North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Women Look Ahead With Excitement After Recent Success
3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Swimming
With the recent success that has occurred among the NC State women's swimming and diving team, it is prevalent the Wolfpack women have a lot to be excited about heading this year's NCAA Championship. GoPack caught up with three of the team's greats this week to discuss collegiate swimming and this exciting time of the year.
Junior swimmer Riki Bonnema has made quite the impact in her three years with the Pack. Bonnema holds multipleschool records, is a two-time All-ACC member, 2014 All-American and was the first female Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Champion under head coach Braden Holloway and his staff.
In the rare spare time Bonnema does have, she loves to watch movies and craft, a hobby she shares with many of her teammates.
The Florida native started swimming at a young age. She explained it was always important to her mom that she and her brother know how to swim. Despite trying her hand at other sports, Bonnema always kept going back to swimming. Her love of water and the outdoors could have been her inspiration to swim.
Sophomore swimmer Rachel Muller already holds school records in three individual and several relay events. After her breakout meet at the Nike Cup in November, Muller believes, "that meet was really eye opening of who I am as a swimmer and who I want to be."
Muller, an aspiring high school calculus teacher credits her parents and coaches for encouraging and pushing her to do well in both school and swimming.
"The coaches expect greatness from you in your classes, which pushes me to do my best and my drive to excel in all I do," Muller said.
Bilingual Canadian native Alexia Zevnik has dreams of becoming a physical therapist and has plans of double majoring in human biology and business administration.
The sophomore swimmer holds four individual school records and is a member of numerousrelay record-holding teams. When asked about her favorite collegiate swimming moment to date she shared a story from this year's ACC Championship.
"For two years I had been working towards a specific time in the 200 backstroke and this year I finally hit that time at the ACC meet," Zevnik said. "Everyone was so happy for me and the coaches were so proud. That is definitely one of my favorite memories so far in my career here at NC State."
All three girls agree their favorite part of being a member of the Pack is the people and the fans. They have been able to meet alumni and fans that are excited about NC State swimming.
"The opportunities we are given to travel and meet so many different people, as well as having fans supporting us is the best part of swimming with the Pack," Zevnik stated.
These girls are a part of the legacy that is quickly forming, and are a part of a great new era in NC State swimming and diving. Watch as the women continue to build on the program's success as they head to Greensboro, N.C., to co-host this year's NCAA Championship on March 19-21 at Greensboro Aquatic Center.
By Olivia Clapp
