The NC State men’s swim team will make its way to Greensboro this week for the ACC Championships looking to capture its fifth straight conference title and wrap up a Wolfpack sweep of the ACC this season following the women’s team’s victory over the weekend.
The Wolfpack men have dominated everyone they’ve come up against this year, which includes last year’s national champion Texas and ACC foes UNC-Chapel Hill and Virginia. NC State looks poised to make it a five-peat in Greensboro this week, as the Pack boasts the strongest and deepest squad of the entire ACC field.
The NC State men have made a habit of winning relays at ACC, and will likely continue on that trend. Over the past four years, the Pack has won 16 of 20 relay events at the conference meet, winning the 200-yard medley, 200-yard freestyle, 400-yard freestyle and 800-yard freestyle relays each of the four seasons.
Last year, the Pack men swept all five relay events at ACCs, winning the 400-yard medley relay for the first time since 2012. This season, the Wolfpack enters ACCs with top seed time in four of the five relays, with the second-fastest time behind Georgia Tech in the 200-yard medley. Relay dominance is the norm for the Wolfpack at ACCs, and should continue this week in Greensboro.
In the individual events, NC State has the top seed time coming into the meet in 5 of 13 events. The Wolfpack has at least one top-eight time in all but one individual event, and has multiple swimmers with top-eight seed times in eight events.
Junior Coleman Stewart leads the way for the Pack into ACCs, with the top entry time in the 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard backstroke and the 100-yard backstroke. Stewart won both backstroke events at ACCs in 2018, and will look to repeat those titles this week.
Stewart also has the third-fastest entry time in the 100-yard freestyle, an event the Pack is particularly strong in. Senior Jacob Molacek has the top seed time, and senior Justin Ress comes in at number four.
Molacek will also compete in the 200-yard individual medley, where senior teammate Andreas Vazaios comes in with the second-best seed time, one ahead of Molacek. Vazaios is a dynamic swimmer for the Pack, and could find the podium in a number of events. He has the third-fastest seed time in the 200-yard butterfly as well.
The Wolfpack’s other top entry time belongs to freshman Nyls Korstanje, who has the fastest time in the 50-yard freestyle and the fifth-fastest time in the 100-yard butterfly. Korstanje will likely make some noise in his first conference meet.
While the men’s swimmers will get started Wednesday and finish up Saturday, the men’s divers have already competed, highlighted by a third-place finish from junior James Brady on platform. Through the diving events, the Wolfpack sits in fifth place as a team.
NC State will miss Ryan Held and Anton Ipsen, who graduated last year, at the ACCs, but shouldn’t have any issue competing for another conference title. The Wolfpack is building a dynasty in the ACC under head coach Braden Holloway, and is once again the favorites to take the ACC crown.
