a sizable crowd, which was cheering and making its presence known from start to finish.
“They love it when it’s packed in here,” Holloway said of his swimmers. “Our team is such an emotional team that they feed off of all of that. I’ve never seen a team perform with so much emotion ever and that is just the way they are.”
The Pack will be back in action again Saturday, when it hosts Virginia in the Casey Aquatic Center.
Senior Derek Hren swims against UNC-Chapel Hill in the 100 yard breaststroke event in the Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center on Jan 27, 2017. Hren came in first in the 100 yard breaststroke event with the time of 54.10 seconds. The meet between the Wolfpack and the Tar Heels ended with the Wolfpack winning 26 of 32 events.
