For the second time in the last three seasons, the NC State women’s swimming and diving team captured the ACC title at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The Wolfpack finished the conference meet Saturday with 1,353 team points, 71 ahead of second-place Virginia.
After winning three events over the first two days of ACCs, the Wolfpack exploded over the final two days of competition. NC State finished with 11 gold medals, and 20 total podium finishes, to take back the ACC crown.
In the pool, the Pack women took the top spot on the podium in 10 of 18 swimming events to go along with gold in one of three diving events. NC State swept the podium in two events, the 400-yard individual medley and the 1,650-yard freestyle.
The highlight of the entire meet for NC State came Friday in the 400 IM, as the Wolfpack swept the top-four spots in the event. Sophomore Kate Moore won gold with a time of 4:05.24 for the first individual ACC title of her career. Junior Makayla Sargent, freshman Emma Muzzy and sophomore Julia Poole rounded out the Pack’s dominance in the 400 IM.
The 400 IM was just one of five gold medals captured by the Wolfpack on Friday alone. In the 100-yard breaststroke, freshman Sophie Hansson set a new ACC record with a swim of 57.74 on the way to her first individual title.
Senior Elise Haan won the 100-yard backstroke for the second season in a row, finishing in 51.43 to place on the top of the podium. Muzzy joined Haan in the final of the 100 back, placing seventh.
NC State also captured its third relay title of the meet Friday, as Haan, Hansson, freshman Kylee Alons and Poole swam a 3:27.81 in the 400-yard medley relay to keep the Wolfpack’s dominance going.
On the diving boards, junior Madeline Kline claimed the ACC title on the platform for the second year in a row. Kline scored 271.60 in the platform final Friday, beating the rest of the field by almost 30 points. Out of the seven event finals that took place Friday night, the Wolfpack won five.
The Wolfpack started the final night of competition out in style Saturday, sweeping the podium in the 1,650 free. Sophomore Tamila Holub barely out-touched senior teammate Anna Jahns by .05 seconds for the gold medal. Sargent rounded out the Pack’s podium sweep, finishing a little less than 10 seconds behind Jahns.
The winning rolled on for NC State, as Muzzy captured her first individual ACC title in the 200-yard backstroke. Muzzy battled Virginia’s Megan Moroney, coming from behind with a blazing-fast final leg to out-touch Moroney by .32 seconds. Moore and Haan joined Muzzy in the final, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.
After sophomore Ky-Lee Perry earned a bronze medal in the 100-yard freestyle, Hansson won her second individual gold medal of the meet. Hansson finished the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:06.73, over two seconds faster than the rest of the field to sweep the breaststroke events at ACCs.
The Wolfpack women finished up ACCs with one final podium finish, placing second in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Perry, Alons, Hansson and Haan touched in just over one second behind Louisville.
Kline competed in her second event final of the meet Saturday night, placing eighth on the 3-meter board with a score of 267.50.
After having Friday off, the men’s divers also returned to competition Saturday night on the platform. Wolfpack junior James Brady finished on the podium in third place with a score of 376.60.
The men’s swimming team takes center stage next, as it will be in Greensboro next week for the men’s ACC Championships.
