Capping off a strong weekend in the Sunshine State, the NC State women’s swimming and diving team swept its quad meet at Florida Gulf Coast Saturday morning at FGCU Aquatics Complex.
Posting the fastest time and top score in 14 of the 17 events on the day, the Wolfpack earned a 208-88 win over Liberty, defeated Florida Gulf Coast 169-139 and triumphed over Central Connecticut State, 207-89. The meet marked the first time in the 2015-16 season that a team has defeated Florida Gulf Coast in its home territory.
After the weekend of competition NC State improves to 8-1 in head-to-head match ups on the season.
“We’re very proud of our ladies today coming out on top over some great competition across the board. It was a great meet environment, and think the ladies responded well from yesterday. Yesterday there were a lot of ups and downs but they came out today ready to race and it was obvious they wanted to do well,” said head coach Braden Holloway.
“Across the board it was a great team effort with a lot of spirit, and we had a lot of people step up and grab those third and fourth place spots to grab all the points we could in every event," Holloway said. "Everyone was very engaged and wanted to prove a point to themselves and take another step forward as a team, which we did, so hats off to our ladies on returning home better than they were when we arrived.”
“From the diving side of things this weekend, Rachel stepped up and did what she needed to do. She helped the team in a big way both days, and performed very admirably while doing it,” said head diving coach Yahya Radman
“The highlight for today was that Gabi hit a personal best on the three-meter, just missing her Zone cut by a few points. She was very consistent and hit her goals, and we’re very proud of her and her contribution to the team by placing third on both boards. It was a tremendous effort, and we’re excited to see how it can carry over into our meets against UNC and Virginia.”
The Pack had strong performances in both relay events on its second-straight day of competition. In the 200 medley relay, the team of Ashlyn Koletic, Kayla Brumbaum, Krista Duffield and Riki Bonnema finished first with a time of 1:41.32, while the squad of Lotta Nevalainen, Duffield, Natalie Labonge and Shelly Craddock posted the fastest time in the 400 freestyle relay with a mark of 3:23.36.
Hannah Moore earned a win in the 1,000 free with a time of 9:57.00 while Rachel Muller followed behind her teammate in second after touching the wall at 10:02.00. Moore and Muller also posted the top two times in the 500 as Moore recorded a time of 4:49.14 and Muller a mark of 4:53.99.
As the 200 freestyle follows the 1,000 free in dual meet formats, Muller managed to turn right back around and win the event with a time of 1:48.54. Craddock and Labonge rounded out the top three spots in the event with marks of 1:51.12 and 1:51.23, respectively.
The Pack dominated the field in the sprint events, as all four Wolfpack swimmers that competed in the respective events placed in the top five in both races. The races were highlighted by Natalie Labonge sweeping both events as she posted a time of 23.12 in the 50 free and a mark of 50.33 in the 100.
The Pack finished second, third and fourth in the 100 backstroke, as Alexia Zevnik was the top finisher for the team after stopping the clock at 55.15. Lindsay Morrow and Courtney Caldwell finished behind Zevnik with times of 56.00 and 56.57, in respective order.
Brumbaum swept the second-place spot in both breaststroke events as she posted a time of 1:02.67 in the 100 and touched the wall at 2:16.09 in the 200.
NC State took the top honor in both butterfly events, as Duffield won the 100 with a time of 55.57 while Lydia Jones won the 200 with a mark of 2:02.31.
Additionally, Craddock placed second in the 200 fly after stopping the clock at 2:02.85 and Nakano posted the second-fastest time among the field in the 100 fly after tabbing a time of 55.98.
In the 100 individual medley, Koletic tabbed a time of 55.80 to win the event, while Zevnik and Morrow notched the two fastest times in the 200 IM. Zevnik stopped the clock at 2:04.93 and Morrow touched the wall at 2:04.97.
Rachel Mumma once again tabbed the top scores in the one and three-meter events on the day. She earned a mark of 307.50 on the one-meter and a score of 308.70 on the three-meter, giving her an undefeated record on the weekend.
Additionally, Gabi McDermott notched a personal best mark on the three-meter dive as she finished third in the standings with a score of 264.45.
Select members of the men’s team will compete in the Arena Pro Swim Series in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday through Saturday inside Mecklenburg County Aquatics Center.
Florida Gulf Coast
The No. 29 FGCU swimming and diving team earned a pair of dual-meet wins versus CCSA-foe Liberty (240-67) and Central Connecticut State (255-52), but suffered its first loss of the season against No. 17 N.C. State (169-139) on Saturday at the FGCU Aquatics Center.
With the results from today's quad meet, the Eagles move to 9-1 in dual meets and improves to 2-0 against CCSA competition this season. The win against Liberty improves FGCU's all-time dual-meet record versus conference opponents to 32-1, with the lone loss coming in the program's first year of competition during the 2007-08 season. Additionally, today's loss versus N.C. State is FGCU's first dual-meet loss in nearly a year as the Green and Blue last fell to in-state rival FIU by a final margin of 167-133 on Jan. 24, 2015.
"We had a good meet with two nice wins over Liberty and CCSU but unfortunately ran into the brick wall that was N.C. State and they beat us up a little bit," said FGCU head coach Neal Studd. "That's where we want to be, though. We want to be in the conversation with programs like that. Overall, I thought the girls competed well."
Highlighting today's events for the Eagles was sophomore Katie Armitage (Bushey, United Kingdom/Queens School Bushey), who won both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke in season-best times of 1:01.27 and 2:14.90, respectively, and earned her 11th and 12th individual wins of the season. The school record holder in both events registered the second- and third-fastest times in program history during today's meet. Additionally, the Bushey native not only finished second in the 100-yard IM, but also set a program record in the event as she touched the pads in 57.42 seconds.
Freshman Elise Haan (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast HS) also earned a win in the 100-yard backstroke after turning in a time of 54.83 seconds and improved her unblemished record in the event to 6-0 this season. Later, Haan placed second in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:00.78.
Junior Barbara Caraballo (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Indian River/Newsome HS) turned in FGCU's fourth win of the day in the 200-yard IM as she touched the pads in 2:05.29. The Green and Blue swept the event as sophomore Yee Ching Wong (Hong Kong, China/Diocesan Girl's School) and freshman Christina Kaas Elmgreen (Charlottenlund, Denmark/Ordrup Gymnasium) finished second and third with times of 2:07.82 and 2:09.26, respectively. Caraballo also turned in a top-three finish as she finished third in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:03.99, while Wong finished second in the 100-yard butterfly (56.56 seconds) and third in the 200-yard butterfly (2:04.19).
Senior Lani Cabrera (Bridgetown, Barbados/St. Ursala's Secondary School) had a busy day in the pool and turned in a pair of podium finishes in the 500-yard and 1000-yard freestyles with times of 5:02.15 and 10:16.21, respectively. Cabrera edged freshman Melissa Marinheiro (Davie, Fla./West Broward HS) in the 500-yard event by half a second.
Additional top-three individual finishes during today's meet include junior Evita Leter (Paramaribo, Suriname/Doral Academy) in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.88), freshman Katie Latham (Deal, Kent, United Kingdom/Sir Roger Manwood's School) in the 50-yard freestyle (23.42 seconds) and, in her first meet as a collegiate student-athlete, freshman Fanny Teijonsalo (Espoo, Finland/Makelanrinteen Lukio) in the 100-yard IM (58.08 seconds).
The Eagles capped off the meet with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay as the quartet of Latham, Armitage, Sara Hamilton (Stonehaven, Scotland/Mackie Academy) and Haan touched the pads in 3:23.84, the team's second-best time this season. Finishing second in the event was FGCU's foursome of Kirsten Jamison (Tucson, Ariz./Arizona/Catalina Foothills HS), Hannah Burdge (Stuart, Fla./Martin County HS), Linda Shaw (Leeds, United Kingdom/Roundhay HS) and Cabrera. The Green and Blue saw another relay team finish runner up during Saturday's competition as the 200-yard medley relay of Haan, Leter, Teijonsalo and Latham were narrowly defeated by the Wolfpack after touching the pads in 1:42.13 in the meet's opening event.
Following Saturday's quad meet, FGCU will hit the road for the first time in 2016 as they travel to Coral Gables, Fla., for a dual meet against in-state rival Miami on Friday, Jan. 15 at 4 p.m. The Eagles defeated the Hurricanes by a final score of 195-104 a season ago.
Liberty
The Liberty swimming & diving team rang in the New Year by going 1-2 at the Florida Gulf Coast Quad Meet, held Saturday at FGCU Aquatics Complex. Saturday’s meet featured a pair of nationally-ranked teams and two defending conference champions.
The Lady Flames outscored defending NEC champion Central Connecticut State, 205-76. Liberty fell to No. 29 FGCU, defending CCSA champion, 240-67, while No. 19 NC State downed the Lady Flames, 208-88. NC State went 3-0 on the day, also defeating FGCU, 169-139 and CCSU, 207-89. The host Eagles downed Central Connecticut State, 255-52.
As a result of this morning’s action, Liberty now holds a 6-5 dual-meet record, including 3-1 against CCSA foes. NC State improves to 8-1, while FGCU is now 9-1, 2-0 in conference action. Central Connecticut’s record stands at 2-5.
Liberty’s quartet of Victoria Tschoke, Prudence Rooker, Kendall Hough and Rachel Hoeve swam 1:47.29 to place fourth in the meet-opening 200 medley relay.
Kristin VanDeventer opened the individual events with a sixth-place showing in the 1000 free, clocking 10:28.08. Teammate Alicia Finnigan followed in seventh with a season-best 10:32.94.
Ashlee Sall covered 200 free in 1:53.70, touching fifth in what would be one of three season-best swims for Sall on the day. Natalie Beale also turned in a season-best time, 1:54.30, for seventh place.
Hough took fifth in the 100 back, in 57.51, while Tchoke claimed seventh with a 59.9 performance.
Anna Dickinson served as Liberty’s 100 breaststroke leader, placing seventh in 1:06.82.
Finnigan clocked 2:05.03 for fifth place in the 200 fly. Later, she claimed third in the 100 fly with a 56.72 showing. Beale earned seventh place, in 59.40.
In the 50 free, Hoeve (24.20) and Hough (24.34) finished in seventh and eighth, respectively.
Rooker completed the 100 IM in 59.32, taking sixth, while Dickinson (1:01.63) placed eighth.
Sall (season-best 52.67) and Hough (52.75) claimed the seventh and eighth spots, in that order, in the 100 free.
Tschoke collected a fourth-place finish in the 200 back, swimming 2:06.00, while Beale (2:09.72) came in eighth place.
Morgan Noonan’s 2:25.44 earned ninth place in the 200 breaststroke.
VanDeventer came in fifth in the 500 free in 5:06.35, while Sall’s season-best 5:09.36 was good for sixth place.
Liberty took fourth, fifth and sixth in the 200 IM, as Rooker (2:09.71), Tschoke (2:10.53) and Ranndi Grubbs (season-best 2:12.92) finished in that order.
The Lady Flames’ 400 free relay of Elizabeth Magnusson, Sall, Beale and Shelby Black earned third place in 3:34.64.
Liberty will return to Lynchburg for home meets on three straight days next weekend. The Lady Flames will welcome Campbell to LaHaye Aquatic Center next Friday at 5 p.m. Liberty will host UNC Asheville for two meets, Saturday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
