RALEIGH- The NC State women’s swimming and diving team is ready to make its trip to the Sunshine State this weekend, as the Wolfpack will compete against Florida International and Kansas in a tri meet Friday, and is set to race against Central Connecticut State, Liberty and Florida Gulf Coast in a quad meet Saturday.
Friday’s meet is set for a 3 p.m. start at Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center, while Saturday’s meet will commence at 10 a.m. at FGCU Aquatics Complex.
Holloway’s Statement
“Heading down to the Sunshine State this weekend with our women is a great way to cap off an awesome two-week training camp. A lot of hard work was put in with a lot of challenging moments, has helped to improve our team mentally and physically with the different challenges that were put in front of them,” said head coach Braden Holloway.
“We’re ready to get back into competition mode with this weekend, and will be going against some quality teams to start our 2016 portion of the season. We’ve never faced these teams as long as I have been here except for at NCAAs,” Holloway added.
“Florida International is rapidly improving, while Kansas will add some great competition for us in our first meet. Our second meet will provide for some great racing as well. Central Connecticut State has some great athletes on their team; Liberty is a program that is continuously getting better while Florida Gulf Coast just had their highest NCAA finish last year in program history.
“Our ladies are going to have to be ready to race two days in a row and will need to step up. Everyone is tired from our training camp, but we’re ready to go have fun racing outside and try some new things. We’re also excited to have our divers continue their success from Athens earlier this week and are ready for everyone’s hard work pay off.”
Last Time Out
The diving team wrapped up competition on Tuesday at the Georgia Diving Invitational. The week was highlighted by Rachel Mumma’s top-three finishes on the one and three-meter dives, along with her wins in “shootouts” on both springboards.
The last time the swim team competed in an NCAA format meet was on Nov. 19-21 at the Nike Cup Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C. The men finished second while the women finished fourth, collectively tabbing 46 NCAA qualifying standard times and 68 top-10 finishes on the weekend.
Top 25 Ranking
The women will be the only team in both of its match ups this weekend to hold a top 25 ranking, as the Pack is listed at No. 17 in the latest CSCAA poll.
Scouting the Weekend
Both host schools, Florida Gulf Coast and Florida International, are coming off of strong performances. Florida International placed second of nine teams in its Sprint Invite on Jan. 3, while Florida Gulf Coast tabbed a win over Rice last week in its last time out.
In head to head match ups, Florida Gulf Coast is undefeated this season while FIU holds a 6-2 season record and a 3-1 ledger at home.
For Central Connecticut State, Kansas and Liberty, this weekend kicks off all three programs’ 2016 season. Central Connecticut holds a 2-2 record on its regular season, while Kansas is 4-1 and Liberty is 5-3 in their respective dual seasons.
Fan Information
Fans can follow the Pack in Florida via the Meet Mobile app for iPhone and Android, as well as through live stats ongopack.com. There will be live feed via Periscope throughout the weekend on swimming and diving’s official twitter account- @packswimdive.
Swimming news courtesy of NC State Swimming & Diving.