NC State Swimming and Diving Sweeps South Carolina in Season Opener

Sophie Hansson won both breaststrokes against the South Carolina. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The NC State swimming and diving teams kicked off the 2019-20 season by cruising to a sweep over the visiting South Carolina Gamecocks on Friday evening.

Team Scores:

Men: NC State 194, South Carolina 104
Women: NC State 197, South Carolina 100

RESULTS

NC State Swimming and Diving Press Release

Swimming at home at the Casey Aquatic Center, the seventh-ranked Wolfpack women outscored South Carolina 197-100 in their first dual meet of the season. The No. 3 Pack men took a 194-104 season-opening victory.

Between the two squads, NC State posted the best times/highest scores in 26 of the 32 events contested. The Wolfpack swept the podium a total of 11 times on Friday night, as both teams will start the season with 1-0 records in head-to-head matchups.

MEET HIGHLIGHTS:

Two members of the Pack took home victories in all three events of the triples that they swam.

Sophomore Kylee Alons won the 100-yard backstroke (53.02), 100-yard freestyle (49.31) and 100-yard butterfly (54.14). She posted NCAA B cuts in the former two events on her way to leading the Wolfpack women in scoring at the meet.

Coleman Stewart also picked up three wins in the season debut. The senior captain, who entered the season as the nation’s top returner in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly, placed first in both of those events in 46.59 and 47.79, respectively. He added a win in the 100-yard freestyle (44.32) to round out his day.

Sophie Hansson was another member of the NC State roster to win multiple individual events as she swept the breaststroke titles. Her times in both the 100-yard breaststroke (1:00.65) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:11.78) were both under NCAA provisional standards for the events.

NC State’s distance crew stayed true to its usual form in Friday night’s meet. The Wolfpack swept the 500-yard freestyle podium on both the men’s and women’s sides, and the Pack men also went 1-2-3 in the 1,000-yard freestyle.

Kate Moore (4:10.50) and Makayla Sargent (4:13.51) got their seasons off to fast starts in the 400-yard individual medley, with Moore taking home the victory in the event. Both of their marks were NCAA B cuts to kick off their 2019-20 campaigns, and Moore’s mark currently ranks second in the nation this season.

Nyls Korstanje also managed to drop a solid time in the 50-yard freestyle. His 19.84 ranks third in the nation in the early stages of the year.

Madeline Kline kicked off the meet against South Carolina with a win on one-meter. She posted a 256.95 to take home first place in the event. James Brady also impressed with a pair of second-place finishes, with his one-meter score (330.98) qualifying him for NCAA Zones.

The teams’ newcomers also impressed in their first meet as members of the Wolfpack. Ross Dant won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 9:03.08, and Hunter Tapp took home the 200-yard freestyle victory (1:37.69) in his first collegiate race. In total, NC State saw its freshmen finish in the top three 12 times over the course of the meet.

South Carolina Press Release

South Carolina swimming and diving battled hard, taking home a season high eight event wins against the No. 3/7 ranked NC State Friday afternoon. The Wolfpack claimed both team victories- 197-100 on the women’s and 194-104 on the men’s side.

GAMECOCK NOTABLES

Senior Lionel Khoo took home two victories for the Gamecocks, sweeping both breaststroke events. The Singapore native now has four individual victories on the year.
Senior Christina Lappin continued her dominance in the 50 freestyle, winning the event for the second time this season with a time of 22.96.
South Carolina swept the 400 freestyle relay, with the team of Lappin, Emily Cornell, Janie Smith and Edith Lingmann taking first for the women, while the team of Lewis Burras, Guy Gropper, AJ Ross and Justin Rose took home first in the men’s event.
Sophomore diver Anton Down-Jenkins swept both the one- and three-meter dives in his first appearance for the Gamecocks in the new campaign. Down-Jenkins qualified for the NCAA Championships in both events last year as a true freshman.
Junior Yu Qian Goh won the women’s three-meter dive with a score of 289.65

QUOTEABLE: HEAD SWIMMING COACH MCGEE MOODY

“This is probably the best competition we will see from a dual meet standpoint all season long. They are strong on both sides, it was great test for us today. I thought our women stepped up to the plate and raced really well. On the men’s side, Lionel Khoo, Lewis Burras and Justin Rose had a great day. We go from this into a huge meet with UNC.”

QUOTEABLE: HEAD DIVING COACH TODD SHERRITT

“This was a very tough diving well. Very few places you come in with someone swimming right in front of you, but we knew that coming in and everyone handled it well. Anton did some great dives as did Grant. Yu Qian coming in and winning an event like this is very important. Overall I’m very happy with the way everything turned out, we’ve been working very hard and we’re looking forward to next week against UNC.”

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