RALEIGH, N.C.- The NC State swimming and diving team is set to compete in its second invitational meet of the season as it travels to Chapel Hill, N.C., to race in the Nike Cup Invitational.
Hosted by UNC-Chapel Hill, the meet is slated to run Thursday through Saturday inside Koury Natatorium. Throughout the three days of competition, there will be prelims and finals every day. The prelim sessions are set to begin at 9:30 a.m., while the finals will start at 5:30 p.m.
With the Nike Cup standing as a halfway mark for the Pack’s season, the team will look to earn qualifying times for the NCAA Championships. Since the meet is a championship format with prelims and finals, the Nike Cup serves as an opportunity to compete in a format much like the ACC Championships and NCAAs.
Holloway’s Statement
“We’re excited for the opportunity to come together as a team and travel to compete in the Nike Cup this weekend. The goal throughout this meet is to work towards postseason competition in March,” said head coach Braden Holloway. “The team will be split up as far as what we are looking to see in the pool as a coaching staff- some will be rested and suited up while some will still be in the midst of hard training.
“Either way we want to go out this weekend and learn where we are as a team at this point in the season. The meet format of the Nike Cup is great and is held in a great facility, so we’re looking forward to it.”
Last Time Out
The Wolfpack fell to Texas in a dual Saturday inside Casey Aquatic Center. The Longhorn men earned a 156-134 win over NC State, while Texas’ women defeated the Pack, 160-140.
Last Year At The Nike Cup
At last year’s Nike Cup Invite the Wolfpack men captured the team title out of a field of nine schools with 1,521 points, while the women finished third of nine teams with 1,396.5 points.
Participating Teams
In addition to NC State, other competing teams include: Duke (men and women), East Carolina (men and women), Marshall (women), North Carolina (men and women), Navy (men’s swimmers & divers, women’s divers), Old Dominion (men and women) and Yale (men and women).
Meet Format
During each evening’s finals, there will be four finals heats- a championship ‘A’ final (Places 1-8), a consolation ‘B’ final (Places 9-16), a bonus ‘C’ final (Places 17-24) and a non-scoring ‘D’ final (Places 25-32).
| Thursday Events | Friday Events | Saturday Events |
| 200 Freestyle Relay | 200 Medley Relay | 1650 Freestyle |
| 500 Freestyle | 400 Individual Medley | 200 Backstroke |
| 200 Individual Medley | 100 Butterfly | 100 Freestyle |
| 50 Freestyle | 200 Freestyle | 200 Breaststroke |
| Women 3-Meter Diving | 100 Breaststroke | 200 Butterfly |
| Men 1-Meter Diving | 100 Backstroke | Men/ Women 10-Meter Diving (At Duke) |
| 400 Medley Relay | Women 1-Meter Diving | 400 Freestyle Relay |
| Men 3-Meter Diving | ||
| 800 Freestyle Relay |
Swimming news courtesy of NC State Swimming & Diving.