NC State’s swimming and diving squad wrapped up a perfect opening weekend as it defeated No. 24 North Carolina on Saturday.
- Women: NC State 224, North Carolina 167
- Men: NC State 212.5, North Carolina 201.5
- Results
Women’s Meet
The Pack swam the fastest time in every single swimming event that was contested and picked up 1-2-3 finishes in a pair of races. Kate Moore led the way with three individual victories apiece as a total of six Wolfpack women won multiple events on the night and three posted NCAA B cut times.
Friday night marked the first collegiate action in the pool for both teams since the 2020 ACC Championship meet, and the squads swam an adjusted slate of events to get back in the swing of things.
Berkoff (24.47), Anna Shumate (28.39), Sirena Rowe (23.44) and Alons (21.98) opened with a solid 200-yard medley relay performance, taking the win with a time of 1:38.28 that currently ranks second nationally. The Pack also closed out the meet with the 200-yard freestyle relay win.
NC State’s two sweeps came in the 600-yard freestyle, led by a first-place finish from Kate Moore (5:50.33), and the 100-yard freestyle, where Emma Muzzy touched first (56.34).
Moore then went on to win the 400-yard freestyle (3:51.74) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.18) to round out her day.
Berkoff (100-yard backstroke, 52.68), Alons (100-yard freestyle, 49.40) and Julia Poole (200-yard individual medley) were the three members of the squad to secure NCAA B times on the night.
Heather Maccausland won both the 50-yard (28.81) and 100-yard (1:02.33) breaststroke races, and freshman Abby Arens (50 butterfly, 100 butterfly) also picked up a pair of top finishes in her Wolfpack debut, with her 100 butterfly time (54.15) cracking the NC State top 10.
Divers Katelyn Cook and Mary O’Neill also opened their seasons with competition on both one-meter and three-meter.
“Tonight, was all about getting back into competition,” said second-year Carolina head coach Mark Gangloff. Getting into the blocks, racing your competitors and ultimately throwing it all out there was my aim for the night and what I encouraged them to do was take some chances and race as hard as they could and they did that.”
Grace Countie brought home a trio of second place finishes in the freestyle events. She began the evening with a second in the 50 Free (23.38). Countie added runner-up placements in the 100 free (50.88) and 150 free (1:20.75) events.
The Tar Heels finished second and third in the 50 breaststroke as Lilly Higgs was second at 28.83, while Allie Reiter was third in the 50 breast (28.86) and the 100 breast (1:02.82).
Sophie Lindner picked up a runner-up spot in the 50 backstroke (25.40) and 100 backstroke (54.29) events.
Addison Smith, in her Tar Heel debut after transferring from Princeton, placed second in both the 200 freestyle (1:50.88) and the 400 freestyle (3:53.67).
Carolina posted a handful of third place finishes as well against the defending ACC champs. Ellie VanNote was third in both the 50 butterfly (25.23) and 100 butterfly (55.79), Amy Dragelin checked in third in the 200 Individual Medley (2:02.51) and Heidi Lowe finished third in the 50 Free at 23.41.
The 200-medley relay squad of Lindner, Higgs, VanNote and Lowe were second with a time of 1:41.33.
The 200 free relay group of Lowe, Cole, Countie and freshman Brieanna Romney finished second with a time of 1:32.74.
Carolina had a great showing in diving, finishing 1-2-3 in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. Emily Grund set a new personal best with a score of 358.35, the third best total on the 3-meter in program history. She was followed by Paige Burrell (300.45) and Taylor Hockenberry (255.75).
Grund (278.78) also took first in the 1-meter, followed by Hockenberry (255.90) and Burrell (235.05).
“We were very, very happy to get back and compete and perform. We’re finally up and going and it was really fun to to see them compete and do what they love to do,” said head diving coach Yaidel Gamboa.
“It’s really rewarding today because we increased the difficulty of the dives. We think that will put us in a good position for the end of the season.”
Men’s Meet
In total, the NC State swimming & diving men’s team posted the fastest time in 10 swimming events, including all three individual medley races that were contested. Sophomore Hunter Tapp led the way with individual victories in three events, with John Healy, Eric Knowles and Michael Moore also completing multi-win outings.
Saturday marked the first collegiate action in the pool for both teams since the 2020 ACC Championship meet, and the squads swam an adjusted slate of events to get back in the swing of things.
Sprint freestyler Tapp put on a show as he touched first in the 50-yard (20.51), 100-yard (44.16) and 150-yard (1:10.85) events. Healy put together a pair of wins of his own in the 100-yard (49.50) and 150-yard (1:18.13) backstroke races.
The Pack’s IM crew continued to show off its strength as it posted the top three times in the 200-yard race. Moore led the way in 1:50.51, followed by Knowles (1:50.73), Conall Monahan (1:51.58) and Zachary Cram (1:53.12). Knowles and Moore also tied for first in the 100-yard individual medley with times of 51.51, and Knowles added a victory in the 300-yard race as well (2:52.79).
Ross Dant (600-yard freestyle, 5:22.33) and Zach Brown (150-yard butterfly, 1:16.51) also earned top finishes on the day.
Wolfpack divers Patrick O’Brien and Matt Sexton opened their seasons, with O’Brien earning a third-place finish on three-meter (326.10).
“We were racing one of the best teams in the country and almost peeked out a win. We fell a little short at the end, but for us, it’s a big growth moment for our program to be as competitive as we were today and to win as many races as we did,” said head coach Mark Gangloff.
“We are a much more well-rounded team… Last year, there were events that we were weak in, but this year, I think that we are really solid in every single event, which allows us to be competitive.”
In the first race of the meet, Carolina’s 200-yard medley relay of Tucker Burhans, Valdas Abaliksta, Boyd Poelke and Tyler Hill (1:27.73) edged out NC State by less than a second, setting a competitive tone for the rest of the morning.
The Tar Heels continued the trend of victories by a tight margin. Poelke placed first in the 50-yard butterfly (21.81) and 100-yard butterfly (47.76), and Burhans finished first in the 50-yard backstroke (22.37). Abaliksta and Jacob Rauch tag-teamed first and second in both the 50-yard breaststroke (24.85, 25.16) and the 100-yard breaststroke (54.90, 55.35).
Further, Hill and Tomas Sungaila secured second and third in the 50-yard freestyle (20.56, 20.72), and Sungaila and Koenigsperger pulled off second and third in the 100-yard freestyle (45.40, 45.42).
Later in the meet, Dimitrios Dimitriou out-touched an NCSU competitor to win first in the 400-yard freestyle (3:30.46). Dimitriou also placed first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:40.21), wrapping up the individual events on a high note for the Tar Heels.
To end the meet, Carolina closed out another competitive relay with Coan, Hill, Koenigsperger and Sungaila taking first in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:21.51). With this strong finish, the Tar Heels only fell to the Wolfpack by a slim margin of 11 points.
Men’s diving competed well, especially with the new additions of transfer Anton Down-Jenkins and freshman Conor Watling. Down-Jenkins took first the 1-meter (379.88) and 3-meter diving (396.00), and Alex Hart secured second in both events (340.65, 357.38). Conor Watling finished third in the 1-meter (273.00), which only allowed NCSU one spot on the podium the entire competition.
“It’s been a long beginning of the season, but we’re finally able to compete, and we’re really excited. It was fun to see them performing at a high level,” said Yaidel Gamboa, the head diving coach for the Tar Heels.
“I think the boys are doing great every day, they’re training really hard. Being able to get out and compete today is really going to motivate and help them to keep going and keep their mind on the big goal at the end of the season.”
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