NC State
ACC Women's Swimming and Diving/Men's Diving Championships
Pack Opens Day One of #ACCWSD With 200 Medley Relay Title
2/13/2017 7:07:00 PM | Swimming
Finishes runner-up in 800 freestyle relay
Day One Results
ATLANTA — The NC State women's swimming and diving team had a blistering start to the ACC Championships on Monday, winning one event and finishing in second in another.
Wolfpack Relays
For the first time since 1991, the Wolfpack took the title in the 200 medley relay. The team of Elise Haan, Kayla Brumbaum, Natalie Labonge and Ky-Lee Perry had a dominating performance, leading the race from start to finish. Haan had the fastest backstroke split in the pool (23.17), giving NC State a controlling lead heading into the breaststroke leg. Brumbaum and Labonge held that lead with splits of 26.36 and 23.17, respectively, setting up Perry to bring home the win. In her debut ACC Championship swim, the freshman split an astounding 21.36.
The program followed the victory with another podium finish, taking runner-up in the 800 freestyle relay. The squad of Rachel Muller, Alexia Zevnik, Courtney Caldwell and Hannah Moore shaved off more than five seconds from its seed time to set a school record and break the seven-minute barrier for the first time in program history, touching the wall in 6:59.73. The time is also an ACC record and is one a top-10 time in the country this season.
"I'm very, very proud of our ladies tonight, and I'm excited about the start we had tonight," said head coach Braden Holloway. "Any time you break a conference record it's pretty special and we had four ladies put together great splits to get us to a victory. We haven't won that relay for decades, so it's just great momentum for us right out of the gates. It wasn't perfect, but it was great and it sparked our ladies.
"In the 800 free relay we broke our school record, and breaking a barrier of seven minutes is a huge accomplishment in college swimming, so I think that was extraordinary for those ladies. It was a hard-fought battle between us and Louisville for second place, and I have to hand it to our four ladies for getting the job done and getting their hand on the wall.
"So we just have to capitalize on this day. It's the best first day we've ever had, so the opportunity is there, we just have to go get it done tomorrow morning."
Wolfpack Diving
In diving, competition kicked off as the men hit the one-meter springboard. Harrison Mitchell finished as the top Wolfpacker, placing 17th with a score of 276.60. James Brady finished with 258.00 points to take 25th.
Up first for the women was the three-meter springboard. Freshman Madeline Kline took 19th with 263.90 points while Rachel Burston finished in 44th with 195.45 points.
"I think they did well with some of the things we work on in practice, but when it came to transferring it over into a meet, I think their nerves fot the best of them," said head diving coach Yahya Radman.
"The best way to overcome that and to put this program alongside our swimming program is to just have experience--to do it over and over again, to be in those moments and know what to do when it happen. There is no perfect recipe for a meet--there has never been a perfect meet. And this is how you learn to get to the that level of experience."
Team Standings
After the first day of competition, the Wolfpack sits in sixth place with 126 points. North Carolina leads the championship with 153 points, and Louisville and Duke round out the top three with 149 and 144 points, respectively.
Up Next
Day two of the ACC Championships will begin on Tuesday with prelims starting at 10 a.m. Tomorrow's events include the 500 free, 200 individual medley, 50 free and 200 free relay (finals only).
Spectator Information
-A live video stream of event finals will be available on ACC Network Extra on Tuesday through Thursday, starting at 6 p.m.
-Live results will also be available for all eight sessions. Links to the live coverage can be found on the swimming and diving schedule page. Admission is free.
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