North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
ACC Women's Swimming and Diving/Men's Diving Championships
NC State Posts Historic Results on Day Two of #ACCWSD
2/14/2017 10:02:00 PM | Swimming
Wins three of five events
ATLANTA—The NC State women's swimming and diving team continued its success at the ACC Championships with a historic night of competition on Thursday evening. The team won the 200 freestyle relay for the fifth-straight year and the 200 individual medley for the first time in program history. The team earned gold in three of five events and had podium finishes in all four swimming events.
Additionally, NC State broke three school records, two conference records and set three meet records. The team earned three NCAA "A" cuts and had ten individual personal-best times.
Six from NC State earned All-ACC honors, as Hannah Moore, Alexia Zevnik, Ky-Lee Perry, Courtney Caldwell and Natalie Labonge tabbed the mention for their top-three finishes individually. Krista Duffield received the award for her leg of the first-place finishing 200 free relay.
After the completion of Tuesday's events, the team jumps from sixth to first and leads with 452.5 points. The reigning champion Virginia trails with 385.5 points to sit in second place and North Carolina is in third place with 384 points.
Session Highlights:
Wolfpack Relays:
Continuing the program's winning tradition in the 200 free relay, the squad of Labonge, Perry, Duffield and Caldwell grabbed the team its fifth-straight victory. NC State's time of 1:27.31 earned a new conference, meet and school record, and stands as the third-fastest time in the country so far this season.
Individual Medley:
For the first time in program history, NC State took the title in the 200 individual medley as Zevnik touched the wall in 1:54.44. The race was neck-and-neck through the first 150, but the senior had a pivotal freestyle leg of the race where she out-split the rest of the field by over a second to get to the wall first. Her NCAA "A" qualifying time also marked a new meet, conference and school record.
Lindsay Morrow (1:59.07) and Kayla Brumbaum (1:59.61) both had lifetime-best performances in the race as well, breaking the two-minute barrier for the first time. The duo earned spots in the "B" final and finished 12th and 14th, respectively.
Freestyle:
In the 500 free, all three of NC State's swimmers scored in finals. Moore led the distance squad with a third place finish, touching the wall in 4:38.07, while Rachel Muller took sixth place with a time of 4:42.57. Jahns posted a season-best time of 4:48.31 to finish 15th overall.
The Wolfpack had a dominating performance in the 50 free, scoring over 100 points in the event. Perry won her first ACC title with a time of 21.87. Her prelims time of 21.80 broke the school record and set a new conference record (later re-broken by UNC's Caroline Baldwin). Joining her on the podium was Caldwell and Labonge, who tied for third place in 22.00. In the morning session, the Caldwell posted a time of 21.99.
In the "B" final, Duffield finished ninth in 22.23 and Lotta Nevalainen touched the wall in 22.32 to finish 13th. Rounding out the event scorers was Christine Kerr, who tied for 23rd in 22.85. In the morning session Kerr finished the race in 22.70.
"Really good night for us—we took advantage of opportunity to score points," said head coach Braden Holloway. "Right out of the gates, all three entries we had in the 500 free scored big points for us. Coming away from the 200 IM with a conference champion and a school record is outstanding. Hats off to our 50 group and coach Todd. Having a freshman walk away with the conference championship, breaking our record—she's only getting warmed up as this is her first year.
"I think the relay was special. That race was a dog fight, UNC was great on that relay. It's been five straight years for the relay and we take a lot of pride in our relays, but especially that one. Five straight years is an unbelievable feat. But it's back to work tomorrow to see if we can carry on this momentum."
Wolfpack Diving
In diving, both NC State freshmen scored points on one-meter springboard. Madelina Kline led the efforts with a score of 253.30 to finish 15th, missing finals by just 10 points. Rachel Burston finished close behind, taking 18th with 251.45 points.
"Today was a good day on women's one-meter. We needed to be in that situation in order to learn from it," said head diving coach Yahya Radman. "It's been a very long time since we've had two people score in that event, and the girls fought for every point they got—it was well deserved. The composure the girls showed coming back from 'bad' dives show maturity. So going forward, we are optimistic that everything will come together for tower."
Up Next:
The Wolfpack will continue competition at the women's ACC championships on Wednesday for day three of the four-day meet. Prelims will begin with the 400 IM, followed by the 100 butterfly, 200 free, 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke. Men's three-meter prelims will begin at noon.
Players Mentioned
