This past weekend in Greensboro, the Wolfpack women’s swimming and diving team broke school records, won multiple ACC championship titles and took home second place overall in team standings at the ACC Championships.
On the first day of the competition, the team started off strong with senior Rachel Mumma taking home the gold medal and an ACC champion title for the one-meter dive. This title is the first since 2010 for the NC State diving program.
“We couldn’t be happier with Rachel,” head diving coach Yahya Radman said. “What a boost of confidence for our senior, program and recruiting efforts. People are taking notice of us, and Rachel has played a big role in putting NC State diving on the map.”
Finishing off the day, the Wolfpack’s 200 medley relay team of senior Ashlyn Koletic, junior Kayla Brumbaum, junior Natalie Labonge and senior Riki Bonnema took home third place with a time of 1:36.43 and for the fifth year in a row, broke the school record in this event at the ACC Championships.
“[Wednesday] was a lot of fun,” head coach Braden Holloway said. “Congrats to our ladies for getting these championships off to a fantastic start. With getting on the podium in all three events tonight, I don’t think we could’ve scripted it any better.”
On day two of the competition, the 200 freestyle relay team of Bonnema, Koletic, Labonge and sophomore Krista Duffield posted a time of 1:27.50 to win the program’s fourth-straight title in the event. The mark stands as an ACC meet, conference and school record, as well as the second-fastest time in the nation.
“It was an amazing feeling defending our title again,” Labonge said. “We know that we have a strong relay, but knowing that we can compete on a national level gets us excited for NCAA’s in a few weeks.”
Also on the second day, the Wolfpack had someone on the podium for every event, which has never happened before for the team.
In the 500 freestyle, sophomore Hannah Moore took third place with a time of 4:38.53. In the 50 free, Bonnema took second place with a time of 21.94 and Labonge placed third with a personal-best time of 22.23. In the individual medley, junior Alexia Zevnik earned second place with a career-best time of 1:56.02.
On day three of the competition, the 400 medley relay team comprised Zevnik, Brumbaum, Duffield and Bonnema, took third place with a school-record time of 3:30.58.
In the individual medley, Moore broke a school record and claimed third place with a time of 4:07.64 and earned All-ACC Honors.
In the 100 butterfly, Labonge placed third with a school-record time of 51.93. This top-three performance earned her All-ACC honors.
In the 100 backstroke, Zevnik took home second place with a school-record time of 51.27 and earned All-ACC Honors.
“It really is incredible,” Zevnik said. “Swimming your best time is always what you aim for, and standing on that podium is the cherry on top.”
The last day of the competition, the 400 freestyle relay team of Zevnik, Bonnema, freshman Courtney Caldwell and Labonge swam their way to a school, conference and ACC meet record time of 3:11.90 to capture the program’s second-straight event title.
“I know I’m swimming set the rest of those girls up, to get them going,” Zevnik said. “Not just to give them a lead, but to give them my time and hopefully be fast enough to hype them up and get them to go just as fast, if not faster.”
In the 1,650 free, Moore took second place with a school record pace of 15:50.46, and junior Rachel Muller took third with a career-best time of 16:02.15.
In the 100 free, Bonnema placed third with a time of 48.50, while Labonge took fourth with a time of 48.51.
In the 200 backstroke, Zevnik earned her third runner-up finish of the meet, with a time of 1:51.26 to beat her school record.
“Every girl on this team were on a mission this year, and worked hard for their success.” Holloway said. “We are definitely really proud of them and this weekend was a lot of fun.”
The Wolfpack women will return to Raleigh to prepare for the NCAA Championships in March, while the men will take its trip to Greensboro, North Carolina, Wednesday through Saturday for the 2016 Men’s Swimming ACC Championships.