3/20/2021 other sports Edit

NC State women's swimming comes in second at the NCAA Championships

Matt Carter • TheWolfpackCentral

Editor

Never before had the NC State women’s swimming and diving team won an NCAA title.

Never before had the women’s team finished on the podium as a team, which requires a top-four placement in the final standings.

All of that changed in a major way last week at the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

Junior Sophie Hansson capped the four-day meet on Saturday by winning her second individual title, claiming the crown in the 200 breaststroke a day after winning the 100-yard version of the race.

Hansson’s two championships were joined by sophomore Katharine Berkoff winning the title in the 100 backstroke on Friday, and relay wins in the 200 and 400 medleys, which featured both Hansson and Berkoff.

Having already clinched the best-ever finish by a swimming and diving team at NC State, men’s or women’s, the only question was, would the Wolfpack top Texas for second place?

Entering the final swim, the 400 free relay, Texas had a 2.5-point lead over the Wolfpack for second place. That meant NC State needed to either win the relay or more realistically finish two places higher than Texas. Berkoff, Hansson, junior Kylee Alons and senior Julia Poole stepped up with a huge swim of 3:11.25 in the third heat of the race.

Texas then swam in the fourth heat and finished well off the Wolfpack’s time, stopping the clock in 3:13.82. After the final heat of results were tabulated, NC State came in fourth and Texas ninth, clinching a runner-up finish for the Pack in the team standings and a 1-2 finish for the ACC with Virginia taking the national title.