A 5:30 a.m . practice, classes, then a 5 p.m . swim and dive meet an hour and a half away in Greenville.
That was the life of a swimmer on Wednesday as they competed against East Carolina University and topped off both the men and women’s team by scores of 132-104 for the men and 137-106 for the women.
Senior Conor Brennan who finished second on Wednesday night in the 100-yard freestyle race with a time of 46.82 believes that although it is mentally tough, the team overcame it and swam well.
“When we have meets, especially on the road, and with practice, then we had to go to school, and then to go to the meet, that’s asking a lot for any team,” Brennan said. “It’s not uncommon for teams to swim down to the level of the other team, but tonight we swam at the level that we have been all year, even though things like tests and papers are around this time of year.”
The Pack men came off its first ACC win under head coach Braden Holloway on Oct. 21 heading into the matchup against the Pirates. The men now stand 2-1 (1-1 ACC) while the women are 1-2 (0-2 ACC) for the year.
Despite not having a home meet yet, Coach Holloway thinks his team has done a good job of preparing themselves for away meets. However, he said they are ready for their first home meet this Saturday, Nov. 5th.
“It’s an interesting set up, which kind of makes it tough during the school week trying to get some kids to scramble academically and plus being in a training cycle for a week makes it interesting as well,” Holloway said. “Being in an environment that they’re not familiar with, I think they did another good job of preparing themselves well and getting ready to compete.”
N.C. State women finished first nine times with Marifrances Henley winning the 1,000-yard freestyle in a time of 10:09.49, the fastest time on the team this year, Kayla Grim finishing on top in the 200-yard IM at 2:07.53 and Shelbly Hoyt at 5:00.28 in the 500-yard freestyle.
Brandon Kingston and Julianna Prim took first in the 200-yard freestyle for the men’s and women’s teams. The men took first in all but three events, led by Hudson Rains who won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. Mike Camper finished with a time of 4:41.34 in the 500-yard freestyle along with Brian Via winning the 1000-yard freestyle at 9:40.51.
The team will return to 5:30 a.m. practice in the morning, but according to Henley, the intensity level for the student-athletes needs to stay strong day after day going into their first home meet against the Duke Blue Devils
“I think our team did a really good job in our attitude this meet and with Coach Holloway being intense and changing the dynamics of the team into being more positive and energetic, we really want to go out there and win,” Henley said. “Learning our strengths and our weaknesses will help us improve for our meet against Duke.”
The Pack will be at home in the Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center at 11 a.m. on Saturday against Duke and the Savannah College of Art and Design. Diving competition will take place at 10:30 a.m. inside the Taishoff Aquatic Pavillion in Durham.
Coach Holloway is hoping to get his first home win as the new head coach for the Wolfpack.
“When you look at the matchup between us and Duke, it is going to be a battle. Our teams complement each other very well,” Holloway said. ” It’s going to be a heavy weight bite for both the men and the women, but I’m looking forward to it, those meets are fun where seriously every single point counts and everyone is battling out, whenever you get an opportunity you want to edge, it’s going to be a fun meet.”
