NC State
Nike Cup Invitational
NC State Finishes Second, Fourth At Nike Cup
11/21/2015 9:13:00 PM | Swimming
Hennessey Stuart notched the Pack’s first ‘A’ cut of the season
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.- After posting five top times nationally on day three of the Nike Cup Invitational, the NC State swimming and diving team finished second and fourth among the overall team standings Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C., inside Koury Natatorium.
The Wolfpack men finished second of seven teams with 1,545.5 points, while the women finished fourth of nine teams with 1,328.5 points.
Exceeding the Pack's goal for the Nike Cup that swimmers and divers earn NCAA qualifying marks, NC State tabbed a total of 46 NCAA qualifying standard times, including 19 marks on Saturday.
Additionally, the Pack collected 68 top-10 finishes on the meet, as 23 of them were notched on Saturday.
Holloway's Statement
On team effort at Nike Cup
"We finished the Nike Cup with a lot of great performances. UNC-Chapel Hill put on a great invitational with even better competition across the board for both the men and women," said head coach Braden Holloway. "We're leaving the meet with what we expected. We went into the meet with some team goals to prepare for the second half of the season, and I think we accomplished several of the things we set out to do. We have some people that qualified for NCAAs and several that are in a good postition to qualify later in the season. This meet served as a great time for us to experiment with some lineups for relays, as well as see where we are in the individual events."
On top performers over the weekend
"There are a lot performances that stood out to me over the weekend. Hennessey Stuart getting his 'A' cut in the 200 backstroke is big for him to have that automatic bid to NCAAs. Anton Ipsen has positioned himself well in the distance events, and Alexia Zevnik posted five total times that made NCAAs last year which shows her versatiltiy on the women's team. Kayla Brumbaum swam school records in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, and the times she posted made NCAAs last year so she is another one that has positioned herself well.
"Rachel Mumma and Harrison Mitchell both had great outings on the diving side for us. Both made it to the finals in the one and three-meter and finished in the top five on platform. Rachel placed in the top-two in all three events and got her zone qualfying mark on platform.
"Other big swims for our team this weekend were: Andreas Schiellerup in the 100 back, Derek Hren in the 100 breast, Natalie Labonge in 100 free, Ryan Held in the 100 and 200 free, Christian McCurdy in the 200 fly and Riki Bonnema in the 50 free. We're going ot have a lot of people that will be close in the time standards, but I think we put ourselves in a place to make the meet with a lot of individuals. March is our number one focus and will use these next several months to keep preparing for the end of the year."
Wolfpack Relays
NC State the men's and women's 400 freestyle relay placed first in its repective events while posting NCAA qualifying marks.
The women's 400 free relay team of Natalie Labonge, Alexia Zevnik, Krista Duffield and Riki Bonnema placed first with a time of 3:14.39, which marks the No. 1 time in the nation in the event.
Ryan Held, Simonas Bilis, Joe Bonk and Andreas Schiellerup stopped the clock at 2:50.94 to take the win in the men's event and tab the fastest time in Divison I competition. Held's leadoff split of 42.87 marks the No. 1 time in the nation in the 100 free.
Backstroke
In the prelims of the women's 200 backstroke, Zevnik notched a NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:53.66. Her performance stands as the third-fastest time in the nation.
Hennessey Stuart posted the first NCAA 'A' standard time of the season for the Pack in the prelims of the men's 200 back with a mark of 1:40.22. His performance stands as the fastest time in the nation in the event.
In the championship 'A' final of the men's 100 back, Jacob Siar placed fourth with a mark of 1:47.68.
Freestyle
Zevnik, Bonnema and Labonge took a sweep of the championship 'A' final of the women's 100 freestyle. Zevnik won the event after stopping the clock at 48.60, while Bonnema and Labonge followed in suit with times of 48.69 and 49.13, respectively.
All three swimmers notched NCAA 'B' standard times in the event, and Zevnik's win marked her third victory of the meet.
Four swimmers from the Wolfpack men's team made it back to the championship final of the 100 free, and all proceeded to finish in the top four of the overall standings and notch NCAA 'B' cuts.
Held won the event with a time of 42.94. Bonk, Scheillerup and Soren Dahl finished second, third and fourth, respectively. Bonk notched a mark of 43.42, while Schiellerup stopped the clock at 44.13 and Dahl touched the wall at 44.15.
Rachel Muller finished third in the women's 1,650 freestyle with a NCAA 'B' standard mark of 16:22.27, while Shelly Craddock finished fifth in the overall standings with a mark of 16:30.91.
Three Wolfpack swimmers finished in the top five of the men's 1,650 free. Anton Ipsen topped the leaderboard after stopping the clock at 14:52.00, while Austin Snyder and Adam Linker finished third and fifth with times of 15:12.28 and 15:16.05, in respective order.
Muller's time stands as the No. 2 time in the country while Ipsen beat his previous top time in the nation by 14 seconds.
Breaststroke
Kayla Brumbaum won the women's 200 breaststroke 'A' final after notching a school record time of 2:10.62, while Patrik Schwarzenbach finished third in the 'A' final of the men's 200 breast with a mark of 1:59.30.
Brumbaum's outing stands as the No. 3 time in the country.
Butterfly
Christian McCurdy won the men's 200 butterfly after touching the wall at 1:42.61 to notch a NCAA 'B' cut.
Springboard Action
Saturday's 10-meter competition was held inside Duke's Taishoff Aquatic Pavillion.
Rachel Mumma capped off her strong performance at the Nike Cup with a second-place finish in the women's platform division with a score of 241.90 to earn a NCAA zone qualifying mark. The senior also placed second on the three-meter dive and won the one-meter competition.
On the men's side, Harrison Mitchell placed fourth on platform with a five-dive score of 263.80.
Up Next
Select members of the team will travel to Federal Way, Wash., to compete in the AT&T Winter National Championships Dec. 3-5.
Players Mentioned
