NC State, Virginia Tech Wrap Up Dual Meet Season As NC State Sweeps At Home

Virginia Tech v. NC State

• January 30, 2021
• Casey Aquatic Center, Raleigh, NC
• Dual Meet Format
• SCY
• Full Results
• Scores
  • Women: NC State 168, Virginia Tech 126
  • Men: NC State 164, NC State 135

Women

NC State won their final home meet of the season with a 42-point margin of victory over the visiting Virginia Tech Hokies, despite some of the Wolfpack’s top stars swimming outside of their normal events, and exhibitioning a few swims.

The Wolfpack bookended the meet with wins in the relays. They opened up the day’s racing by sweeping the top three spots in the 200 medley relay. The team of Kylee Alons (24.56), Olivia Calegan (28.35), Sirena Rowe (23.72), and Heather MacCausland (22.47), touched in 1:39.10. They closed things up by touching first in the 200 free relay with a 1:30.62, although  that was one of several events that was exhibitioned.

Kylee Alons led the Wolfpack women with three individual event wins. She got rolling with a 53.61 win in the 100 back, an event in which she went 51.81 at the UNC Invite but doesn’t swim regularly in dual meets. The sprint star then won the 100 free in 49.74, before closing out the meet with a 2:00.15 in the 200 IM. Alons doesn’t swim that too often either, usually swimming the 100 fly, but she touched the wall first today, although that was one event NC State exhibitioned.

Freshman Megan Pulley was the only other Wolfpack swimmer to earn two individual wins, as she swept the butterfly events with times of 54.75 and 1:59.46. Fellow freshman Abby Arens took the 200 breast in 2:12.96.

NC State also got wins from stars Sophie Hansson (1:01.30 in the 100 breast) and Emma Muzzy (1:54.49). A pair of seniors did come away with wins at their Senior Day: Julia Poole won the 200 free in 1:49.21, and Victoria Fonville took the 50 free in 22.95

We didn’t see any big absences among the Wolfpack women, but several women who’d you normally expect to see winning dual meet events (e.g., Katharine Berkoff) swam off events.

While NC State took the lion’s share of the wins, the Virginia Tech women managed to capitalize in the diving and distance free events.

In a fun twist, the Travis sisters went 1-2 in both of the distance free events. In the 1000 free, the pair battled back and forth for roughly the first half of the race before freshman Chase Travis took a narrow lead. Sophomore Brooke Travis matched her younger sister nearly stroke for stroke to the end of the race, but couldn’t quite catcher her, as Chase won 9:59.80 to 9:59.98. Chase also got the victory in the 500 free, touching out Brooke, 4:54.43 to 4:55.05.

Teagan Moravek swept the diving events for the Hokies.

Men’s Recap

The Hokies earned a few wins on the men’s side, but the ultimate result was the same, as NC State won by a 29-point margin.

Once again, NC State opened and closed the competition with relay victories. In the 200 medley, Kacper Stokowski (22.06), Rafal Kusto (24.16), Luke Sobolewski (20.90), and Giovanni Izzo (19.76) won by over a second, beating Virginia Tech’s ‘A’ relay, 1:26.88 to 1:28.30. It was closer at the end of the day, but Stokowski (20.55), Hunter Tapp (19.65), Noah Henderson (19.60) and Izzo (19.77) took the win in 1:19.57 to 1:19.94

Individually, sophomore distance ace Ross Dant led the Wolfpack with two individual victories, sweeping the distance events with a 9:05.74 in the 1000 free and a 4:23.23 in the 500 free. NC State swept the top three spots in both events.

Four different men were responsible for the remainder of NC State’s indivual wins. Medley relay teammates Stokowski and Kusto won the 100 back and 100 breast, respectively, in times of 47.50 and 54.56.

Henderson took the 50 free in 20.11, and Jacob Johnson won the 200 back by nearly three seconds with his time of 1:43.88.

The Hokies kept the score reasonably close throughout the meet, powered by a trio of double event winners.

Freshman Carles Coll Marti came very close to actually claiming three wins. In his first individual event of the day, he came within a tenth of a second of Kusto in the 100 breast, touching in 54.65. He then beat Kusto by over a second in the 200 breast, winning in 1:58.53, and wrapped up with a 1:46.88 win the 200 IM.

Blake Manoff picked up wins in two freestyle events, taking the 200 in 1:35.92 then winning the 100 in 43.64, while Noah Zawadzki swept the diving events.

Another freshman, Youssef Ramadan, won the 100 fly 47.09, and Antani Ivanov completed the fly sweep for the Hokies with a 1:43.99 in the 200.

NC State Release

RALEIGH – For the second year in a row, the NC State swimming and diving teams ended the regular season with a sweep over the Hokies as both squads defeated Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon.

The No. 6 Wolfpack women defeated the 14th-ranked Hokies 168-126, and the No. 6 Pack men wrapped up the outing with a 164-136 victory over No. 15 Virginia Tech. With the win, the men’s squad finished the year with a perfect record in invitational and dual meet action.

INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS:
Multiple Wolfpack seniors picked up top finishes in their final home meet of the 2020-21 campaign.

Jacob Johnson finished a body length over the rest of the field in the 200-yard backstroke to take home the top finish. He touched at 1:43.88, just over a second off of the best time of his career.

Julia Poole added a victory in the 200-yard freestyle with a winning time of 1:49.21, and fellow seniors Victoria Fonville (22.95) and Sirena Rowe (23.04) went 1-2 in the 50-yard freestyle for the Wolfpack women.

Junior Kylee Alons continued her unbeaten streak with the fastest times in all three of her individual events. She kicked off her outing with the 100-yard backstroke victory (53.61) and also took first in the 100-yard freestyle (49.74). Alons also posted the fastest time of the day (2:00.15) in her first 200-yard individual medley race of the season, a race that she exhibitioned.

Ross Dant led the way for 1-2-3 sweeps for the Pack men in both distance free events, with his winning times of 9:05.74 in the 1,000-yard freestyle and 4:23.23 in the 500-yard freestyle.

Freshman Megan Pulley also impressed, with her winning 200-yard butterfly time of 1:59.46 checking in for a top finish and her fastest mark of the season. She also cracked the NC State all-time top-10 list, checking in at ninth in program history. Pulley also went on to win the 100-yard butterfly in 54.75.

NC State’s divers kicked off weekend action on Friday night against the Hokies. In the final home meet of her career, senior Rachel Burston placed second on one-meter with a season-best score of 251.33. Helene Synnott made her season debut and joined her in the top three with a 239.40. Synnott also picked up a second-place finish on three-meter with an NCAA Zones cut of 290.33.

Bayne Bennett led the way for the Pack men on the boards, with his second-place one-meter score of 303.53 also checking in for a Zones cut. Patrick O’Brien also added a top-three finish on three-meter with a score of 301.50.

RELAY HIGHLIGHTS:
The Wolfpack women opened the meet by claiming the top two times in the 200-yard medley relay. Kylee Alons (24.56), Olivia Calegan (28.35), Sirena Rowe (23.72) and Heather Maccausland (22.47) went 1:39.10 for the win, followed closely by Katharine Berkoff (24.64), Andrea Podmanikova (28.63), Abby Arens (24.32) and Victoria Fonville (22.24) in 1:39.83.

On the men’s side of the medley relay, the Pack posting a winning time with Kacper Stokowski (22.06), Rafal Kusto (24.16), Luke Sobolewski (20.90) and Giovanni Izzo (19.76) going 1:26.88 for the victory.

NC State rounded out the meet with a pair of victories in the 200-yard freestyle relays. The women put together a winning time of 1:30.62 with Katharine Berkoff (23.28), Sirena Rowe (22.12), Victoria Fonville(22.27) and Sophie Hansson (22.95), and the men won in 1:19.57 with Kacper Stokowski (20.55), Hunter Tapp (19.65), Noah Henderson (19.60), and Giovanni Izzo (19.77).

UP NEXT:
The Pack will begin preparation for the 2021 ACC Swimming and Diving Championship meets, which will once again be contested at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The women’s championship will take place Feb. 17-20, with the men competing the following week from Feb. 24-27.

WOMEN’S TOP MARKS:

• 200 medley relay: Alons, Calegan, Rowe, Maccausland (1st – 1:39.10)
• 1000 freestyle: Yara Hierath (3rd – 10:00.00)
• Three-meter dive: Helene Synnott (2nd – 290.33)
• 200 freestyle: Julia Poole (1st – 1:49.21)
• 100 backstroke: Kylee Alons (1st – 53.61)
• 100 breaststroke: Sophie Hansson (1st – 1:01.30)
• 200 butterfly: Megan Pulley (1st – 1:59.46)
• 50 freestyle: Victoria Fonville (1st – 22.95)
• One-meter dive: Rachel Buston (2nd – 251.33)
• 100 freestyle: Kylee Alons (1st – 49.74)
• 200 backstroke: Emma Muzzy (1st – 1:54.49)
• 200 breaststroke: Abby Arens (1st – 2:12.96)
• 500 freestyle: Yara Hierath (3rd – 4:58.18)
• 100 butterfly: Megan Pulley (1st – 54.75)
• 200 IM: Kylee Alons (EXH – 2:00.15)
• 200 freestyle relay: Berkoff, Rowe, Fonville, Hansson (1st – 1:30.62)

MEN’S TOP MARKS:

• 200 medley relay: Stokowski, Kusto, Sobolewski, Izzo (1st – 1:26.88)
• 1000 freestyle: Ross Dant (1st – 9:05.74)
• One-meter dive: Bayne Bennett (2nd – 303.53)
• 200 freestyle: Luke Miller (2nd – 1:36.03)
• 100 backstroke: Kacper Stokowski (1st – 47.50)
• 100 breaststroke: Rafal Kusto (1st – 54.56)
• 200 butterfly: Zach Brown (2nd – 1:45.07)
• 50 freestyle: Noah Henderson (1st – 20.11)
• Three-meter dive: Patrick O’Brien (3rd – 301.50)
• 100 freestyle: Luke Miller (2nd – 44.22)
• 200 backstroke: Jacob Johnson (1st – 1:43.88)
• 200 breaststroke: Rafal Kusto (2nd – 1:59.96)
• 500 freestyle: Ross Dant (1st – 4:23.23)
• 100 butterfly: Noah Henderson (2nd – 47.30)
• 200 IM: Eric Knowles (2nd – 1:47.97)
• 200 freestyle relay: Stokowski, Tapp, Henderson, Izzo (1st – 1:19.57)

Virginia Tech Release

RALEIGH – The No. 14/16 Virginia Tech swim and dive team fought hard but came up short against No. 6/6 NC State in Raleigh on Saturday.

TECH MEN

Freshman Carles Coll Marti was dominant and claimed first place in both the 200 breast (54.65) and 200 IM (1:46.88). Coll Marti also placed second in the 100 breast and contributed to a second place finish in the 200 medley relay (1:25.03).

Noah Zawadzki proved to be strong again placing first in both the 1M and 3M for the second meet in a row. Taj Cole was right behind him placing second in the 3M and third in the 1M.

Blake Manoff ran the men’s freestyle placing first in both the 100 (43.64) and 200 free (1:35.92). Manoff also placed third in the 100 fly (47.33). Youssef Ramadan placed first in the 100 fly (47.09) and second 50 free (20.29).

The Hokie men fell to NC State 136-164.

TECH WOMEN

Teagan Moravek swept the women’s diving section placing first in both the 1M and 3M.

Freshman Chase Travis dominated the long distance finding first in both the 1000 (9:59.80) and 500 free (4:54.43). Brooke Travis was just behind her placing second in both events.

Emma Atkinson placed second in both the 100 (54.45) and 200 back (1:56.77). Atkinson also contributed to the third place finish in the 200 free relay alongside Sarah Shackelford, Anna Landon, Abby Larson and Emma Atkinson(1:34.20).

The Hokie women fell to NC State 126-168