Pack dominates field for fourth straight ACC title

For the fourth straight year, the NC State men’s swimming and diving team is bringing home an ACC title. The Pack dominated the ACC Championships from start to finish this week in Greensboro, winning 14 of the 18 swimming events to win the program’s 28th conference title.

Senior Olympians Ryan Held and Anton Ipsen both won all three of their individual events to front the Pack, while juniors Andreas Vazaios and Justin Ress both captured three individual medals, including one gold. Sophomore Coleman Stewart also shined for NC State, winning two individual golds and one silver.

In addition to the fantastic individual performances of the Pack, State took home gold in four of the five relays. After finishing in second place in the 200-yard medley relay, the first event of the meet, the Pack just got better and won the 400-yard medley relay and all three freestyle relays.

There were highlights across the board for the Pack, including a top-four sweep in the 100-yard freestyle. Held won the 100 free for the third straight season, with Ress finishing right behind him to take silver. Junior Jacob Molacek rounded out the podium sweep for NC State, while freshman Giovanni Izzo came in fourth.

NC State also put in two record-breaking performances, as Stewart won gold in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 44.54. The mark set an ACC record and is the fastest time in the NCAA this year, and is also the fifth-fastest time in swimming history. The other big record-setting performance came in the 400-yard freestyle relay, as the team of Held, Ress, Stewart and Molacek broke the American record to win gold in the final event of the meet.

In addition to his gold in the 100 back, Stewart also won the 200-yard backstroke to sweep the two back events.

Held was named the MVP of the meet, and along with his gold in the 100 free he won both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. It was Held’s third straight win in the 50 free, as he beat out Ress, who finished second, by .15 seconds. In the 100 fly, Held also held on to win gold over a teammate, beating out Stewart at the wall.

As strong as Held was in the meet, Ipsen was just as good. The Danish Olympian started his week off with a victory in the 500-yard freestyle, completing a career sweep of the event at ACCs with his fourth straight win. Ipsen excelled in the 1,650-yard freestyle and the 400-yard individual medley as well, his third win at ACCs in the 1,650 free and his first in the 400 IM.

Vazaios earned bronze in the 200-yard freestyle and silver in the 200-yard butterfly. His lone individual gold medal came in the 200-yard individual medley, out-touching Virginia Tech’s Norbert Szabo by .27 seconds to hang on to the victory.

The Pack’s other top contributor was Ress, who was barely beat out by Held in both the 100 and 50 free, taking silver in both events. However, Ress did capture the first individual gold at ACCs in his career at the meet, winning the 200-yard freestyle to round out the Pack’s sweep of all eight freestyle races and relays.

On the diving side of things, sophomore James Brady placed sixth in the 1-meter and 24th in the platform event to lead the Pack.

With ACCs behind it, the Pack will now shift its focus to the NCAA Championships that start March 21. NC State has finished fourth at NCAAs both of the last two seasons, but has a firm shot of improving on that and even potentially winning the school’s first national championship since the 1983 men’s basketball team.