Courtesy: NC State Athletics
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Wolfpack swept the Dec. 8 release of the ACC Swimmer of the Week honors as senior Eric Knowles and sophomore Katharine Berkoff were honored for their performances this past weekend at the Janis Hape Dowd UNC Invite.
Both swimmers posted multiple top finishes in their individual events and were key parts of NC State’s relays on the way to helping the Wolfpack men and women to first-place team finishes over Duke, North Carolina and Virginia Tech.
Berkoff put together a stellar invitational weekend, highlighted by a pair of NCAA A cuts in both of the backstroke events. Her winning 100-yard backstroke time of 50.40 also set a new program record and is the fastest in the nation through the first half of the 2020-21 season. Berkoff followed up with a first-place 200-yard backstroke finish in 1:50.20, with that time also checking in among the national top three.
A native of Missoula, Mont., Berkoff was also a part of four winning relay teams over the weekend, including NCAA A cuts in the 200-yard medley relay (1:34.86), 400-yard medley relay (3:29.46) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:14.34). She swam the backstroke or leadoff leg in each of those relays.
Knowles took first place in all three of his individual events, swimming NCAA B cuts in the 500-yard freestyle (4:14.07), the 400-yard individual medley (3:44.88, 3:43.64 prelims) and the 1,650-yard freestyle (14:48.06). All three of those times rank in the top 15 nationally after the weekend, with his first mile race of the year checking in at No. 6 in the country.
The Dayton, Ohio, native also helped the Pack’s 400-yard freestyle (2:52.03) and 800-yard freestyle (6:14.44) relay teams earn top finishes. His 42.97 anchor leg in the 400-yard freestyle helped close out another NCAA provisional cut.
The remainder of NC State’s 2020-21 slate will be released at a later date.