2025 College Swimming Previews: #5 NC State Men Reload In Pursuit Of Another Top Finish

It’s that time of the year again. SwimSwam will be previewing the top 12 men’s and women’s teams (and then some) from the 2024 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine. 

#5 NC STATE WOLFPACK

Key Losses: Kacper Stokowski (38 NCAA Points, 2 NCAA Relays), Noah Henderson (1 NCAA Relay), Noah Bowers (13 NCAA Points), Ross Dant (2 NCAA Points), James Plage (1  NCAA Point), Hunter Tapp (1 NCAA Event)

Key Additions: #1 Kaii Winkler (FL – Free/Fly/Back), #18 Matt Marsteiner (NC – Distance Free), BOTR Charlie Bufton (IL – Back/IM), BOTR Nolan Dunkel (VA – Back/Fly/Free), BOTR Hudson Schuricht (AZ – Breast/IM), David Betlehem (Hungary – Distance Free), Will Gallant (NCAA Champion, returning from Olympic redshirt)

Returning Fifth-Years: Luke Miller (24 NCAA Points, 5 NCAA Relays), Owen Lloyd (14 NCAA Points)

GRADING CRITERIA

Over the years, we’ve gone back and forth on how to project points, ranging from largely subjective rankings to more data-based grading criteria based on ‘projected returning points.’ We like being as objective as possible, but we’re going to stick with the approach we’ve adopted post-Covid. The “stars” will rely heavily on what swimmers actually did last year, but we’ll also give credit to returning swimmers or freshmen who have posted times that would have scored last year.

Since we only profile the top 12 teams in this format, our grades are designed with that range in mind. In the grand scheme of college swimming and compared to all other college programs, top 12 NCAA programs would pretty much all grade well across the board. But in the interest of making these previews informative, our grading scale is tough – designed to show the tiers between the good stroke groups, the great ones, and the 2015 Texas fly group types.

• 5 star (★★★★★) – a rare, elite NCAA group projected to score 25+ points per event
• 4 star (★★★★) – a very, very good NCAA group projected to score 15-24 points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – a good NCAA group projected to score 5-14 points per event
• 2 star (★★) – a solid NCAA group projected to score 1-4 points per event
• 1 star (★) –  an NCAA group that is projected to score no points per event, though that doesn’t mean it’s without potential scorers – they’ll just need to leapfrog some swimmers ahead of them to do it

We’ll grade each event discipline: sprint free (which we define to include all the relay-distance freestyle events, so 50, 100 and 200), distance free, IM, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and diving. Use these grades as a jumping-off point for discussion, rather than a reason to be angry.

Also, keep in mind that we are publishing many of these previews before teams have posted finalized rosters. We’re making our assessments based on the best information we have available at the time of publication, but we reserve the right to make changes after publication based on any new information that may emerge regarding rosters. If that does happen, we’ll make certain to note the change.

2023-2024 LOOKBACK

NC State fell by one place in the overall national rankings between 2023 and 2024, placing fifth last year with 318 points, after a fourth-place showing in 2023 (373.5 points). After losing Nyls Korstanje, Giovanni Izzo, and Will Gallant for the 2024 season (who combined for a total of 57 points in 2023) the Wolfpack men had some difficulty filling their gaps.

Despite that, their meet was filled with individual successes. They took the maximum 18 swimmers to NCAAs last year, and 12 of them scored at least one point individually, combining for a total of 176 individual points. Of those 176 points, they’ll return swimmers who scored 132 of them. Four swimmers (Aiden Hayes, Arsenio Bustos, Luke Miller, Owen Lloyd) scored points from an ‘A’ final, with Hayes finishing third and sixth in the 200 and 100 butterflies. Miller also won the 100 free ‘B’ final, and Bustos came home with a pair of consolation wins in the 100 fly and 200 breast.

The Wolfpack qualified at least one athlete in every swimming event for NCAAs, qualifying more than one in all events except for the breaststrokes.

With some of their most impressive performances of the meet coming from combined successes, NC State reset the American Records* in both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays. Aiden Hayes (20.07), Sam Hoover (23.40), Luke Miller (19.35), and Quintin McCarty (18.16) swam a 1:20.98 to break Florida’s record set at SECs the previous month. With his 20.07 backstroke split, Aiden Hayes swam the fastest 50 back split in history, usurping Bjorn Seeliger’s 20.08 from 2022 NCAAs. The 200 freestyle relay AR was broken by Noah Henderson (18.93), Luke Miller (18.23), Jerry Fox (18.44), and Quintin McCarty (18.53), combining for 1:14.13. The previous record was 1:14.44, also held by NC State and set by Henderson, Miller, Drew Salls, and McCarty.

*Although the teams finished third and fourth respectively, they both consisted of four American swimmers, something that cannot be said for the faster teams. Florida had Josh Liendo (Canada), ASU had Ilya Kharun (Canada), and Cal had Bjorn Seeliger (Sweden), rendering them ineligible to break the American records.

SPRINT FREE: ★★★ ½ 

For a team as deep as NC State in the sprint free events, it’s surprising to see the way the scores turned out for them last year. Their only scorers were Quintin McCarty in the 50, finishing 16th, and Luke Miller tied for the top spot in the ‘B’ final in the 100 free for eight points. Many swimmers were close to scoring, but didn’t quite crack the threshold. The Wolfpack had a 17th place finish and a 19th place finish in both the 50 and 100 freestyles.

That being said, there’s great potential in this sprint free group, boding very well for their relays. Last year, they qualified six men for the 50 freestyle at NCAAs, and seven for the 100. This year, they’ll have eight guys entering the season having gone under 19.50 in the 50, six going 42.01 or faster in the 100 free, and five with a sub-1:34.00 in the 200.

For the 50, McCarty (18.80) and Drew Salls (18.99) will both enter this season owning best times under 19 seconds. In the 100, Miller (41.27) will try to crack into the NCAA ‘A’ final for the first time in his career. Daniel Diehl and Jerry Fox swam best 200 times in the postseason last year, and were the only NC State swimmers to make an appearance in the event at NCAAs, finishing 32nd and 37th.

Of the returning swimmers, Miller (19.12/41.27/1:31.16) has lifetime bests among the top returners in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyles. It’d be a shock to see him do the individual triple at NCAAs (as his 100 butterfly earned him a third place finish, so he’ll elect to do that over the immediate-next-event 200 freestyle). Before even starting his freshman year, Kaii Winkler also already owns some of the fastest lifetime bests for the season– times that, with a little improvement, stand a chance to break into the ACC and NCAA finals, with a 19.44/41.96/1:32.68 coming out of high school. His 100 and 200 freestyle times were the fastest in his class, helping him earn the designation of our #1 recruit in the class of 2024.

Fox was the only NC State swimmer to complete the sprint triple at NCAAs, finishing 19th in the 50, 17th in the 100, and 37th in the 200. He also swam on both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, and had the fastest 50 split (18.44) of all freshmen in the field in the shorter relay, and the tenth-fastest split overall in the event. Also showing some outstanding relay splits was Quintin McCarty, who anchored both medley and freestyle relays, with his fastest splits of the meet at 18.16 (200 medley relay) and 41.02. McCarty’s split was the fastest freshman split in the 400 freestyle relay, and Fox’s 41.46 was the second. Looking at their freshmen seasons, especially when considering their relay contributions, McCarty and Fox could be cooking up something special this year for the Wolfpack.

DISTANCE FREE: ★★★★ ½

NC State’s distance freestyle group is stacked, to say the least. Last year, in the 1650, the Wolfpack saw three individual swimmers place in the top 16 to score a total of 18 points (Owen Lloyd, 5th/Lance Norris, 13th/Ross Dant, 15th). This performance came without their individual NCAA champion, Will Gallant, who won the 1650 in 2023. Gallant took an Olympic redshirt last year to train for the US Trials, and he placed seventh in the 800 free and 13th in the 1500.  At International Team Trials in 2023, Gallant just barely missed the Worlds team, finishing third in both distance events. He’s back on the roster this year, boasting a best time of 14:28.94, which would’ve won NCAAs last year. With Gallant joining Lloyd and Norris again next year, he’ll continue a deep legacy of distance swimming for the NC State men.

The Wolfpack will not be returning their only scorer in the 500 freestyle from last year’s NCAAs, James Plage (16th), but they will be returning two 500 free qualifiers in Lance Norris (26th) and Owen Lloyd (43rd). It took a 4:13.00 to earn a second swim last year, and NC State has four swimmers who have been close to this mark (4:15.51 or faster) including Will Gallant, who owns a best time of 4:12.99.

One of the biggest additions to the roster comes from David Betlehem, the Hungarian national record holder in the 1500 freestyle. Bethlehem, a recent Olympian, earned a bronze medal in the open water 10km event and a fourth-place finish in the 1500 freestyle in Paris. He comes to Raleigh with best times of 3:48.33/7:47.02/14:40.91 (400/800/1500 LCM), which translate to about a 4:15 high, 8:43 low, and 14:23 500/1000/1650 triple. His converted 500 time is just around two seconds off what it took to score at NCAAs last year, but his projected 1650 time of 14:23 notches him near the top of the national title conversation. For reference, Gallant’s best 1500 LCM time is 14:57. If Betlehem can translate his times well, we could see something very special.

Two more incoming freshmen, North Carolina natives Matt Marsteiner (4:19.80/15:00.38) and Hudson DeGroote (4:24.02/15:18.26), will round out the well-established distance free group for the Wolfpack. They’ll need to drop some time to score points at NCAAs, but they’re already showing times that would’ve scored at ACCs. Marsteiner and DeGroote finished 1-2 in the 500 at the NCHSAA State Championships in 2024.

BACKSTROKE: ★★★

This section is where the Wolfpack will feel Kacper Stokowski’s absence the most after his eligibility ran out. Stokowski was second in the 100 back and fifth in the 200, scoring 31 points for NC State in the backstroke events alone. Aiden Hayes and Daniel Diehl were the only other finalists, both earning a ‘B’ final swim. Hayes scored seven points from 10th place in the 100, and Diehl scored two from 15th place in the 200. Last year’s backstroke finals were very fifth-year-heavy, seeing four in the top 16 of the 100 and a whopping seven in the top 16 of the 200. Despite losing one of their own fifth years in the process, the thinner crowd bodes well for many of NC State’s swimmers.

Hudson Williams was 20th at the 2024 national championships, finishing only 0.17 seconds behind the 16th qualifier. JT Ewing was left off of the NCAA team last year due to roster restrictions, and his best time of 1:40.21 would’ve placed him 19th in the 200 back. Williams (45.28) and Quintin McCarty (45.72) were both ACC ‘A’ finalists in the 100, each swimming a lifetime best to finish third and eighth.

NC State also brings in Charlie Bufton (48.25/1:45.11), Simon Bermudez (47.68/1:43.81) and Nolan Dunkel (46.85) as part of their backstroke crew this year. It took a 47.19/1:44.64 to make it back for the ACC C-final, and with some time drops, they could add more points and potentially even some NCAA qualification times to the group.

BREASTSTROKE: ★★ ½ 

The breaststroke events have always been a tricky point for the NC State men, but thanks to Arsenio Bustos and Sam Hoover, the program had one of the best showings they’ve seen at 2024’s NCAAs. After not swimming anyone in the 100 or 200 in 2023 and a 34th/45th place finish from Rafal Kusto in 2022, Hoover placed 23rd in the 100 breaststroke and Bustos won the ‘B’ final in the 200, scoring nine points for the Wolfpack. They’ll both return for the 2024-2025 season.

NC State will bring in three breaststroke specialists for their freshmen class: Kazakhstani Arsen Kozhakhmetov, with best times of 1:01.54/2:18.39 LCM (roughly 53 mid, 2:01 low in SCY), Hudson Schuricht (53.95/1:54.89), and Brasen Walker (53.59, 1:57.87). They’re slated to join Bustos, Hoover, Will Heck and Henry Lee to round out the breaststroke group for this year. They’ll all need to drop some time to get into NCAA scoring range, but each seems poised to place well at ACCs, assuming everything pans out.

It’s important to mention Brasen Walker has faced some unfortunate adversity in the past year, after tearing both of his meniscus– twice. After missing out on Olympic trials for recovery, he’s adopted a sort of  “I’ll be back, better than ever” mindset, per his Instagram. He’s still rostered for the season, but his most recent results are from the 2023 VA HOKI Thanksgiving Invite in November 2023.

BUTTERFLY: ★★★★★

For the second year in a row, NC State featured an impressive five men under the 45.00 second mark in the 100 butterfly. Led this year by Luke Miller and Aiden Hayes in tandem (as opposed to what we’ve seen in the past from primarily Hayes), the duo finished third and sixth at NCAAs, respectively. Alongside Miller and Hayes, Arsenio Bustos and Kacper Stokowski went 1-2 in the ‘B’ final, meaning the Wolfpack scored 45 points in the event. This year, they’ll lose Stokowski and Henderson (the other swimmer under 45), but will return their three other scorers. They’ll also add Kaii Winkler (45.98) and Nolan Dunkel (47.33), who, given some collegiate improvement, have the potential to score in the postseason at ACCs and possibly even NCAAs. Winkler recently competed for Germany at the Olympics in the 100 fly, swimming a 52.64 (LCM) after going a lifetime best at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, with a 51.51.

The 200 butterfly doesn’t have the five-man depth that the 100 distance does, but the Wolfpack’s top butterfliers in Hayes and Noah Bowers made handy work of the event during the season. Hayes swam to third place at NCAAs last year, followed closely by Bowers, who was sixth. The duo scored 29 points in the 200 alone. Losing Bowers will hurt, but there’s potential for some strong development in the recruiting class, with Simon Bermudez (1:46.58) and Matt Marsteiner (1:44.25).

Luke Miller, one of the Pack’s most versatile swimmers, also would be nationally competitive in the 200 fly if he chose to compete in it. He owns a time of 1:41.40, which would’ve been just off of scoring at NCAAs. Miller is unlikely to swim the 200 fly in the postseason though, as it encroaches too closely on one of his main events, the 100 freestyle.

IM: ★★★

Arsenio Bustos, Daniel Diehl, and Sam Hoover– the fastest three 200 IM swimmers from the 2023-2024 season– will all return for this season. Bustos and Diehl both swam the event at NCAAs last year, both taking home points as well. Bustos earned his way into the ‘A’ final for the second year in a row, this year improving on his previous sixth-place result and finishing fourth, to score 15 points. Diehl rounded out the ‘B’ final, adding some time from his prelims swim to finish sixteenth, scoring one point for the Pack. Hoover swam the 50/100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke at nationals last year, but his best time of 1:43.14 (from ACCs) would’ve been just over a second away from scoring.

Kyle Ponsler leads the team in the longer IM event, with a best time of 3:39.28 enough to earn him seven points and a 10th-place finish at NCAAs. Owen Lloyd also raced the event (with a hefty meet load, a day after the 500 and one day before the 1650), placing 24th with a time slightly off of his season best. Lloyd’s lifetime best of 3:42.16 would’ve been just shy of making the finals.

NC State will bring in many recruits who boasted competitive 200/400 IM times during their time before college, including IM specialists Simon Bermudez (1:46.81/3:51.36) and Charlie Bufton (1:46.32/3:48.91), as well as a few distance swimmers (Matt Marsteiner – 3:47.51; Hudson DeGroote – 3:49.22) and a breaststroker (Hudson Schuricht – 3:49.25) that have dropped some impressive 400 IMs. It took a 1:47.03 to make the C-Final in the 200 IM at ACCs, and a 3:51.91 in the 400 IM. We don’t know the potential event schedules for these guys yet, as many of them have the chance to swim quite a few events. Bufton, as the fastest 200 swimmer, is around four seconds off from scoring with his current time, and Marsteiner is around six seconds off of the 400 IM scoring time.

DIVING: ★

Unfortunately, NC State’s diving program hasn’t been as illustrious as its swimming. However, things have the potential to change this year. They’ll completely reset their men’s team, with a new coach and a blank slate featuring a freshman class of three divers. Renato Calderaro, NC State’s only finalist from ACCs, transferred to the University of Georgia. Bayne Bennett, their other diver, graduated in 2024.

Dave McKown, the former head women’s diving coach from UConn, will start this year with his first season as the head diving coach at NC State. He’s got an impressive track record, showing great success on the boards for the Huskies’ women’s team and he brings an evident enthusiasm to coaching, as seen in the official announcement from NC State.  The incoming trio of Calvin LeBlanc, Will Schwallier, and Noah Wanzer will all look to set a precedent as freshmen this year.

RELAYS: ★★★★★

Note that the grading system doesn’t align perfectly for relays as double points.

Relay grading system:

• 5 star (★★★★★) – 31+ points per relay event
• 4 star (★★★★) – 22-30 relay points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – 12-21 relay points per event
• 2 star (★★) – 5-11 relay points per event
• 1 star (★) – 0-4 relay points per event

The NC State men are poised to have another great year with their relays, as they’ll return 17 of their 20 possible legs. They’ll lose Stokowski as their leadoff leg in both the 800 free relay (who swam with Miller, Bustos, and Diehl), but Sam Hoover (1:32.62- leadoff leg in 2022), Kaii Winkler (1:32.68- new recruit), or Jerry Fox (1:33.62- fastest other returning flat start) can reasonably fill the 800 relay spot. In the 400 medley relay (Stokowski, Hoover, Miller, McCarty), Aiden Hayes (44.55) or Hudson Williams (45.28) will likely assume his backstroke leg. Noah Henderson will be the only other loss, and his spot on the 200 free relay will likely be filled by Drew Salls (18.99).

The American Record-setting 200 medley relay will return all four swimmers (Hayes, Hoover, Miller, McCarty), as will the 400 freestyle relay (Miller, Fox, Hoover, McCarty). That being said, with the strength of the new recruiting class and the depth in the sprint free events, we could see some relay shake-ups this year.

Last year, the team placed within the top four in all relays except the 800 free relay, where they placed ninth (still earning a hefty 18 points). They placed third in both medley relays, and fourth in both freestyle relays. In the past, the Wolfpack have scored well over 100 points in the relay events. In 2024, they scored 142. In 2023, even more with 158. In 2022, 143. This upcoming year will very likely not be an exception.

Total Stars: 27.5/40

2024/2025 OUTLOOK

Despite losing a lot of big names like Stokowski, Henderson, and Bowers, the NC State Wolfpack men will lean on their depth, versatility, and incoming recruiting class to send themselves to another top-10 finish for the 10th consecutive season. This team is one of the most consistent fixtures in the top of the rankings, (except for 2021) finishing fourth or fifth seven times in the past eight years.

• 2014: 13th
• 2015: 8th
• 2016: 4th
• 2017: 4th
• 2018: 4th
• 2019: 4th
• 2021: 8th
• 2022: 4th
• 2023: 5th
• 2024: 5th

To really boost themselves up the rankings, their finalists will need to maintain their momentum from last year, and they’ll need to find some way to replace the points they’ll lose from last season’s graduates, and it could come from recruits like David Betlehem and Kaii Winkler, who are slated to make an immediate impact when they begin competing for the Wolfpack. With a healthy mix of every stroke represented (including three new divers to revitalize the program) in the recruiting class, there’s a lot of room for returners and newcomers alike to galvanize some already-strong groups.

NC State qualified six people for the 50 freestyle and seven for the 100, yet only one swimmer from each made it back for a second swim. They could make some serious waves with more swimmers in the finals, and they have exactly what they need to do so, especially in these events. The über-deep events like the sprint frees, back, and fly will all need to continue to stay strong. The team qualified at least one swimmer for an NCAA final in all but two events, so finding a swimmer that can plug the gap in the 100 breaststroke or 200 freestyle will be vital.

Relays have always been a very strong suit for NC State, and this year is looking to be no different. Swimmers like Aiden Hayes, Luke Miller, Quintin McCarty, Jerry Fox, and Sam Hoover are all expected to return as multi-relay athletes, and the team will look to play to their strengths in an attempt to finish all of their relays in the top five, as they did two years ago.

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