RALEIGH, N.C.- The NC State swimming and diving team will compete in its last dual meet of the 2014-15 regular season as it hosts Tobacco Road rival UNC-Chapel Hill for its senior meet on Saturday, Jan. 31.
Competition is slated for a 1 p.m. start inside the Casey Aquatic Center, while the program’s senior class will be honored prior to the matchup.
Saturday will mark the second consecutive competition that both the Wolfpack men and women will face ranked opponents.
Holloway’s Statement
On recapping the 2014-15 regular season
“It’s been a fast year and it seems as though this year went faster than others. I feel really confident about our season and believe we’ve grown a lot as a team. We’ve gotten better in some areas we needed to improve in but there’s still some places that we still need to get better in looking ahead for the future of the program.
“We’re always growing and always trying to find new ways to develop our team and get them to the next level. We’ve continued to move forward this season- we lost a really great senior class last year and felt like our team picked up to keep us moving in the right direction.
On Senior Day
“This year we’re going to lose another outstanding senior class, which will be hard. Saturday will be a good celebration of their careers and going through the changes they’ve seen the program go through, but it will be sad because they’ve been a staple point for us and they’ve been great leaders for four years. We want to honor them as best we can this meet and I want them to have fun.”-Braden Holloway, head coach
Last Time Out
NC State hosted Minnesota in a two-day dual meet inside the Casey Aquatic Center. In addition to setting 14 new pool records and sweeping all eight relays, the men earned a 201-127 victory over the 23rd-ranked men while the women defeated the No. 11 Gophers 189-145.
Last Time the Two Teams Met
Last time NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill met was Nov. 20-22 when the Tar Heels hosted the Nike Cup Invitational. The Wolfpack men captured first place with 1521 points while the women finished third with 1396.5 points.
The Tar Heel men and women finished second of eight teams in the three-day competition. The men tallied 1490 points while the women earned 1685 points.
Wolfpack in the National Rankings
The men jumped up nine spots in the latest CSCAA Swimming and Diving Rankings poll, released Jan. 22, moving to No. 8 in the nation.
The Wolfpack women bumped up to the 12th-ranked spot in the latest rankings, released on Jan. 29.
*The CSCAA rankings are released on a weekly basis throughout the 2014-15 season, alternating weeks between a men’s and women’s team ranking.
Scouting UNC-Chapel Hill
UNC-CH will host Duke inside the Koury Natatorium on Friday, Jan. 30 before heading to Raleigh on Saturday. The No. 5 Tar Heel women will enter Friday’s matchup with an 11-2 record, while the 20th-ranked men hold a 10-3 record on the season.
In its last time out, the team traveled to Charlottesville, Va., to face ACC foe Virginia. The women earned a 184-105 victory while the men defeated the Cavaliers 192-106.
Willis was also the coach of the 1959 US vs Japan dual meets in Japan. The US team won the met in the second one in Osaka in front of 20,000 swim fans.A great 3 wek trip that hasn’t been duplicated since 1963 withe the swimming, touring and hospitality. This was the first win in a long series.
Notice the name of the swimming complex at NC State. Willis Casey was a fabulous Coach and personality in the 50’s and 60’s and then became AD. Along with his brother Ralph at Univ. of North Carolina in the 50’s had some interesting rivalry Dual Meets with an unusal group of swimmers. The two of them would come to NCAA’s with the team scoring figured out in a time when their was only a phone and mail and very little published times. Great men to listen to and great in their recruiting abilities. Ralph went to Southern Illinois for a great carrer.
I agree! It has been an unbelievable four years as they have constantly improved to a level
where they are a respectable and consistent TOP TWENTY program. The women had a longer way to go and they have proven to be a tough bunch. Should be a fun meet this Saturday.
The Virginia schools will be watching this one!!
Interesting thought – this is the last class that Braden did not recruit. Amazing to think that the Pack has made this meteoric rise in such a short time with talent they developed, not talent they recruited. This, I think, says an awful lot for the coaching ability of this staff. I think of Seniors Lauren Poli and David Williams who were 24.4 and 21.0 respectively out of HS. Poli was recruited as a breastroker. Now they have been 22.3 and 19.1. Pretty awesome!