NC State
ACC Men's Swimming Championship
Men's Swimming And Diving Wins Third Straight ACC Title
3/2/2017 8:13:00 PM | Swimming
RESULTS
ATLANTA—The NC State men's swimming and diving team clinched its third-straight ACC Championship title on Thursday night, winning three additional events on the final night of competition.
In total, the team won an outstanding seven individual events, four relay titles and had 30 top-eight finishes. This marks the first time in 35 years the Wolfpack has won three-straight conference championships - the last time it was accomplished was in 1980-82.
After four days of competition, the NC State finished with 1297.5 points, Louisville took second with 1134 points and Notre Dame rounded out the top three of the team standings with 923.5.
With the women's team clinching a team title two weeks ago, this marks the first time since 1980 NC State has swept the men's and women's ACC Championships.
Ryan Held Named ACC's Most Valuable Swimmer
Junior Ryan Held was named the Most Valuable Swimmer for his dominant performance throughout the week. In total, the junior won seven gold medals after sweeping his individual events, the 50 and 100 freestyle and the 100 butterfly, and participating on four gold medal relays, the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle and the 200 medley relays.
Wolfpack Relays
For the fifth-straight year, NC State stood atop the podium after the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Justin Ress, Held, Andreas Schiellerup and Soren Dahl won the event with a time of 2:48.14, marking a new conference, meet and school record. Ress' lead-off split of 42.12 stands as the program's third-fastest 100 free.
Freestyle
The Wolfpack placed four in the top eight of the 100 free on the final night of competition. Held led the way with his third individual title, winning in 41.61, marking a new meet record. NC State has now won the 100 free for four consecutive years.
Finishing fourth and fifth were Dahl and Joe Bonk, touching in 42.89 and 42.96, respectively. Scott Johnson took eighth place with a time of 43.51. In the "B" final, Schiellerup touched in 42.91 to take 11th overall.
In the distance free, both Anton Ipsen and Adam Linker earned podium finishes in the 1650. Ipsen took second with a time of 14:35.89 while Linker finished third in 14:45.43. Ipsen's time qualifies as a NCAA "A" cut.
Butterfly
Andreas Vazaios earned his second individual title of the championships in the 200 butterfly as he took the race with a time of 1:41.42. His time ties the meet record set in 2016 by the Wolfpack's Christian McCurdy. Vazaios' time meets the NCAA "A" standard and marks a top-eight time in the country. James Bretscher placed 14th in the event, finishing in 1:45.41
Backstroke
The Wolfpack earned two podium finishes in the 200 backstroke as Hennessey Stuart and Ress finished second and third, respectively. Stuart touched the wall in 1:39.47 for a NCAA "A" standard time, and Ress finished in 1:40.42. In the "B" final of the event, freshman Coleman Stewart took 11th with a time of 1:43.28.
Breaststroke
NC State's only entry in the 200 breaststroke, Derek Held, took 10th in the event, posting a time of 1:56.77 in the "B" final.
Up Next
The Wolfpack men will return to Raleigh to prepare for the NCAA Championships in March, as the team will await the final selections for the men's and women's championships.
Players Mentioned
