Three years ago, North Carolina State dominated the\u00a0swimming competition at the men\u2019s ACC championships. In Braden Holloway\u2019s<\/strong> third year with the program, the team was a relative unknown before arriving in Greensboro, but it did not take long for fans to take notice of what was going on.<\/p>\n

Wolfpack sophomores Simonas Bilis<\/strong> and Christian McCurdy<\/strong> won two individual events each, and the team finished first in four out of five relays on the way to scoring 1203 points in swimming, by far the highest of any team.<\/p>\n

But Virginia Tech won that meet, buoyed by 205 diving points that had been scored a week earlier, and that was enough to put the Hokies over the top by 38.5 points.<\/p>\n

Undeterred, NC State came back one year later and won the conference title by 153 points over Louisville. In 2016, the margin was a whopping 334.5 points over the Cardinals, and the team went on to finish fourth at the NCAA championships, matching the highest finish in program history\u2014last achieved in 1955.<\/p>\n

But the final\u2014and perhaps the biggest\u2014moment of validation for the NC State program came June 29 in Omaha, Neb., when rising junior sprinter Ryan Held<\/strong> finished third in the 100 free final at the U.S. Olympic Trials and booked his ticket to Rio.<\/p>\n

What did that finish mean to the NC State program? Just watch the reaction of Held\u2019s coaches.<\/p>\n