While most N.C. State fans were glued to a television to see their beloved men’s basketball team play in the first round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Dayton, Ohio, the women’s swimming and diving team took to the pool next door in Indianapolis, Ind., for the NCAA Championships.
The action for the Wolfpack began Mar. 21. The Pack competed in the 200-meter freestyle relay, 50-meter freestyle, 400-meter medley relay and 1-meter diving events.
“We got off to a slow start at the NCAA Championships,” head coach Braden Holloway said.
“We put together the best lineup we could to put ourselves in position to score some points, but we came up a little short,” Holloway said. “We’ll need to execute our races better on Friday in order to get ourselves on the board.”
In the 200-meter freestyle relay, sophomore Hannah Freyman, senior Marifrances Henley, senior Allison Hendren and freshman Riki Bonnema teamed up to finish with a time of 1:30.60. Bonnema and junior Zina Grogg participated in the 50-meter freestyle, timing in at 22.95 and 23.38, respectively.
In the 400-meter medley relay, Freyman, sophomore Lauren Poli, Grogg and Henley combined to record a time of 3:40.09. Sophomore Rachel Mumma earned a score of 271.65.
“It’s everyone’s first time being here so we have to make some adjustments and learn how to be fast and that’s all part of the learning curve, but we hope to get out of the learning curve on day two,” Holloway added.
The Wolfpack began day two with the 200-meter medley relay event. Freyman, Poli, Grogg and Bonnema combined to record a time of 1:40.10. Freyman began the relay with her backstroke and recording a time of 25.66, followed by Poli with a 28.44 with the breaststroke. Grogg swam a 23.62 in the butterfly segment and Bonnema concluded the event with a 22.38 in the freestyle.
Grogg also competed as an individual in the 100-meter backstroke event, recording a time of 53.91, beating her personal best of 55.08 recorded Jan. 16, at Virginia Tech.
State recorded a time of 7:18.41 in the 800-meter freestyle relay with the help of Freyman, Henley, freshman Kirstin Connors and senior Allison Hendren.
In diving, senior Hannah Hopkins and sophomore Rachel Mumma competed on the 3-meter diving board. Hopkins earned a score of 293.20, while Mumma earned a score of 259.10.
The NCAA Championships concluded March 23. N.C. State competed in 400-meter freestyle relay, 100-meter freestyle and the platform diving event.
Freyman, Henley, Hendren and Bonnema teamed up to record a time of 3:19.84 in the 400-meter freestyle relay giving the Wolfpack its third best mark in school history.
Henley also competed in the 100-meter freestyle event, beating her personal best of 50.81 recorded Nov. 15, 2012, at the Janis Hope Dowd Nike Cup with a time of 49.57.
Senior diver Hannah Hopkins concluded her collegiate career by claiming All-America honors in the platform diving event. Hopkins posted a score of 272.95 in the preliminaries and a 280.65 (13th) in the finals.
The All-America honor was the second in as many years for Hopkins after her seventh-place finish at last year’s NCAA Championships. Hopkins scored four points for the Wolfpack team total in the process.
Georgia brought home the top honors with a score of 477, followed by California (393), and Tennessee (325.5). N.C. State finished 37th.
The N.C. State men’s swimming and diving team will compete at the 2013 NCAA Championships, March 28 through March 30. The meet will also be held in Indianapolis, Ind.
