NC State swimming and diving earned a win at the inaugural Dual Meet Tournament, an eight-team contest held at Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center.
The Wolfpack beat out Georgia 443-314 to take the top spot. The No. 7 NC State men lost to the No. 9 Bulldogs 216-156, but the No. 10 Wolfpack women’s lead of 287-99 brought home the win. The Pack women were dominant, winning all but one individual event versus the No. 12 Georgia women.
Both the men and women won the 400-meter freestyle relays. On the women’s side, senior Cassie Moses led off the 400-meter freestyle relay with a personal-best time of 47.72. Freshman Lily King swam 47.60, sophomore Lily Christianson split 48.19 and graduate Olivia Nel anchored a blazing 47.19 for a finish of 3:10.70, a half-a-second improvement over last year’s NCAA championships.
Nel also earned first place in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 48.05, while Moses won the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.22. Senior Kennedy Noble won the 200-meter individual medley in 1:56.94.
For the men, sophomore Kaii Winkler led off with 41.38, a nation-leading time and personal best by a hundredth of a second. Junior Jerry Fox swam 41.63 in the second leg, senior Drew Salls made 42.25 and freshman Bjornar Laskerud closed the relay with an individual time of 43.85 for a 2:49.11 finish, four seconds ahead of the Bulldogs.
Salls also took the 50-meter freestyle in 19.23, the seventh-quickest time in the country, while Winkler set an even faster personal-best in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 41.23.
Freshman Eneli Jefimova won the women’s 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:07.38, the fastest in the nation so far this year.
In the men’s 100-meter backstroke, junior Hudson Williams placed first with a time of 45.37. Against Florida State, he swam the same event in 45.13, the fifth-fastest time in the country.
Sophomore Erika Pelaez won the women’s 100-meter backstroke with a time of 51.41, and sophomore Leah Shackley won the women’s 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:55.68.
Freshman Riley McGrath and junior Grace Hurley earned firsts in the three and one-meter dives with scores of 134.80 and 118.70.
On its way to the final, the Pack overcame Georgia Tech 466-315 and Florida State 453-322. This event is a promising start to a season where both men’s and women’s teams were voted to the top-10 of the CSCAA October Division I Dual Meet Poll.
The Wolfpack will look for more wins when it hosts Ohio State and Virginia Tech at home Nov. 7-8.
