ACC Weekly Preview: NC State Wolfpack Set to Take On Mighty Longhorns; 11 Teams Competing

Photo Courtesy: NC State Athletics

It figures to be a not-so-quiet week in the Atlantic Coast Conference. 11 out of 12 ACC swimming programs will be in action (all except for Duke), and there figure to be some nice showdowns along the way. Louisville vs. North Carolina and Virginia vs. Michigan will both stand out, but the highlight will come in Austin, Texas, as NC State visits Texas.

Meet of the Week: NC State at Texas, Friday 5 p.m. (CT)

The NC State Wolfpack have been impressive in their first outings of the young college season. The teams swept Wisconsin in a two-day dual Oct. 21-22. A week later, the men rolled over Northwestern, and then the women traveled up to Durham where they took down Duke. The Wolfpack have been impressive all-around, but few efforts have been more eye-opening than Hannah Moore’s exploits in the distance races.

Moore has won six dual meet races in five different events this season. Moore ranks fifth in the country in the 500 free with a 4:41.84, third in the 1000 free at 9:45.51 and first in the 1650 in 16:00.23. Against Wisconsin, she crushed Olympian Cierra Runge in both the 500 and 1650 while also taking first in the 200 fly and 400 IM.

“She is training at a very high level,” NC State head coach Braden Holloway said. “What she’s been doing in workout has been carrying over to her mind and allowing her to believe that she can achieve a lot more than what she’s done. She’s highly motivated. When you add confidence and motivation together, it’s pretty lethal.”

On the heels of the Wolfpack men entering into the national picture as a real force, the women’s team made an impression at the NCAA championships last year with a ninth-place finish. Moore, Alexia Zevnik and Courtney Caldwell all return, and added to the picture is a talented freshman sprinter who has already picked up a pair of individual dual meet wins in Ky-Lee Perry.

“I think Ky-Lee is one of those girls that is extremely talented. She has the tools to be special, and right now we’re just teaching her,” Holloway said. “She’s still learning a good bit daily, but I think what people are seeing now is she’s just one of those natural talents that probably is going to swim fast no matter what. We’re glad she’s with our team and swimming fast for us.”

The NC State men finished fourth at NCAAs last year, and they capped the meet with a win in the 400 free relay. Simonas Bilis has graduated, but Olympians Ryan Held, Soren Dahl and Anton Ipsen all return, and Holloway knows that they are hungry for more.

No better place to show that than against Texas, which returns the core of the team that has dominated the last two NCAA championships in Joseph Schooling, Jack Conger and Will Licon. The Longhorns traveled to Raleigh for an exciting dual meet a season ago, and the Wolfpack managed to hang tough before eventually falling 154-136 on the men’s side and 160-140 in the women’s meet.

“For our guys to continue to get better, we have to go through teams like Texas, and this is the best way to do it. For our girls, Texas is a very good team, and for our women to take another leap forward, we need to battle ourselves against teams that are very good. It’s just a great challenge for our program,” Holloway said.

“These expectations that they have on themselves and that we put on them are higher, and in order to help them reach that, we have to put higher expectations on ourselves throughout the year, so that is why we have a dual meet with Texas.”

Georgia at Georgia Tech, Wednesday 4 p.m.

The Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets get off to an early start this week when the Bulldogs travel an hour west to the familiar confines of the McAuley Aquatic Center—the same pool in which the Lady Bulldogs won their most recent National Championship this past March. Georgia Tech most recently competed in a two-day dual with Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish swept the Yellow Jackets, 181-172 (men) and 274-79 (women).

The Bulldogs will be heavily favored to win both the women’s and men’s meets, but the Yellow Jacket men figure to be able to put a few scares into their in-state rivals. Rodrigo Correia was victorious in four events against Notre Dame, and Moises Loschi has chops as both a breaststroker and distance ace. Watch, too, for butterflyer Ben Southern.

North Carolina at Louisville, Friday 5 p.m.

A challenging fall for the Tar Heels continues this weekend as they head to Louisville, which swept Tennessee Thursday and will have several athletes competing for a fifth consecutive weekend.

Sophomore freestyler Mallory Comerford continued her impressive fall against Tennessee with three individual wins, and teammates Andrea Cottrell and Abbie Houck each had multiple victories. For the men, Grigory Tarasevich is unbeaten in backstroke races so far this year, Carlos Claverie is consistent as ever in breaststroke, Trevor Carroll and Zach Harting are still around, and freshman distance swimmer Jarrett Jones seems to be adapting well to college.

The Tar Heels, meanwhile, continue to be led by Olympic Trials finalist Hellen Moffitt and senior sprinter Caroline Baldwin, and divers Elissa Dawson and Jack Nyquist have continued their winning ways. Senior transfer Jordan Merrilees has been a big pick up for UNC, and he won four events against Tennessee.

Michigan & Penn State at Virginia, Friday

It should be a good battle this weekend in Charlottesville as the top-ranked Michigan women face off with Olympic gold medalist Leah Smith and the Cavaliers. Virginia swept Pitt its first time out two weekends ago, but this one figures to be extremely tight in the women’s competition, and Michigan figures to be heavily favored over UVA and the Beavers in the men’s meet.

Smith figures to highlight the distance races, and Jen Marrkand and Kaitlyn Jones will be aces for UVA coach Augie Busch to deploy in just about any event he wants. On the men’s side, Austin Quinn, Alex Albracht, Zach Fong and Sam Magnan each won two events against Pitt and figure to be among the Cavaliers’ best chances for scoring an upset in this one.

Notre Dame & Virginia Tech at Pitt, Friday 5 p.m.

The Fighting Irish most recently completed the aforementioned sweep of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, and now they head to Pennsylvania. Pitt, after taking down the Buffalo women and men a week ago, will be playing host to both Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, which had last week off after a competitive two-day quad with Duke, West Virginia and William & Mary.

The Hokie men swept their three opponents in the quad and are so far undefeated this season. Seniors Robert Owen and Brandon Fiala have been strong, as has the versatile Norbert Szabo, who won the 200 and 1650 free and the 200 fly in the quad meet and finished second in the 500 free.

The Hokie women lost to Duke 210-141 but dominated both West Virginia and William & Mary. Jessica Hespeler has been excellent in the freestyle events all season, winning the 200, 500 and 1650 at that home meet, and Klaudia Nazieblo can perform in just about any event, having won the 100 back, 200 fly and 400 IM against Duke.

Florida State & Florida Southern at Florida Gulf Coast, Friday 5 p.m.

The Seminoles have only competed once so far this season, in a dual meet against their in-state rivals, the Florida Gators, after a tri-meet with Duke and Minnesota was cancelled due to Hurricane Matthew. Neal Studd’s men and women managed to keep things interesting against the Gators, and now they will make the trip down I-75 to Fort Myers to take on a pair of in-state rivals.

The Noles have some impressive sprint depth that they showed off against the Gators and figure to do so again this weekend. On the men’s side, Chad Mylin, Jason McCormack, Emir Muratovic and Kanoa Kaleoaloha figure to highlight the freestyles, and Stefan Stojmenovich can put up some points in the fly and back events. Lexi Smith, Nika Blank, Brenna Ruth and Lydia Ware are among FSU’s lady speedsters.

Princeton at Miami (women), Friday

The Princeton women will be making the trip down from New Jersey to much-warmer South Florida to take on the Hurricanes, who competed last weekend at a quad meet at Notre Dame. Two Miami women earned event victories in South Bend (Angela Algee in the 100 fly and diver Wally Layland on the three-meter), and both figure to be spotlighted again against the Tigers.

Keene State & Maine at Boston College, Friday

The Eagles will be competing at home this week after heading west last week to face Illinois-Chicago, Wheaton and the University of Chicago last week. The Keene State Eagles and Maine Black Bears will be in town.

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