This past week in Atlanta, the NC State men’s swimming and diving team made history, finishing fourth overall,tying the highest finish in program history. In 1955, the Pack won the ACC Championships and finished fourth in the NCAAs.
Over the span of four days, 11 swimmers nabbed 38 All-America honors and broke 17 school, conference and pool records.
On Day One of the competition, the Pack came out strong with a second-place finish in the 800-meter freestyle relay with a team consisting of senior Simonas Bilis, sophomore Ryan Held, freshman Justin Ress and junior Soren Dahl. The relay team posted a time of 6 minutes, 9.58 seconds, which set a new school record, a new ACC-record and earned them first team All-America honors.
Bilis’ leadoff split of 1:32.02 stands as both a school and conference record. This is the second-straight year that NC State has taken the runner-up spot in this event. The Pack ended Day One in second place overall.
On Day Two, the 200 freestyle relay team of Bilis, junior Joe Bonk, junior Andreas Schiellerup and Held took home the Wolfpack’s second runner-up finish of the championship with a time of 1:15.09. This time earned them All-America honors, a new school and an ACC record.
“The 200 free relay was a great start for us,” said head coach Braden Holloway. “It was a great battle with Texas. Our guys went really fast, and it was a great relay for us.”
In the 400 medley relay, the team of sophomore Hennessey Stuart, junior Derek Hren, freshman Jon Burkett and Bonk took eighth with a time of 3:08.12.
In the 500 freestyle, sophomore Anton Ipsen took home seventh and first-team All-America honors with a time of 4:14.04. This marks his second top-16 finish in this event. Also in this event, junior Adam Linker touched the wall at 4:18.22 to get him 15th place and an honorable mention All-America honors.
In the 50 freestyle, Bilis took second with a time of 18.84 seconds and earned his third All-America honors of his career in this event. Held finished the event in seventh place with a time of 19.20 seconds, earning his second career All-America honors in this event. Schiellerup took 15th place in the event with a time of 19.51, gaining an honorable mention All-America honors.
In the 200 individual medley, senior Christian McCurdy placed 15th with a time of 1:46.08, earning him an honorable mention All-America honors, which is the first honor in this event of his career.
“We’re walking away with a lot of school records, a few ACC records, individual and relay, so it was a good day for us,” Holloway said.
The Pack ended Day Two in fourth place overall.
On Day Three, the 200 medley relay team of Stuart, Hren, Bilis and Held finished 10th with a time of 1:24.28, gaining each of them an honorable mention All-America honors.
In the 200 freestyle, Bilis took third place to get a first team All-America honors with a time of 1:32.10, marking his first honor in the event and the 17th of his career.
In the 100 backstroke, Stuart got seventh place with a time of 45.73, gaining him a first-team All-America honors, the third of his career. Schiellerup took 15th in the event with a time of 46.12 seconds, getting him an honorable mention All-America honors. The Pack ended the day in fourth place.
On the final day of competition, the 400 relay team of Held, Bilis, Schiellerup and Dahl made history, taking home the NCAA title in the event with a time of 2:46.41, which marked a new school, conference and pool record. This victory also marked the first relay championship title the Wolfpack had captured at the national meet.
In the 1,650 freestyle, Ipsen took home his second-consecutive fifth-place finish with a time of 14:35.35, which broke his old school record and earned him a first team All-America honors. Linker also competed in this event, finishing 16th with a time of 14:52.78 to earn his second honorable mention All-America honor this week.
In the 100 freestyle, Bilis captured his third top-three finish this week, placing second with a time of 41.18 seconds to break the school and conference record and get a first team All-America honors. This performance also marks Bilis as the fifth-fastest all-time 100 free swimmer in history.
Held finished fourth in the 100 free with a time of 41.77 seconds to earn his seventh All-America honor of the meet and 11th of his career.
In the 200 backstroke, Stuart gained his second first-team All-America honor with a time of 1:38.56 to finish third in the event. His performance stands as a school and ACC record.
In the 200 butterfly, McCurdy collected his third first-team All-America honor of his career when he finished fifth in the event with a time of 1:41.06.
As the 2016 season wraps up, the team will return to Raleigh to prepare for the Olympic Trials which will start in April for select swimmers.
