Three more NCAA titles for NC State women's swimming

Before the NCAA Championships for women's swimming and diving began in Greensboro, N.C., this week, the NC State program's only national title was a diver — Kristin Davies in 2009.

That changed on Thursday night, when NC State set a NCAA and U.S. Open record for the 4x100 medley relay to take first place.

It changed even more on Friday when the Wolfpack claimed three more titles, including the first two individual swimmers to take home a NCAA crown.

Junior breaststroke swimmer Sophie Hansson began the gold rush in the 100 breaststroke race. Hansson had a slight lead at the halfway point over Virginia junior Alexia Wenger with a split of 27.05 seconds. Hansson was able to put distance between her and Wenger and hold off USC freshman Kaitlyn Dobler to secure the national title in a pool record time of 57.23 seconds.

Adding to the Wolfpack points haul, junior Andrea Podmanikova reached the A-finals and finished seventh to earn All-American status.

In the following race, Wolfpack sophomore Katharine Berkoff was slightly behind Alabama junior Rhyan White at the halfway point of the 100 backstroke, but she used a strong turn to begin to pull away and, like Hansson, set a pool record with her time of 49.74 seconds to win by nearly a half-second over White.

Then came the 200 medley relay to finish the night's swims, and Berkoff and Hansson swam the first two legs to give the Pack a commanding 1.31-second lead on the next closest competitor in the time trials. Senior Sirena Rowe swam the 50 yards for the butterfly before giving way to junior Kylee Alons in the freestyle anchor.

Earlier in the evening, Alons was an All-American finisher in the 100 butterfly with her third place finish in the race.

NC State rolled to a nearly one-second win over Virginia, and the Pack was just 0.07 seconds off the NCAA meet record.

Virginia has a commanding lead on its way to its first national title, but NC State is well positioned to bring home its first trophy in the women's meet, which comes from a top four finish.

The standings heading into Saturday's final day:

1. Virginia - 344

2. NC State - 241

3. Texas - 224

4. California - 210

5. Ohio State - 177.5

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