Note: before you ask — with the exception of one exhibition 50 fly, there were no tech suits to be found at this meet.
Women’s Meet
The Wolfpack kept it close early on, but eventually the Longhorns pulled ahead to win.
NC State began the day with a victory in the 200 medley relay, overcoming a late Texas surge to win 1:40.14 to 1:40.29.
Texas came back to win the next two events. First, Joanna Evans jumped out to an early lead and held on to win in 9:49.80. Madisyn Cox followed up with a victory in the 200 free (1:47.77).
Alexia Zevnik was NC State’s first individual event winner, taking the 100 back in 53.56. After that win, NC State and Texas were tied with 37 points apiece. Zevnik’s teammate Kayla Brumbaum took the 100 breast in 1:01.74, but the next three swimmers to touch the wall were all Longhorns, keeping the score close.
Remedy Rule then led a Texas sweep of the top three spots in the 200 fly. Rule was the only woman under 2:00, touching in 1:59.59.
NC State’s Riki Bonnema won the 50 free just ahead of Longhorn Rebecca Millard, 22.82 to 22.95.
The same two women went 1-2 in the 100 free, but in reverse order. This time, Millard with a 49.54, and Bonnema finished second in 50.03.
The two teams would continue to trade off events for the rest of the meet. Longhorn Quinn Carrozza won the 200 back in 1:56.10, touching just ahead of teammate Tasija Karosas (1:56.36). NC State’s Brumbaum then completed her sweep of the breaststroke events with a 2:14.32. Yurie Nanako made it two in a row for the Wolfpack by using a strong back half to win the 100 fly in 54.63.
In the last individual event, Cox won her third event of the day with a 1:58.95 in the 200 IM, thanks to a breaststroke split that was almost two seconds faster than any other in the race.
NC State would wrap up the women’s side of the meet with a 3:19.83 in the 400 free relay, but couldn’t overcome the Longhorns’ lead in the final standings, with Texas winning 160-140.
Men’s Meet
NC State wrapped up two straight weeks of swimming against some of the best teams in the country with their toughest challenge of that stretch: defending championship and top-ranked Texas Longhorns. The Wolfpack gave the Longhorns a good chase, and while Texas won in terms of points by a wide margin, NC State had some great swims on the day.
The meet started with with a nail biter in the 200 medley relay. John Shebat lead off the Texas A relay with a 22.35 split, but NC State battled back when Derek Hren out split Will Licon 24.68 to 24.99. The two most impressive splits belonged to Joe Schooling and Simonas Bilis. Schooling split 20.60 to put Texas back ahead for good, but NC State almost came back to take it as Bilis closed on Texas anchor Brett Ringgold with a monster 18.96 split. However, Ringgold’s 19.64 was good enough to hold on, and Texas narrowly won, 1:27.58 to 1:27.62.
In the 1000 free, Clark Smith jumped out to an early lead, and continued to build that lead for the first part of the race. He was almost a second ahead of the field at the 200 mark, but his splits began to steadily slow from there, including nine-straight 50s of splitting 28.0 or slower. He’d eventually fade to a 4th-place finish. Anton Ipsen, who already had the fastest time in the nation this year, passed Smith at the 250 mark, and never looked back, rolling on to a 8:55.99 finish giving him a new season-best time. Longhorns Jonathan Roberts and Sam Lewis finished 2nd and 3rd.
The Longhorns then reeled off four wins in a row. First, Jack Conger won the 200 free with a time of 1:35.77. That’s good for third-best in the NCAA so far this season, and almost a second ahead of NC State’s Ryan Held (1:36.60). Next, Texas freshman Ryan Harty’s 47.11 earned him the win the 100 back and stands as the fifth-fastest time in NCAA this season.
Licon continued Texas’s romp through the strokes by taking the 100 breast with a 54.40. NC State’s Derek Hren was first at the 50, but Licon closed over the next 25, as each swimmer hit the last wall almost simultaneously, and Licon continued to build his lead over the final length, beating Hren by over half a second.
Next it was Schooling’s turn. His 1:43.76 reclaimed his spot as fastest in this event this season, supplanting the 1:44.12 teammate Conger swam last night against UNC.
The Wolfpack closed out the last event before the first break with a win. Bilis followed up his sub-19 split by being the only swimmer to go under 20 today (until the 200 free relay, but more on that later). He won the splash and dash with a 19.89. Rinnggold was 2nd for Texas, in 20.11. Billis came back in the first event after the break to sweep the sprint freestyles. Bilis, teammate Ryan Held, and Conger were close through the whole race, but Bilis touched first in 43.58, followed by Held (43.64) and Conger (43.73).
Just like in the first half of the meet, Texas then won another four events in a row, once again including one of each stroke. Harty won his second event of the day with a 1:42.52 in the 200 back, good for second-fastest in the NCAA this season. Next, Licon also got his sweep, winning the 200 breast. He led with a 26.39 after the first 50, and then he continued to build his lead throughout the race, touching in 1:56.67, third-fastest time this season.
The 500 free followed a similar script as the 1000 free, but the roles were reversed. This time, Ipsen jumped out early on, but Smith closed during the second half of the race, pulling away over the final 50 and winning 4:20.85 to 4:22.66.
The last individual event turned out to be a battle of two Longhorns: Harty and Licon. The two swimmers traded leads after each of the first three legs, but Harty ended up hanging during the final 50 to win in 1:46.71.
The Wolfpack and Longhorns squared off in a rematch of day one of last season’s NCAA championships – the 200 free relay. Back in March, the NC State relay team touched the wall first, but were disqualified for an early exchange, giving the victory to Texas. This is the first time these two teams have faced each other in this event since then, and it was another close race.
Ringgold led off in 19.97 to give Texas the lead, and Schooling, John Murray and Conger,kept the Longhorns ahead the whole way, winning in 1:19.04. The NC State team of Ryan Held, Bonk, Andreas Schillerup, and Bilis tried to close the gap, but couldn’t quite catch up to the Longhorns, despite Bilis’s 19.36 anchor leg, ultimately finishing just behind Texas in 1:19.20. The final score was Texas 154, NC State 121.
Ryan Harty had a faster breaststroke split than Licon in the 200 IM. I did not expect that.
And Licon had a faster backstroke split than Harty. There may have been a less-than-perfect turn involved…
NCSU is not tapering. They will likely rest a few kids for Nike Cup to give them an in-season chance at a B-cut, but they are certainly not putting all their eggs in a basket for a dual meet – even if it is against Texas.
Texas is good. The women’s meet was very close, as was pointed out: if a few of the 2-5 positions which were all very close go the other way, it’s an entirely different outcome. But, the Lady Longhorns have legitimate threats in every event.
The Texas men are the Texas men. They won a team title last year as well as 4(?) events. In the 200 fly they have the defending champion and… Read more »
You’ve got Bonnema listed as Bonnet late in the sprints wrap up.
what a beatdown
A definite beat down in the men’s 1000. It was not even close. Anton Ipsen won by 25 plus yards. It was a total beat down.
Texas is a very good team. NC State swam Cal Stanford and Texas within a week. The only way Texas will lose is if the bus driver gets lost and they fail to show up.
Take out diving and NCState wins guys meet? Diving being combined with swimming is dumb anyways they have nothing in common.
You’re only looking at the final score and not factoring in that Texas swam the last couple of events, as well as the relay, as exhibition. Not only would that give Texas, conservatively, an extra 30 points, but it would also take away a bunch of points from NC State. Even without diving, Texas still wins handily.
*conger went his fastest dual meet time EVER
Nice observation justkeepswimming, but why did you think that UNC and NC STATE tapered for Texas? Let’s see…. NC STATE had 3 guys under 20.0 last week and only Bilis went under today… I guess that your definition of taper? How about conger went his fastest time ever in 200 free? How about Harty went 1:42 in the 2 back? Okay I guess Hennessey was tapered for this meet… Oh wait he went 1:39 last year at NCAA and only went 1:44 today. How about Ringold went 19.9? His best time only 19.4? And that’s only about .5 off his best EVER time as compare to Bilis 18.9 to 19.8 today… UNC guys and girls have been VERY GOOD this… Read more »
I cannot comment on nc state but UNC was not tapered. Compare their times to last few weeks – they are generally slower which is likely a result of accumulated yardage.
Most of NC State’s men’s team were faster against Stanford last weekend, and I highly doubt there was any taper as of yet (maybe a day or two). I don’t think it’s fair to assume that just because UNC and NC State kept it close with Texas that there HAD to be a taper from both teams.