Emmie Barnhill to Swim for the NC State Wolfpack

Emmie Barnhill of Greenville, North Carolina has verbally committed to swim for the North Carolina State University Wolfpack.

Barnhill, a member of East Carolina Aquatics, has wanted to swim for the Wolfpack for as long as she can remember. She comes from an NC State swimming family: her father swam for the Wolfpack from 1985-89, and her mother was a grade younger than him, swimming for NC State from 1986-90. In fact, not only did her parents both swim for the Wolfpack, but they first met on the NC State pool deck.

“The energetic coaching staff has me excited to strive harder to become the best student-athlete that I can be,” Barnhill said of her commitment. “The swimmers that I met on my trip were all so kind, and I can’t wait to get to know them.”

Barnhill’s best SCY times include:

50 Freestyle – 24.00
100 Freestyle – 52.13
200 Freestyle – 1:53.16
100 Butterfly – 57.89
200 IM – 2:06.82

Upon her arrival on campus, Barnhill will join NC State’s impressive sprint freestyle group. Last season, NC State’s 200 Freestyle relay of Lauren Poli, Ashlyn Koletic, Natalie Labonge, and Riki Bonnema took 10^th at the DI NCAA Championships. Poli and Koletic both split low-22’s while Labonge and Bonnema were 21.98 and 21.65, respectively. Bonnema also took 23^rd in her individual 50 Freestyle at NCAA’s, followed by Lotta Nevalainen who claimed 38^th place. In 400 Freestyle Relay at NCAA’s, Labonge, Alexia Zevnik, Nevalainen, and Bonnema finished in 11^th place.

Barnhill has swum very well during her past few seasons and has achieved best times in all of her top events this year already. In the past two years, she has lowered both her 50 Freestyle time and her 100 Freestyle time by a second. Her current 200 Freestyle time is now two seconds faster than it was in 2012. She has also posted best times in the 100 Butterfly and 200 IM. With such steady time drops over the past few years, Barnhill will likely continue to improve under the direction of head coach Braden Holloway and the assistant coaches at NC State.