NC State Wolfpack men's swimming hopes to continue podium streak

Starting Wednesday evening with the 800 freestyle relay at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships held in nearby Greensboro, N.C., NC State will be to continue the momentum the women’s team set with its second place finish a week before.

The men’s team had 14 swimmers qualify for the meet, third most of any team in the country, but based on the psych sheets, which seeds swimmers based on their fastest times of the year, the Wolfpack’s scoring total would come out to 10th place.

That said, many top swimmers and teams don’t swim their fastest until its time for the national meet.

NC State has finished in fourth place each of the past four NCAA Championships, garnering a team trophy every time. It finished second in the recently held ACC Championships, partially because of a costly DQ in a relay that provided the difference.

A quick breakdown of how points are awarded:

• For relays, points are doubled, which is why they are huge. Winner of A-finals (top eight) gets 40 points, second place gets 34 points and then it goes down by two points after that through eighth place (22 points).

The B-finals (9-16 after prelims) winner gets 18 points, followed by 14 points for runner-up and then it goes down by two points until last place in the B-finals, which nets two points.

• For individuals, same format just half the points.

Here’s a preview by event in order they are swam:

800 free relay:

NC State is seeded fifth in this race going into the NCAA meet, so it should start with some good points. They won this race by well over a second at the ACC, and as SwimSwam.com noted in its preview this is a race that the Pack tends to do better than its seeding at the NCAA meet.

It's worth noting on the psych sheets that the only teams that have a faster foursome than NC State's top four swimmers in the 200 free individual race are Texas and California.

SwimSwam projection: NC State in fifth

200 free relay:

NC State has five swimmers in the 50 freestyle individual race. That depth makes the Pack a contender to score some valuable relay points.

On the psych sheets for the individual 50 free, only Michigan had a collection of four 50 freestylers seeded higher than NC State’s. However, teams like Florida, Louisville and Penn State all had three top swimmers that were faster than NC State’s second best (and Louisville beat NC State at the ACC).

The psych sheets also don’t take into account potential swimmers from other races who are fast in the 50 free and can contribute on this relay but are focused on other individual events in the NCAA meet.

SwimSwam projection: NC State in fifth.

500 freestyle:

Sophomore Ross Dant is a contender to reach the A-finals, coming into the meet with the ninth best time in the country and finishing second in the ACC. The best-case scenario for the Wolfpack in this race is that senior Eric Knowles and Dant both make All-American and score points.

Knowles has the 20th best time in the 500 free nationally. He won the race at the ACC meet in 2019, but he might need to swim a lifetime best to advance out of prelims.

Freshman James Plage is in this race, too, but will need to drop his time more considerably than Knowles to get into All-American status.

SwimSwam projection: No A-finalist for NC State

200 IM:

NC State qualified four racers in this race, but it will require some drops in time for them to make All-American. The best bets are sophomore Noah Bowers and senior Erge Gezmis, both of whom are less than a second off a top-16 mark going into the meet.

50 freestyle:

This is a race where the Wolfpack is missing Nyls Korstanje. Korstanje has swam 19.03 seconds in this race but was not able to swim in the NCAAs a year ago since it was canceled. He then elected to take an Olympic redshirt year in 2021. He would have been heavily favored to be an A-finalist.

As it is, sophomore Noah Henderson is the top Wolfpacker to make the race. He has the 18th fastest time nationally at 19.27 seconds, but he’ll need to slightly drop that time to become an All-American. Henderson did make nice improvement from a year ago, when he is best in the race was 19.69 seconds.

Also qualifying in the race were junior Giovanni Izzo, sophomore Hunter Tapp, sophomore Kacper Stokowski and senior Luke Sobolewski, but all are seeded 35th or below.

SwimSwam projection: No A-finalists for NC State

400 medley relay:

NC State was DQ after a second-place swim at the ACC, a setback that ended up costing the Wolfpack a conference crown. The Pack should contend for valuable points here with NCAA qualifiers in all legs, including several who are strong contenders to score individually.

The Pack is seeded 15th going into the meet.

SwimSwam projection: NC State in seventh

400 IM:

Three NC State swimmers have qualified for the race, and although none of them have times ranking among the top 16 nationally, two are not far off — senior Erge Gezmis and freshman Mikey Moore. Knowles would have to drop him time more than those two to become an All-American.

SwimSwam projection: No A-finalist for NC State

100 butterfly:

NC State has three racing: Sobolewski, Henderson and junior Zach Brown, but each would have to swim faster than shown this year to score points. Sobolewski is the highest seed at No. 29.

SwimSwam projection: No A-finalist for NC State

200 freestyle:

One of several promising freshmen on the roster is Lukas Miller, who was the most touted newcomer to the team and will aim to prove his season-best time of 1:32.28 in this race is no fluke. He comes into the meet with the seventh fastest time in the 200 free, second best among freshmen nationally.

Tapp (seeded 24th), Bowers (38) and Brown (42) are also swimming here.

SwimSwam projection: No A-finalist for NC State

100 breaststroke:

Junior Rafal Kusto is the lone swimmer to qualify but will need to be much faster (seeded 31st) to have a chance at scoring.

SwimSwam projection: No A-finalist for NC State

100 backstroke:

Perhaps NC State’s best chance at an individual national title comes in this race. Stokowski, making his Wolfpack debut this season, already has the third fastest time in school history and has the second best mark in the nation this year. The Florida transfer is the former junior world record holder in the 50 and 100 backstroke races in the short course, and as a freshman in 2019 he was ninth in the 100 back at the NCAA meet.

That said, Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas, a junior who is perhaps the standout swimmer in college, has the best time in the country by nearly a second and is a strong favorite here.

Izzo (seeded 34th) will also swim in this race.

SwimSwam projection: Stokowski in second

200 medley relay:

NC State finished sixth in the ACC in this race. Stokowski is a good bet in the backstroke, and they have several solid options for the freestyle leg. It went with junior Giovanni Izzo in the ACC meet.

However, this might be their weakest link on the relays. NC State is seeded 17th. If it could score some relay points here that would help the Pack over perform its seeding as a team.

SwimSwam projection: Pack not in top eight

1650 freestyle:

This is a race where NC State can score some points. Dant, Knowles and Place have all swam fast enough this year to qualify as All-American candidates, with Dant having the fifth best mile nationally thus far in 2020-21. Knowles scored in this race two years ago.

Whereas NC State misses Korstanje in the sprint free and butterfly races, touted recruit Alexander Norgaard’s decision to defer his enrollment was a blow here. Norgaard was expected to have been an instant All-American candidate. He recently broke former NC State swimmer’s Anton Ipsen’s Danish record in the 800-meter freestyle, and Ipsen won the national title in this event for the Wolfpack.

Nevertheless, NC State's best chance at a high finish in the NCAA standings probably include piling up points in the mile.

SwimSwam projection: Dant in eighth

200 backstroke:

Stokowski (30th) and Moore (36th) are seeded well below top-16 and will need big swims to contend for points.

SwimSwam projection: No A-finalist for NC State

100 freestyle:

Again, without Korstanje NC State is missing its best swimmer in this race, but it still has three swimmers that qualified. Tapp (20th), Miller (21st) and Izzo (28th) all need to be a little bit faster to contend for scoring, but it's not out of the realm of possibility, either.

SwimSwam projection: No A-finalist for NC State

200 breaststroke:

Kusto, seeded 35th, is NC State's lone swimmer in this race.

SwimSwam projection: No A-finalist for NC State

200 butterfly:

Brown's season-best time (seeded 12th) makes him a strong candidate to be an All-American, while Bowers (20th) has a chance but needs to be a little faster. Henderson (30th) and Gezmis (38th) also qualified for this race but will need to improve their times more considerably.

SwimSwam projection: No A-finalist for NC State

400 Free Relay:

NC State is the favorite on the psych sheets here, so a chance to finish the meet with more valuable relay points is there.