Pack Men Win Seventh Straight Dual Over Virginia, NC State Splits Meet with Cavaliers

Saturday, January 23

11 AM

NC State

Virginia

Pack Men Win Seventh Straight Dual Over Virginia, NC State Splits Meet with Cavaliers

1/23/2021 3:06:00 PM | Swimming

RALEIGH – The sixth-ranked NC State men's swimming and diving squad pushed its streak against Virginia to seven duals in a row as it defeated the visiting 10th-ranked Cavaliers 190.5-107.5 on Saturday afternoon.

The matchup was rounded out by an incredibly tight race on the women's side where No. 4 NC State faced off against No. 2 Virginia. The Cavalier women took the narrow 153-144 winning score in a meet that came down to the final relay.

Despite not having its usual packed house of fans, the Wolfpack squads brought their own electric atmosphere to the Casey Aquatic Center for the top-10 showdown.

RELAY HIGHLIGHTS:
The Pack got off to a fast start in the 200-yard medley relay, with NC State's winning teams on both the men's and women's sides posting their fastest non-invitational marks of the year.

Katharine Berkoff (24.28), Sophie Hansson (27.34), Sirena Rowe (22.89) and Kylee Alons (21.93) combined for a 1:36.44 time to kick off the meet. The mark was good for a new pool record and was just split seconds off of an NCAA A cut.

On the men's side, Kacper Stokowski (21.73), Rafal Kusto (24.05), Luke Sobolewski (20.86) and Giovanni Izzo (19.76) went 1:26.40 for the win.

The Pack men also added a meet-closing victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay with Stokowski (44.74), Hunter Tapp (43.25), Izzo (44.00) and Luke Miller (43.31) finishing on top in 2:55.30.

Trailing by just four team points going into the final relay, the Wolfpack women were just barely out-touched in the event as Berkoff (50.14), Heather Maccausland (49.19) Rowe (49.19) and Kate Moore (50.12) placed second.

INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS:
Alons continued to show her prowess in multiple events as she completed a perfect triple for the second weekend in a row. The reigning ACC Women's Swimmer of the Week won the 50-yard freestyle (22.47), 100-yard freestyle (48.85) and the 100-yard butterfly (53.04) just as she did last Friday against rival UNC. Alons led all women's swimmers in scoring on the day with 27 points.

The Pack men took first in all but four events with a well-rounded attack from multiple performers. In total, they went 1-2-3 in four different events: the 1000-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle.

NC State kicked off individual event action with Ross Dant (8:58.89), James Plage (9:06.82) and Curtis Wiltsey (9:16.33) dominating the 1,000-yard freestyle. Dant's first-place mark was just over half a second off of his best time of the season.

Eric Knowles then led the way in the 500-yard freestyle (4:22.81) as he, Dant (4:25.38) and Plage (4:25.50) claimed the top three times.

On the boards, Bayne Bennett and Patrick O'Brien each picked up an individual victory. Bennett posted a winning score of 296.48 on one-meter, and O'Brien followed up with the 278.33 top finish on three-meter.

Miller won the 200-yard freestyle yet again in 1:36.11, with Tapp (1:36.85) and Knowles (1:37.14) touching shortly after him.

The Wolfpack women's one 1-2-3 sweep of the day also came in the 1,000-yard freestyle with Moore (9:52.79), Yara Hierath (10:00.21) and Kay Foley (10:12.24) racking up the points.

Berkoff set a new pool record in the 100-yard backstroke (52.26), and Abby Arens (200-yard butterfly, 1:58.33) and Hansson (200-yard breaststroke, 2:11.98) also picked up top finishes.

On the men's side, Stokowski made his Wolfpack debut with a 47.69 win in the 100-yard backstroke before Kusto (100-yard breaststroke, 54.35), Tapp (100-yard freestyle, 44.20) and Noah Henderson (100-yard butterfly, 47.47) added first-place results.

UP NEXT:
NC State is set to close out its regular-season slate next weekend as it hosts No. 14/15 Virginia Tech. The diving events will take place Friday, Jan. 29 beginning at 5 p.m., while swimming events will be contested Saturday, Jan. 30 starting at 10 a.m.

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