N.C. State Sweeps Tennessee; Katharine Berkoff and Nyls Korstanje Shine For Wolfpack
North Carolina State kept its early-season roll going as it registered a sweep of Tennessee. The Wolfpack men claimed a 205-95 decision over the Volunteers while the women cruised to a triumph of 182-118.
N.C. State Press Release
INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
NC State’s evening was highlighted by four 1-2-3 finishes. The streak began with the men’s 1000-yard freestyle, where Ross Dant (9:02.55), James Plage (9:08.45), and Will Gallant (9:10.41) took the top three spots of the event. The trio completed the same task in the 500-yard freestyle, where they went 4:24.91 (Dant), 4:26.44 (Plage), 4:29.96 (Gallant), respectively.
In the men’s 50-yard freestyle, Nyls Korstanje (19.66), David Curtiss (19.74), and Noah Henderson (19.78) swept the podium and broke the 20-second barrier. Additionally, Korstanje took home another individual event title, touching the wall first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 46.41
Kacper Stokowski, Hunter Tapp, and Michael Moore rounded out the evening of sweeps by taking the top three spots in the 200-yard backstroke. Stokowski finished the event with a time of 1:43.83, while Tapp went 1:44.38 and Moore right behind him with a time of 1:45.73.
Katharine Berkoff took both of the backstroke events as she cruised to a time of 52.15 in the 100 and 1:54.05 in the 200 while teammate and fellow NCAA Champion Kylee Alons finished first in the 50-yard freestyle (22.62), 100-yard freestyle (49.46), and 100-yard butterfly (52.77)
Wolfpack senior Sophie Hansson swam a time of 59.34 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 2:09.89 in the 200-yard breaststroke to pick up her double victory of the evening.
Luke Miller showed his freestyle dominance by picking up a pair of first place finishes in the 100 (43.68) and 200-yard (1:34.98) freestyles. The top spot in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke belonged to five-time All-American Stokowski.
RELAY HIGHLIGHTS:
The Pack kicked off the meet Friday evening with solid first-place 200-yard medley relay finishes on both sides. The women’s quartet of Berkoff, Hansson, Alons, and Heather MacCausland captured the top spot with a time of 1:36.92. Stokowski, Rafal Kusto, Korstanje, and Curtiss combined their efforts to finish at 1:24.92. The NC State men’s B relay finished just under two seconds behind the A squad (1:26.80), out touching both of the Volunteer relay lineups.
NC State rounded out its Friday night win with a sweep in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Wolfpack women’s team of Abby Arens, Berkoff, MacCausland, and Abbey Webb just out touched Tennessee by a mere 0.14 seconds to win the team’s last event of the evening. On the men’s side, both of NC State’s foursomes finished ahead of the Vols, highlighted by the fastest time of Sam Hoover, Miller, Tapp, and Bartosz Piszczorowicz (2:53.36).
DIVING HIGHLIGHTS:
Wolfpack junior Helene Synnot picked up her first win of the season on three-meter with a score of 307.13, followed by runnerup teammate Ashton Zuburg with 296.48 points.
Tennessee Press Release
Tennessee swimming and diving came up short Friday night at NC State, as the Vols and Lady Vols fell to a pair of top-five foes at the Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center. The women dropped the meet 181-119 to the No. 3 Wolfpack, who finished as the national runner up last season. While the men had some impressive moments throughout the meet, fourth-ranked NC State came out with the 205-95 victory.
“There were a number of impressive, committed efforts for the men today,” associate head coach Rich Murphy said. “Jarel Dillard continued his inspirational career with two breaststroke wins. Kayky Mota scored a lot of points for his team, including a win in the 200 fly, which was timely and gave our men an added boost. Jordan Crooks made a big contribution, once again, and helped his teammates. Fellow freshman Gus Rothrock and sophomore Harrison Lierz continue to make strides. We look forward to their ongoing contributions. We will learn the lessons from today and be better for it moving forward. We appreciate the competitiveness of NC State in their home pool.”
Dillard had a strong performance, sweeping the breaststroke for the Vols and posting a pair of NCAA B Cut times in the 100 breast (52.84) and 200 breast (1:56.71). Michael Houlie, who finished second in the 100 breast with a time of 53.50, and Lyubomir Epitropov, who took third in the 200 breast behind a mark of 1:57.38, also notched NCAA B Cut times in their respective events.
Mota had a dominant showing in the 200 butterfly, notching an NCAA B Cut time of 1:45.76 to finish first by nearly two seconds. Crooks recorded the second-best time in the 100 freestyle with a mark of 44.22. He would throw down a personal-best 43.94 split in the 400 freestyle relay, helping the squad to a third-place finish to end the meet.
In diving, Bryden Hattie swept both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards for the second-straight meet, posting scores of 319.28 and 353.25, respectively. Grace Cable recorded the best women’s score on the 1-meter at 299.48, while placing second on the 3-meter.
One of the bright spots on the day for the women was when freshmen Julia Mrozinski (1:47.81) and Brooklyn Douthwright (1:48.54) finished first and second in the 200 freestyle. Douthwright also took second in the 100 free with a time of 50.02, while Mrozinski nabbed third.
Two of the best races came in the women’s 100 and 200 breaststroke between Olympian Mona McSharry and NC State’s Sophie Hansson, who is the reigning NCAA champion in both events. The two were neck and neck in both races, but McSharry narrowly missed getting the wins, finishing second with a pair of NCAA B Cut times.
Josephine Fuller posted the second-fastest time in the 100 backstroke with a mark of 54.16. Sara Stotler (2nd/1:57.30), Summer Smith (3rd/1:59.92) and Mallory Beil (4th/2:00.70) scored points in the 200 fly.
Jasmine Rumley (2nd/22.80) and McSharry (3rd/22.98) were part of a 50 freestyle race where first to third was determined by 0.32 seconds. Kristen Stege notched a second-place finish in the 500 free with a time of 4:53.02, while Aly Breslin and Summer Eaker also scored points in the event.
The Lady Vols narrowly missed getting the win in the 400 freestyle relay by 0.18 seconds. Mrozinski, Douthwright, Rumley and Tjasa Pintar teamed up to post a time of 3:19.56. UT also finished second in the 200 medley relay (1:39.42) with a lineup of Olivia Harper, McSharry, Trude Rothrock and Rumley.
“Lady Vol swimming and diving competed relentlessly today,” associate head coach Ashley Jahn said. “I’m proud of the effort from all of our athletes. We were exposed in areas that we need to be better, and yet, I see a lot of improvement already this season. There was great leadership from our veteran athletes, and everyone was tested in the competitive environment that NC State created. We grew today as a team, and we are looking forward to tomorrow morning.”
The two squads will face off again Saturday morning at 10 a.m. for a B meet, but that competition will not be scored.