North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
ACC Championship (W Swimming, M/W Diving)
Hansson, Berkoff Add Golds to Wolfpack Tally at ACC Championships
2/19/2021 9:49:00 PM | Swimming
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Wolfpack women's swimming and diving team continued to shine at the 2021 ACC Championships, with Friday's action at the meet highlighted by a pair of record-breaking wins from Sophie Hansson and Katharine Berkoff.
The Pack remains in second place as it goes into the last seven events of the women's conference championship meet on Saturday. NC State has now won a total of three events on the weekend and picked up a total of 13 podium finishes through three days of action in Greensboro. The team has 868 team points behind Virginia's 1,025 points.
100 BREASTSTROKE:
Hansson continued to show off her dominance in the 100-yard breaststroke as she took home her third-straight conference crown in the event. Virginia's Alex Wenger broke Hansson's conference record from 2020 in the morning prelims, putting Hansson as the two seed headed into the A final.
The junior captain drew even with Wenger at the final turn of the championship race and managed to surge past her at the finish. Hansson's winning time of 57.45 took back her conference record as she out-touched Wenger by .15 seconds. She became just the third swimmer in program history and the first since the mid-1980s (Tricia Butcher) to win an ACC individual title in the same event three seasons in a row.
🥇 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗗 🔥
— ACC Swimming&Diving (@ACCSwimDive) February 20, 2021
Sophie Hansson takes her third-straight gold in the 100 breaststroke with a meet-record time of 57.45!@packswimdive | #ACCWSD pic.twitter.com/P9VVObSqvL
Andrea Podmanikova joined her on the podium with a third-place finish. Her 58.10 mark took over the spot at No. 2 in the program record books and was also an NCAA A cut. Olivia Calegan rounded out the Pack's attack in the A final with a 59.17 for seventh place.
• B finalists: Heather Maccausland (1:00.03, 9th), Anna Shumate (1:00.95, 14th)
100 BACKSTROKE:
Berkoff immediately followed with the defense of her 100-yard backstroke title. The sophomore entered the meet as the favorite, posted the top time in the prelims and cruised to her second-straight ACC victory in the event with a 50.45 meet record. NC State has now won the 100-yard backstroke every season since 2017.
Just a reminder that the #WW have won the last five ACC 100 backstroke titles!@_katpoop has taken 🥇 in the last two 😎#GoPack pic.twitter.com/dg4nEFvf7N
— NC State Swimming & Diving (@packswimdive) February 20, 2021
Danika Huizinga also qualified for the A final. After cracking the NC State top 10 with a 52.90 in the prelims, she went 52.94 in the finals for seventh.
• B finalist: Katey Lewicki (53.34, 13th)
400 IM:
Kate Moore earned another silver medal, this time in the 400-yard individual medley. A two-time champion in the event, Moore finished in 4:04.73 and was just split seconds off her lifetime best that ranks first in program history.
Emma Muzzy joined her in the A final, with her 4:05.60 checking in at fourth. Both of their times were season bests.
400 MEDLEY RELAY:
The Pack continued its silver medal relay streak on Friday night, ending its penultimate day of competition with second place in the 400-yard medley relay. Berkoff (50.53), Hansson (57.98), Kylee Alons (50.21) and Maccausland (48.16) teamed up for the 3:26.88 time that took over as the fastest mark in program history.
100 BUTTERFLY:
Alons picked up her second individual podium finish of the meet and took third place in the 100-yard butterfly. The NC State junior bettered her own program record in the prelims (51.11) and lowered that mark even further to 50.74 in the A final. Her NCAA A cut time made her the first Wolfpack woman in the team's history to touch in under 51 seconds in the event.
• B finalist: Abby Arens (52.07, 10th)
200 FREESTYLE:
Julia Poole was the solo A finalist for the Pack in the 200-yard freestyle. She took home another bronze medal in 1:45.53.
PLATFORM:
The Wolfpack women finished up diving action on Friday morning with action on platform. Freshman Mary O'Neill secured a top-24 finish, with her score of 220.85 coming in at 16th overall.
UP NEXT:
The Wolfpack women and NC State's men's divers will conclude competition at the 2021 ACC Championships with a final day of action on Saturday. Prelims will begin at 11 a.m., the men's platform final is slated to start at 3 p.m., the 1,650-yard freestyle prelim heats will be raced beginning at 4 p.m. and swimming finals are set to start at 7 p.m. Saturday's session will be broadcast live on the ACCNX.
#GoPack | @packswimdive
Players Mentioned
