North Carolina State, Virginia Tech Split

BLACKSBURG, Virginia, October 19. NORTH Carolina State and Virginia Tech split their dual meet this afternoon, with the NC State women and Virginia Tech men coming out ahead.

North Carolina State Press Release

The NC State swimming & diving team began the dual portion of its schedule Saturday afternoon at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center against Virginia Tech. The women’s squad topped the Hokies by a final score of 171-129, while the men’s squad fell, 185-113. The women’s team improves to 1-0 on the season, while the men’s squad falls to 0-1.

“After an adventurous ride to Blacksburg, we had an up and down battle today with the Hokies,” said head coach Braden Holloway. “The ladies’ victory was a total team effort and it was great for them. For the guys, it was a rough day. Virginia Tech was ready for us and did a good job. The guys are going to have to be better in order to have success at this level.”

Overall, Wolfpack swimmers claimed 11 individual titles to go along with four relay titles throughout the squad’s first conference meet of the season.

The meet opened with the 200-yard medley relay and State captured the top two spots in the women’s race, with Alexia Zevnik, Lauren Poli, Zina Grogg and Lotta Nevalainen touching the wall first with a time of 1:41.97. On the men’s side, the team of Andreas Schiellerup, Ian Bishop, David Williams and Jonathan Boffa posted a first-place finish at 1:29.87.

Zevnik, a freshman from Lasalle, Canada, captured the top time in the women’s 100 backstroke in 55.07. Her time in the event is below the required time standard for an NCAA ‘B’ cut and ranks among the top-10 times in program history for the event. In the 200 backstroke, the freshman claimed her second individual title of the meet with a time of 2:00.45.

“Alexia [Zevnik] had an outstanding day getting a couple of victories for the team,” Holloway stated.

State was able to capture first, second and third place finishes in the women’s 200 butterfly and the 50 freestyle races. Freshman Lydia Jones turned in a first-place performance in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:03.85, while Anne Leuthold and Katelyn Linker finished second (2:04.65) and third (2:06.95), respectively.

In the next race of the meet, Riki Bonnema claimed the top time in the 50 freestyle, finishing with a time 23:58, while Nevalainen and Ashlyn Koletic finished second (23.61) and third (23.78), respectively.

“Winning the women’s 200 fly and 50 free back-to-back shifted the momentum in the meet,” Holloway said. “To go 1-2-3 in both of those races really put us in a good position to keep the momentum for the rest of the meet.”

Bishop finished as the top performer for the Pack on the men’s side, as he recorded two individual victories in addition to being a member of the 200-medley relay team. Bishop’s first individual victory came in the 100 breaststroke, as he recorded a time of 55.85. The senior touched the wall in 2:04.15 in the 200 breaststroke to claim top honors in that event as well.

The Pack claimed its second relay victory on the men’s side in the final event of the afternoon, as Williams, Boffa, Simonas Bilis and Scott Johnson claimed the top time in the 400 freestyle relay.

“On the men’s side, we were lacking a little firepower,” Holloway said. “We have to have a little more desire and willingness to work through whether we are tired or not.”

In the diving competition, freshman Grant Saale scored a 260.85 on the men’s one-meter springboard in his ACC debut, while sophomore Madeline Keeley totaled a score of 247.13 on the women’s three-meter springboard.

Up next, the Pack will travel to Tallahassee, Fla., to compete against Florida State and Georgia Tech on Friday, Oct. 25 at 3 p.m.

Virginia Tech Press Release

The Virginia Tech swimming and diving teams split their first dual meet of the 2013 campaign, as the men took down NC State, 185-113, on Saturday afternoon, while the women fell to the Wolfpack, 171-129.
The men earned a decisive victory, one year after the H2Okies tied the Wolfpack in their last regular-season meeting.

“This was a great team effort by our men,” Head Coach Ned Skinner said. “We are an ‘all hands on deck’ team and they do it together. I respect this group and they are living that life for us.”

Senior Ryan Hawkins earned two gold medals in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving for the second consecutive meet, putting 348.53 and 422.70 points in the events, respectively.

Junior Owen Burns picked up a trio of medals on the day, including a first-place finish in the 200 IM, with a time of 1:53.01. Burns also too third place in the 100 Freestyle and 100 Breaststroke.
The men finished the day with 34 medals across a total of 16 events, capturing 10 first-place finishes along the way.

Though the women took a loss in the team scores, there were standout performances on their side as well.
The H2Okies dominated the diving events, as juniors Kaylea Arnett and Kelli Stockton took the top two spots in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. Arnett took gold in the 1-meter, scoring a 292.57 to top Stockton’s 281.92, while Stockton recorded a personal best 351.75 in the 3-meter to take gold over Arnett, who finished with 34.2.60.

Freshman Fiona Donnelly took first place in two of her three events, capturing the gold in the 200 Freestyle (1:51.55) and 500 Freestyle (4:58.65).

“The ladies were very gritty today,” Skinner said. “They fought back from a deficit and made a great meet of it. We have a lot of positives to build on from today.”

In all, the women earned 22 medals in the 16 events, including six golds.

The H2Okies will be back in action on Friday, November 1, when they hit the road for the first time this season for a meet at Ohio State with Denison and Cleveland State.

For updates on Virginia Tech swimming & diving, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_SwimDive).

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