The NC State women’s swimming and diving team, as well as the men’s diving team, will be competing in the ACC Championships this Wednesday through Saturday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
The Wolfpack women are ranked No. 15 in the nation behind conference opponents No. 8 Virginia and No. 10 Louisville. No. 21 UNC-Chapel Hill, No. 22 Notre Dame, No. 24 Virginia Tech and No. 25 Florida State round out the ACC teams in the top 25.
This season the Wolfpack has faced off against Duke, Virginia and UNC in dual meets, with its only loss against an ACC opponent occurring against Virginia.
NC State’s women are the defending champs and will look to defend their title on the backs of sophomore Ky-Lee Perry and senior Hannah Moore, who are both ranked highly in their respective events.
For this championship meet, swimmers are only allowed to enter three individual events.
Moore will mostly likely be entered in the 500-yard freestyle, where she has the fourth-fastest qualifying time of 4:42.16, 400-yard individual medley, where her time of 4:08.74 is the second-best in the field, and the 1,650-yard freestyle, where she leads the field with a time of 15:54.42.
She is also entered on the timesheet in the 200-yard freestyle, but seeing that she is ranked 19th in that event and it comes after the 400 IM, it seems almost certain that it will be the individual event dropped for her.
Perry might not compete in the ACC Championships at all, as her dislocated elbow that she suffered in January made her a possible no-go to defend her 50-yard freestyle title from a year ago.
Her fourth-ranked time in the event at just over 22 seconds is probably good enough to get her to the NCAA Championships. Perry is also entered in the 100-yard freestyle, where her time is 12th best, and the 100-yard backstroke, where she has the 20th-fastest time. Perry, if she swims, will also be competing on most, if not all, of the women’s relays.
Freshman Julia Poole qualified in first for the 200-yard individual medley and fourth in the 400 IM behind Moore. Freshman Kate Moore, Hannah Moore’s younger sister, ranks fifth in the 400 IM. Poole, a great breaststroker, is qualified 11th and seventh in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events, respectively.
Kate Moore is 11th in the 500 free, 12th in the 200 IM, 15th in the 200-yard backstroke and 30th in the 100 back. Her strongest event is the 400 IM.
The NC State women’s hope of a repeat championship rest both on the experience of Hannah Moore and on some fresh faces that have impressed this season.
As for diving, the women have sophomores Rachel Burston and Madeline Kline as well as junior Bailey Revels who are ranked 19th, 20th and 21st, respectively, in all three events. Sophomore James Brady, freshman Holt Gray and junior Stewart Spanbauer are the men’s best chances in diving.
