With its 180-118 victory over No. 20 UNC-Chapel Hill, the eighth-ranked NC State men’s swimming and diving team finished its regular season undefeated. The men’s statement win improves its season record to 15-0.
The 12th-ranked Wolfpack women narrowly fell to the No. 5 Tar Heels, 146.5-134.5.
Of the 12 Casey Aquatic Center records broken in the matchup, NC State claimed 11 of them.
Holloway’s Statement
“Im proud of our men and women for their efforts today. It was a great battle, and even though our women came up short it was a great competition all around. We knew our women had a chance win today, but despite the loss we still had some big performances today and we look forward to continuing to progress and move into ACCs and NCAAs.
“For our men it was a good team victory and great team effort. They came into today ready to go and were hungry to take on the Tar Heels. UNC’s a good team and our men were able to get ahead of them early and capitalize on our lead.
“I also want to thank our alumni, parents and fans that came out today. It was the most fun and most packed meet I have ever seen in here before. The support for our Wolfpack family was amazing so hats off to all those Wolfpack fans for coming out to support swimming and diving.”- Braden Holloway, head coach
Wolfpack Relays
The women’s team of Alexia Zevnik, Kayla Brumbaum, Ashlyn Koletic and Riki Bonnema won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:40.49. After trailing for the first six lengths of the pool Bonnema, the freestyle anchor, managed to out touch the second-place team of UNC-Chapel Hill by .04 seconds.
The squad of Andreas Scheillerup, Derek Hren, Soren Dahl and David Williams won the men’s 200 medley relay by nearly two seconds over the UNC-Chapel Hill second-place team with a time of 1:26.91 and claimed a Casey Aquatic Center record.
The Pack closed out its final dual meet of the season with two event wins as well as Casey Aquatic Center records in the men’s and women’s 400 free relay. The women’s team of Natalie Labonge, Krista Duffield, Koletic and Bonnema swam a time of 3:19.37. The men’s squad of Ryan Held, Simonas Bilis, Scheillerup and Williams touched the wall almost five seconds faster than its second-place UNC-CH opponent with a time of 2:53.73.
Freestyle Watch
On the women’s side, Rachel Muller finished second in the 500 and 1000 freestyle, recording a season best in the 1000 with a time of 9:58.09 while swimming a time of 4:51.23 in the 500.
Anton Ipsen continued his trek to the fastest time in the country in the men’s 1000 free. He won the event with a time of 8:55.70 for a Casey Aquatic Center record and a school record. His time puts him just .08 seconds behind Tennessee’s Evan Pinion, who owns the fastest time in the country.
Ipsen also took first in the 500 free to sweep the men’s distance freestyle events. He swam a time of 4:19.97 to earn his second pool record of the meet.
In the men’s 200 free Dahl and Bilis took first and second place with times of 1:36.35 and 1:37.56, respectively.
Lauren Poli and Labonge earned second and third place in the women’s 50 free, swimming times of 22.98 and 23.37, respectively. Bills, Ryan Held and Williams finished in a one, two, three fashion in the men’s event, all touching the wall within .32 seconds of each other.
Bilis, Held and Scheillerup finished in similar fashion to the men’s 50 free event, as they claimed the top three spots in the 100 free with times of 43.69, 43.70 and 44.29, in respective order. Labonge took the top honor in the women’s event with a time of 50.46, while Bonnema finished second with UNC’s Allyn Hardesty with a time of 50.61.
Back It Up
Koletic and Zevnik finished second and third in the women’s 100 backstroke with times of 54.87 and 54.90, respectively, while on the men’s side Scheillerup earned the top honor as well as a Casey Aquatic Center pool record with a time 47.31 in the 100 back.
In the men’s 200 back Hennessey Stuart and Michael Camper claimed the top two spots with times of 1:43.91 and 1:45.20, in respective order.
Breaststroke
Brumbaum swept the women’s breaststroke events, as she recorded a time of 1:01.88 in the 100 and a time of 2:15.87 in the 200. Her time in the 100 was enough for a Casey Aquatic pool record.
After staying within less than one second of five other swimmers in the event, McCurdy managed to pull ahead the final lap of the men’s 200 breaststroke to take the win to record a time of 2:01.33 and out touch teammate Hren by .05 seconds.
Hren also earned the top spot and a Casey Aquatic record in the 100 breast, swimming a time of 54.50.
Fly Into the Sky
Lydia Jones and Yuri Nakano finished second and third in the women’s 200 butterfly. Jones finished just less than one second behind UNC-CH’s Emma Nunn with a time of 2:00.00 while Nakano swam a 2:00.22.
In the men’s 200 fly, McCurdy claimed the top spot with a time of 1:44.68 as well as another pool record for the Pack.
In the 100 fly, Koletic and Dahl finished second in their respective events. Koletic recorded a time of 54.22 while Dahl touched the wall with a 47.51.
Individual Medley
Addisyn Bursch took first in the women’s 200 IM, swimming a time of 2:01.44 and notching another Casey Aquatic record for the Wolfpack.
Springboard Action
Rachel Mumma took first in the women’s one-meter dive to earn a Casey Aquatic record while breaking her own school record with a score of 332.32. She also finished second in the women’s three-meter competition with a score of 301.80.
Postseason Focus
In addition to its final performance of the regular season, NC State recorded 6 more NCAA ‘B’ standard times.
Soren Dahl, 200 free, 1:36.65
Ashlyn Koletic, 100 back, 54.87
Andreas Scheillerup, 100 free, 44.29
Michael Camper, 200 back, 1:45.20
Addisynn Bursch, 200 IM, 2:01.44
Stephen Coetzer, 200 IM, 1:48.10
Up Next
NC State will prepare for the ACC Championships, hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Ga. The women will compete on Feb. 18-21 while the men will compete Feb. 25-28 inside the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
The University of North Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams ended their seasons with a split of dual meets against local rival NC State at the Willis Casey Natatorium.
The eighth-ranked Wolfpack men defeated the Tar Heels 180-118 while the #5 Tar Heel women continued their long winning streak over NC State, edging the #12 Wolfpack 155.5-144.5.
“Today’s meet was another in a long history of great rivalry matches with NC State at their pool. Their teams are well coached and were prepared and we faced some tremendous challenges all day long,” said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm.
The women’s meet was a cliffhanger with each team taking eight event wins. The Wolfpack swept the relays but Carolina’s 2-3-4 finish in the 200 IM allowed the Tar Heels to clinch the meet in the next-to-last event. Hellen Moffitt captured three individual events and Emma Nunn and Danielle Siverling each took two first places to power the Tar Heels to the win. Carolina leads the all-time series 38-5 and has not lost to NC State since 1982.
“Our women withstood the pressure extremely well and we had some outstanding front line performances. At the end of the day, our depth came through to help us come out with a victory,” DeSelm said. “Hellen Moffitt had a tremendous day, winning her three events and putting up some outstanding times. Emma Nunn swam a challenging triple – 1000 free, 200 fly & 500 free – and made a huge difference on the day. Danielle Siverling, our tremendous senior co-captain and always dependable, won two events, as well. Kelly Corish, another co-captain and senior, surprised some by winning the one-meter board.”
The Wolfpack men, who earned their first win over UNC since 2012, led from start to finish, taking first place in 13 events. Despite the loss, Carolina still leads the all-time series 48-32.
“On the men’s side, we knew NC State was strong in every event and, today, they proved that to be the case,” said DeSelm. “We had a lot of outstanding swims and some of them were less noticeable because of State’s performances. Our divers were dominant, as they have been so many times this year. Our relays were about where we’ve been all season and we are learning what our best combinations will be for the ACC Championships. Many of our men swam to season and, in some cases, lifetime best times today. Dual meets are over and now it’s time to prepare for the Championship season. We will use today’s meet to get better – we have to – and we are excited about the meets that are ahead of us over the next few months.”
TEAM NOTES
• UNC’s men’s team finished with a 5-3 overall record. That marks the 76th year in a row UNC has finished .500 or above in dual meets. Over the last 76 years, UNC has had 71 winning seasons and five .500 seasons. The only losing season in UNC history was in 1939.
• The Carolina men finished with a 3-2 ACC dual meet record. UNC has had a winning record in ACC dual meets every year it has been in the league beginning in 1954, a streak now 62 years long.
• The Tar Heels’ women’s team finished the season 7-1 in dual meets. That’s the best mark for the UNC women since 2007. Carolina went undefeated in the ACC (5-0) for the first time since 2007 when it was also 5-0.
• Carolina has had a winning dual meet record every year of program history since 1975. Since 1979, when ACC competition began, UNC has had winning ACC dual meet records in every year but one.
• UNC improved to 38-5 in dual meets versus NC State on the women’s side. The Tar Heels have won every dual meet action the Wolfpack since the 1982 season.
DUAL MEET NOTES (UNC MEN)
• Freshman Henry Campbell finished as the runner-up in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:10.83. That was more than two seconds faster than his previous career best of 9:13.42. Josh Beals had a season best in the event.
• Freshman Philip Perdue set his career best in the 200-yard freestyle for the second successive day, going 1:37.89, .08 faster than he was against Duke Friday.
• Sam Lewis and Patrick Myers had season best times in the 100-yard backstroke.
• Dom Glavich was the runner-up in the 200-yard butterfly in a season best time of 1:44.87. He also had a season best time in the 200 IM at 1:49.76.
• Christian Caveness was just off his career best in the 100-yard freestyle, going 44.69 after setting a career best mark of 44.57 versus Duke Friday. He then led off the 400 free relay in 44.55 to take down his career best in the final event of the meet.
• Patrick Myers had a season best time of 1:45.94 in the 200-yard backstroke.
• Dom Glavich, Henry Campbell and Patrick Myers all had their season best times in the 200-yard individual medley.
• Jack Nyquist swept the diving events for the second straight day and Sam Lewis had a victory in the 100-yard butterfly.
DUAL MEET NOTES (UNC WOMEN)
• Senior captain Kelly Corish had a career best score of 330.45 points as she won the one-meter diving competition. Corish had never broken 300 in her career in any prior meet, having a previous best score of 299.70.
• Carolina’s 1-2-3 sweep in the 200-yard backstroke was a key momentum shift in the meet as Hellen Moffitt, Annie Harrison and Caroline Baldwin took the top three spots. Moffitt set a new career best time in the event at 1:56.49 (previous was 1:57.17). She is now the sixth fastest Tar Heel in school history in the event.
• Senior captain Danielle Siverling won two individual events to power the Tar Heels to the close victory. She took first place in the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. Her time in the 500 (4:49.68) was her fastest this year.
• Junior Emma Nunn was a two-event winner, recording victories in the 1000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly.
• Sophomore Hellen Moffitt took three individual events. She has a career best in the 200 back and won the 100 fly by .09 of a second, a key point swing for the Tar Heels in the eventual 11-point win. She also took first place in the 100-yard backstroke.
NEXT UP: The University of North Carolina will play host to the Carolina College Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 7 and Sunday, Feb. 8 at Koury Natatorium. There will be two preliminary and two finals sessions on Saturday and one preliminary and one finals sessions on Sunday.
