Pack Men Prepped for Action at ACC Championships

Wednesday, February 24

Greensboro, N.C.

ALL DAY

NC State

ACC Championship (M Swimming)

Pack Men Prepped for Action at ACC Championships

2/23/2021 11:22:00 AM | Swimming

NC State's men have won the last six team titles

RALEIGH – The Wolfpack continues action at the 2021 ACC Championships as its men's swimmers wrap up conference action at the championship meet this weekend. The four-day meet only includes swimming events, as diving was contested last week, and is set to run Feb. 24-27 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Live video coverage of the event will be available on the ACC Network Extra. Streaming will cover both prelims and finals of each day of competition.

	2021 ACC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Date	Wednesday, Feb. 24 – Saturday, Feb. 27
Time	Wednesday: 4 p.m. finals Thursday: 10 a.m. prelims, 6 p.m. finals Friday, 10 a.m. prelims, 6 p.m. finals Saturday: 10 a.m. prelims, 4 p.m. mile heats, 6 p.m. finals
Location	Greensboro Aquatic Center • Greensboro, N.C.
Streaming	ACC Network Extra • Streaming begins at 10 a.m. each day Wednesday \| Thursday \| Friday \| Saturday
Additional Info	Live Stats • Schedule of Events • ACC Championship Central

MEET NOTEBOOK:
NC State's men have won 30 ACC team titles in the history of the program. Since the creation of the championship meet in 1962, the Pack has taken home 25 titles, including a conference-best 12 championship wins in a row from 1966 to 1982, and also won a share of the 1963 title.

The Wolfpack owns 358 titles in the swimming events that are still contested at the conference meet. The Pack men dominate the ACC record book. Headed into the 2021 ACC Championships, NC State has ownership of 10 meet records, with all of those having been sent by the Pack since 2017.

NC State has seen its men named ACC Meet MVP a total of 15 times as its swimmers have garnered the honors nine times and its divers six times. Last season, senior Coleman Stewart won the award for the second time in a row, making it four-straight seasons that a Wolfpack men's swimmer has been named MVP. Then-senior diver James Brady was named MVP on the diving side of things, the first men's diver to earn the honor since 2000.

DIVING RECAP:
NC State's men's divers competed in all three events at the Greensboro Aquatic Center last week. Matt Sexton reached the final on platform (313.35) as a freshman to score 23 points for the Pack in that event. In total, NC State had divers finish in the top 24 and in scoring position six times over the course of platform, one-meter and three-meter competition.

2020-21 IN REVIEW:
The Pack men head into the postseason with a perfect 5-0 record in head-to-head matchups, and they also won invitational action at the end of the fall semester.

NC State picked up wins over three opponents that were ranked at the time of competition, beating UNC twice as a ranked team and adding wins against No. 10 Virginia and No. 15 Virginia Tech.

The Pack has been ranked in the top six of the CSCAA/TYR Top 25 for the entirety of the season, checking in as high as No. 4 in the preseason and in the month of November. They are currently ranked fifth nationally headed into the postseason after moving up a spot in the latest poll, and they are the highest ranked ACC team with Louisville coming in at seventh.

SUCCESS UNDER HOLLOWAY:
Since Braden Holloway took over as head coach at the start of the 2011-12 season, the Wolfpack has enjoyed unparalleled success in the pool.

During the 2010-11 season, NC State's men finished eighth at the ACC Championships and did not score points at the NCAA Championships. NC State's men have since secured six-straight wins at the ACC Championships and finished a program-best No. 4 at the NCAA Championships in each of the last five national meets.

The Pack's men have won national titles at each of the last four NCAA Championships meets, including a program-best five event wins in 2018. NC State's 400-yard freestyle relay title in 2016 was its first for the men since Cullen Jones won the 50-yard freestyle in 2006.

TOP ACC MARKS:
NC State enters the ACC Championships with the top-seeded swimmers in both distance freestyle events and the top-seeded 800-yard freestyle relay team.

Eric Knowles (14:48.06) and Ross Dant (14:49.72) own the top two 1,650-yard freestyle teams in the conference this season. They lead the way for four swimmers who are in the top five in the conference, as James Plage's 15:03.32 ranks fourth and Owen Lloyd's 15:10.12 ranks fifth.

Dant and Knowles also own the top two 500-yard freestyle times coming into the meet, with Dant's season-best mark standing at 4:14.04 and Knowles' checking in barely after at 4:14.07.

NC State's 800-yard freestyle entry mark of 6:14.44 was an NCAA A cut that Luke Miller, Knowles, Zach Brown and Hunter Tapp posted at the UNC Invite in December.

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