The NC State swimming and diving teams traveled to Austin, Texas over the weekend to compete in the Arena Pro Swim Series in order to continue their long course training. Over the weekend, the Wolfpack had a total of 13 top-10 finishes.
The Pack posted 10 top-eight finishes Friday, starting with Olympians Ryan Held, Soren Dahl and Anton Ipsen. Held and Dahl both competed in the finals of the 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly. Held recorded a time of 49.32 seconds in the freestyle, placing him second overall, and a time of 55.15 in the butterfly putting him eighth in the final. Dahl, who competed for Denmark in Rio, finished seventh and fifth in the freestyle and butterfly with times of 50.53 and 54.59, respectively.
The men’s team dominated the 400-meter freestyle with Ipsen and Adam Linker placing first and third, respectively. Ipsen swam an impressive 3:49.59 and Linker finished with a time of 3:54.36. Up-and-coming sophomore Patrik Schwarzenbach touched in at 2:18.68 in the 200-meter breaststroke as well.
On the women’s team, senior Alexia Zevnik led the way with a third-place finish in the 100m freestyle, stopping the clock at 55.21. Krista Duffield continued her junior campaign with a time of 1:01.41 in the 100m butterfly, earning an eighth-place finish. Junior Hannah Moore closed out Friday with a strong performance in the 400m freestyle, placing fifth overall touching the wall at 4:11.46.
The Pack’s dominance continued on Saturday, as the team racked up five more podium finishes on Day Two of competition.
NC State’s Olympic presence continued to outperform the competition, as Ipsen earned a silver medal in the 400m individual medley with a time of 4:21.07. Dahl, Held and freshman Coleman Stewart all touched in at fifth in their respective events. Dahl touched in at 1:49.92 in the 200m freestyle, Held finished at 22.69 in the 50m freestyle and Stewart stopped the clock at 2:03.50 in the 200m backstroke. Junior backstroker Hennessey Stuart placed in the top eight with Stewart also, stopping the clock at 2:00.47, earning third place.
The women’s team had a strong showing on Saturday as well. Speedsters Ky-Lee Perry and Natalie Labonge finished with times of 25.51 and 25.64 earning silver and bronze, respectively. More podium finishes came from freshman Mackenzie Glover and Moore. Glover, the Canada native, touched in a 2:11.18 in the 200m backstroke, achieving bronze medal status. Moore recorded two top-eight finishes on day two. The U.S. National Team member placed fourth in the 400m IM in 4:48.74 and sixth in the final of 200m backstroke in 2:13.06.
The Wolfpack rounded out competition in UT’s Texas Swim Center on Sunday with four more podium finishes.
Ipsen, the distance specialist, capped off his weekend in the 1500m freestyle in a time of 15:13.45, placing him first overall. Linker and freshman Jack McIntyre also competed in the mile event, finished third and eighth respectively, this was Linker’s second bronze medal finish of the weekend.
Dahl and Moore continued their weekend on Sunday with solid performances in their respective events. Dahl finished fourth in the 200m IM touching the wall at 2:02.34 and Moore swam her last event, the 800m freestyle stopping the clock at 8:32.82, yielding her third top-five finish.
Across the board, the Pack dominated the 100m backstroke. For the men, Stuart and Stewart placed third and seventh, respectively, with times of 55.82 and 56.69. As for the women, sophomore Elise Haan, Glover and Zevnik swam to fourth, fifth and sixth touching the wall in 1:01.91, 1:02.13 and 1:02.50, respectively. Zevnik also competed in the 200m IM final and finished eighth.
NC State had an imposing presence in the 200m butterfly and breaststroke as well. Senior Lydia Jones touched in at 2:16.14 finishing seventh overall in the butterfly as did sophomore James Bretscher stopping the clock at 2:04.64. Freshman Danny Erlenmeyer touched in right after Bretscher with a time of 2:05.77. In the breaststroke, senior Kayla Brumbaum finished fourth with 1:08.72 and junior Zack Warner touched in at 1:03.58, yielding eighth overall for the men.
The NC State swimming and diving teams’ next outing is Jan. 21, when it travels to UNC-Wilmington to compete against the Seahawks and Gardner-Webb in a tri-meet affair.
