The No. 5 NC State women’s swim team shattered expectations and posted record-breaking swims across the board this weekend at NCAA Championships, which were held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Ultimately, the Pack finished second overall in a meet defined by all-around incredible performances for its highest NCAA finish ever, once again showing the versatility and strength of head coach Braden Holloway’s tough-as-nails swimming program.
Wednesday evening marked the first event of the meet with the 800-yard freestyle relay. Although the Wolfpack women were seeded fourth overall heading into the relay, sophomore Katharine Berkoff and junior Kylee Alons were taken off the lineup at the last minute. Given that Alons currently holds the sixth-fastest 200-yard freestyle time in NC State history, and Berkoff is an all-around champ among champs, it’s no surprise that the Pack fell in the ranks for a 17th-place finish. Regardless, the relay saw some impressive splits from seniors Julia Poole and Kate Moore, who posted a 1:45.75 and 1:44.53, respectively.
NC State bounced back quickly for Thursday morning’s prelims session, which was highlighted by Alons’ 21.50 50-yard freestyle to lower her own program record by 0.20 seconds and take second overall heading into finals. Among other top-eight finishes that morning were Moore’s 500-yard freestyle and Poole’s 200-yard individual medley, and Berkoff was able to squeeze in a 21.98 in the 50-yard freestyle to qualify for the A final alongside Alons.
Despite a delay to finals due to inclement weather, Thursday evening was off to a blazing start as the Wolfpack nabbed its first podium finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Berkoff, Alons, senior Sirena Rowe and junior Sophie Hansson all split sub-22s to finish in third with a time of 1:26.27, their fastest 200-yard freestyle relay performance this season. As for the individual events, Alons barely missed the podium in the 50-yard freestyle, but Poole moved up from seventh to sixth in the 200-yard individual medley finals, finishing in 1:55.60.
NC State made history on Thursday evening, as its 3:24.59 400-yard medley relay broke the program, NCAA and U.S. Open records. Berkoff, Hansson, Alons and Poole now hold the fastest time in history, lowering the previous record of 3:25.09 set by Stanford in 2018. Alons’ 100-yard butterfly split of 49.29 is now the fourth-fastest time in history, and Berkoff’s leadoff was the best time by over three-tenths.
Riding the high of the previous night’s events, the Wolfpack was out of the gate strong at Friday morning prelims. Both Hansson and Berkoff were slated for the top spot heading into finals in the 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard backstroke, respectively. Berkoff touched the wall in 50.16, just a sliver off her personal best, and Hansson clocked in at 57.67 to post the only sub-58 time of the morning swims.
On Friday night, the Wolfpack women made program history yet again. After coming off of a record-breaking relay performance on Thursday, Hansson posted a 57.23 in the 100-yard breaststroke finals to lower her own ACC record and claim the first-ever individual national title for the NC State women’s swim team.
Minutes later, Berkoff followed up with another NCAA title for the Wolfpack in the 100-yard backstroke, breaking 50 for the first time in her career to set the pool, program and ACC records. Berkoff’s new personal best of 49.74 makes her the fourth-fastest swimmer of all time in the event, and Hansson’s 57.23 ties her for the third-fastest performance ever in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Those two national titles alone would have made it a fantastic night for the Pack, but the cherry on top of the cake was its fourth win of the meet in the 200-yard medley relay to solidify the medley relay sweep. After Berkoff’s incredible 23.27 split to lead off the relay, NC State’s lead was insurmountable by any other team as it cruised to finish in 1:33.18, a mere 0.07 off the meet record.
The stakes could not have been higher for NC State heading into Sunday’s races — California, Texas and the Wolfpack were locked in a fierce battle for second after Friday night with only a 31-point difference across the three teams. Berkoff, Alons, Hansson and junior Andrea Podmanikova all made the A-finals in their respective events, giving NC State a guaranteed boost for the final session of the meet.
Sunday night brought a tight race to second place for the Pack. Berkoff and junior Emma Muzzy finished in sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 200-yard backstroke, Alons shaved a few tenths off her prelims time in the 100-yard freestyle to post sixth and Hansson moved into the top-10 200-yard breaststroke performers of all time after claiming yet another NCAA victory in 2:03.86.
Going into the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, No. 3 Texas was in second place by a mere 2.5 points. NC State would either have to finish at least two spots ahead of Texas or win the event to nab the title of 2021 NCAA runner-up.
Not only did the Wolfpack touch the wall at least two spots ahead of Texas, it claimed fourth in 3:11.25 to Texas’ ninth-place finish, thus cementing its highest NCAA finish in program history. The Pack wrapped up the meet with 354 points, five national titles and one NCAA record to finish second to Virginia and close out an incredible season.
The Wolfpack men will return to the pool on March 24-27 for NCAA Championships.
