The NC State swimming team traveled down to Atlanta, Georgia to compete in the Toyota U.S. Open for a long weekend from Wednesday, Dec. 4 to Saturday, Dec. 7.
Kicking off the competition on Thursday, the Wolfpack did particularly well in the women’s 200m individual medley where junior Julia Poole finished fourth in the B final. And in the men’s 50m freestyle, sophomore Nyls Korstanje placed eighth in the A final.
The Pack also performed well in the women’s 400m individual medley with senior Makayla Sargent and junior Kate Moore. Sargent placed fifth to qualify for the A finals where she finished in eighth place. Moore qualified for the C final and finished third. Freshman Ross Dant placed third in the D final for the men’s 400m freestyle.
Continuing the events on Friday, the Wolfpack finished strong in the men’s 100m backstroke with freshman Hunter Tapp ranking third in the B final. The 100m butterfly race was executed well by sophomore Kylee Alons who finished sixth in the C final for women’s and Korstanje who also qualified for the C final.
In the women’s 400m individual medley, Sargent and Moore both qualified for finals. Sargent who placed fifth in the preliminaries qualified for the A final. Moore was ranked at 18 for the C final.
The women’s 100m backstroke saw a lot of Wolfpack finalists. Freshman Katharine Berkoff who had finished in 12th place during the qualifiers, placed fifth in the B final followed by Alons who had tied in 16th place originally to then place sixth in the B finals. Sophomore Emma Muzzy earned second place in the C finals. Finishing up the event for the Pack was senior Mackenzie Glover who finished fourth in the C final.
To wrap up the weekend, Berkoff qualified for the B final in the 200m backstroke after finishing in 13th place in the preliminaries along with Glover. Teammate Muzzy qualified for the C final. Sophomore Rafal Kusto finished fifth in the C final for the 200m breaststroke while Dant ranked 14th in the 1500m freestyle.
The Wolfpack will head to Minnesota for the USA Diving Winter Nationals Tuesday, Dec. 17 to Sunday, Dec. 22.
