Pack Dominates Day Four of ACC Championships with Five Titles

Pack Dominates Day Four of ACC Championships with Five Titles

2/17/2023 10:37:00 PM | Swimming

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The NC State men's and women's swimming and diving teams pulled off a spectacular finals session on the fourth night of the 2023 ACC Swimming and Diving Championships. Winning four back-to-back Conference Championship titles to begin the night, the Pack men own the team scoring lead over second place Louisville by 435.5 points and the Wolfpack women passed Louisville to take over the second place spot with 942 points.

NC State picked up wins in the both 200-yard butterfly events and both 100-yard backstroke events with Abby Arens (women's 200-yard butterfly), Aiden Hayes (men's 200-yard butterfly), Katharine Berkoff (women's 100-yard backstroke), and Kacper Stokowski (men's 100-yard backstroke) bringing home the wins. The men's 400-yard medley relay squad of Stokowski, Hunter, Korstanje, and Miller posted a time that broke the conference, meet, and program records in the event.

Women's 200-yard butterfly:
After winning the same event at last year's meet, Abby Arens maintained her reigning Conference Champion status in the event by putting her hand on the wall first (1:52.91). Joining her in the championship final, sophomore Grace Sheble finished just off of the podium in fourth place (1:55.59). Caroline Sheble dropped two seconds from her prelims swim to win the C final (1:57.89).

Men's 200-yard butterfly:
Following the energy built in the previous event, sophomore Aiden Hayes brought home the win in the 200-yard butterfly, going 1:40.21 ahead of second place-finishing teammate Noah Bowers (1:41.14). Both men recorded personal best times in the event. Luke Miller took fourth (1:42.57) and Michael Moore went 1:45.24 for 13th overall.

Women's 100-yard backstroke:
Katharine Berkoff repeated her status as Conference Champion in the event having earned the title all four years of her college career. Her time of 49.45 seconds marks the fastest time in the country this season. With three other Wolfpack women joining Berkoff in the final, freshman Kennedy Noble earned a place on the podium (third place - 51.59), Emma Muzzy finished sixth (52.10), and Kylee Alons secured seventh place (52.26). Annabel Crush posted a time of 52.68 seconds from the B final for 12th place overall.

Men's 100-yard backstroke:
Capping off the individual winning streak for the Pack, senior Kacper Stokowski posted the fastest time in the country this season with his first place finishing time (44.47) in the event. Giovanni Izzo joined him on the podium to earn a bronze medal after going 45.46. Hunter Tapp finished 12th with a personal best time (45.85).

Women's 100-yard breaststroke:
Heather MacCausland dropped almost a full second from her prelims performance to earn a spot on the podium for the first time of her career, taking the silver (58.22). Andrea Podmanikova finished fourth for the Wolfpack women (58.69) and freshman Aubree Brouwer claimed eighth in the first conference championship final of her career (1:00.04).

Men's 100-yard breaststroke:
The only Wolfpack swimmer in the event on the men's side, graduate student Mason Hunter set a program record in prelims and lowered it again in finals to take the bronze medal (51.57).

Women's platform diving:
NC State's divers picked up points on the platform with Ashton Zuburg leading the way for 19th place (207.25). Helene Synnott finished 21st (204.05) and Clara Tate scored 196.10 points for 24th overall.

Women's 400-yard Medley Relay:
Katharine Berkoff (49.73), Heather MacCausland (58.27), Kylee Alons (50.63), Abby Arens put up the second-fastest time in the country with their second place finishing time of 3:26.28.

Men's 400-yard Medley Relay:
The Pack men capped off the night with an ACC Championship title in the 400-yard medley relay (3:01.10). Kacper Stokowski (44.67), Mason Hunter (50.86), Nyls Korstanje (44.33), and Luke Miller (41.24) put together a race that broke the conference, meet, and program records

Up next:
The Wolfpack men and women return on Saturday for the final day of competition with prelims beginning at 9:30 a.m. and finals starting at 6 p.m. Mile heats are slate to start at 2:45 p.m. The ACC Network Extra is set to cover the full day of competition.