The NC State women’s swimming and diving team, along with the men’s diving team, will head down the road to Greensboro this week to compete in the ACC Championships from Wednesday to Saturday in the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
After winning ACCs for the first time in 37 years in 2017, the Wolfpack women finished third at the conference meet last season. Over the past three seasons, the Pack women have not finished lower than third at ACCs.
This year, NC State heads into Greensboro ranked No. 4 in the country, the highest mark for any ACC women’s program. Earlier this season in a dual meet against Virginia, who has won the women’s ACC title 10 of the last 11 years, the Wolfpack women beat the Cavaliers handily 167-127.
Of the 18 swimming events that will take place at ACCs, NC State holds the top entry time in seven of them. Only Louisville, which looks to be the Pack’s biggest competition along with UVA, has more top entry times, with nine.
The Wolfpack has a top-three seed time in all five relays entering ACCs, with the fastest recorded time in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Pack has the second-place seed time in the 400-yard freestyle and medley relays, under two seconds behind Louisville in both.
Relay success can be key to overall team success at conference meets. Last season, the Pack won just one of five relays, the 200 medley relay. However, in its ACC-title season in 2018, NC State took four of five relay events at the conference meet.
Individually, NC State has the top seed time in both breaststroke and backstroke events, as well as the 400-yard individual medley. In the breaststroke, Wolfpack freshman Sophie Hansson leads the entire ACC field. Her time of 58.44 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 2:09.39 in the 200-yard variant are both the best in the field.
The Wolfpack women’s swimming team hasn’t won a breaststroke event at ACCs since 1996, but Hansson looks to be in a position to possibly reverse that.
In the backstroke, senior Elise Haan leads the field in the 100-yard back and freshman Emma Muzzy is in front in the 200-yard back. Haan was one of two individuals to capture a title for the Wolfpack at last year’s ACCs and looks set to defend that 100 back title in 2019.
For Muzzy, the 200 back is just one of the two events she enters with the top seed time, as she also leads the field in the 400-yard individual medley with an entry time of 4:05.60. In fact, the 400 IM is maybe the Pack’s strongest event, as NC State holds the top four seed times. Behind Muzzy are sophomore Kate Moore, junior Makayla Sargent and sophomore Julia Poole. Poole also has the second-best seed time in the 200-yard individual medley.
Another NC State swimmer to keep an eye on will be junior Ky-Lee Perry, who is the Wolfpack’s strongest freestyle sprinter. Perry holds school records in the 50-yard freestyle and is second in school history in the 100-yard freestyle. She enters ACCs with the second-fastest seed time in both events, behind Louisville’s Mallory Comerford in both.
Freshman Kylee Alons will also look to make a splash in her postseason debut. She has a top-eight seed time in five events, but individually won’t be able to compete in all five. Her strongest event is the 200-yard butterfly, where her seed time of 1:55.16 is second-best.
On the diving boards, junior Madeline Kline leads the way for the Wolfpack women. Kline has the top score among NC State coming into ACCs in all three dives. Her strongest event is the platform, which she won at ACCs last season. She enters ACCs with the seventh-best seed score, but will likely finish much higher than that.
On the men’s side of things, sophomore Holt Gray and junior James Brady headline the Pack on the boards. Gray has the fourth-highest seed score in the 3-meter, while Brady has the seventh-best on the 1-meter. Brady, who qualified for NCAAs on the platform and 3-meter last season, also has the 20th-best seed score on platform, but will also likely finish much higher than that.
The Wolfpack women’s swimming team looks set to compete for an ACC title, alongside Louisville and Virginia. The events will kick off Wednesday with 200 medley relay, 800 free relay, women’s 3-meter dive and men’s 1-meter dive.
