NC State vs. Georgia vs. Duke
- Nov. 3-4, 2023
- Willis R. Carey Aquatic Center
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- SCY (25 yards)
- Meet Results
- Team scores
- Men:
- No. 5 NC State 151.5, No. 10 Georgia 148.5
- No. 5 NC State 246, Duke 53
- No. 10 Georgia 243, Duke 56
- Women:
- No. 14 Georgia 161, No. 5 NC State 137
- No. 5 NC State 151, No. 16 Duke 149
- No. 14 Georgia 155, No. 16 Duke 143
- Men:
NC State senior Luke Miller clocked a couple of eye-popping personal bests to lead the No. 5 Wolfpack men to a 151.5-148.5 victory over No. 10 Georgia on Friday night.
NC State also crushed Duke, 246-53, as part of the double dual meet, while the No. 14 Georgia women pulled out hard-fought wins against No. 5 NC State (161-137) and No. 16 Duke (155-143). The Blue Devil women had a strong showing, taking the Bulldogs and Wolfpack (151-149 loss) down to the final relay.
Let’s start with Miller: The sprint specialist started his day with a 19.99 butterfly split on NC State’s victorious 200 medley relay (1:23.61) along with Quintin McCarty (21.21 backstroke), Sam Hoover (23.66 breaststroke), and Drew Salls (18.75 freestyle). Only Arizona State has been faster in the event so far this season (1:22.37).
Then Miller tied with teammate Noah Henderson for 1st place in the 50 free, touching in a time of 19.18 that ranks 2nd in the NCAA behind Jack Dolan (19.02). Miller capped his individual racing with a nation-leading time of 44.17 in the 100 fly, dropping a few tenths off his previous bests in both the 100 fly and 50 free from March. He ended his session with a 41.46 anchor on the Wolfpack’s 400 free relay (2:49.50), registering the fastest split in the field.
The Wolfpack men dominated the 1000 free, sweeping the podium thanks to Lance Norris (8:51.60), Owen Lloyd (8:53.42), and Ross Dant (8:55.17). Norris and Lloyd now rank 4th and 5th in the NCAA, respectively, behind Dant’s third-ranked 8:51.33 from earlier this season.
There were a lot of bright spots for the Georgia men during their close loss in Raleigh. Jake Magahey fired off a 4:15.07 500 free that ranks 2nd in the NCAA behind Leon Marchand (4:14.34) while also throwing down a personal-best 1:43.88 in the 200 fly, which ranks 6th in the NCAA this season. The 2021 NCAA champion in the 500 free, Magahey has seen dramatic improvement in the 200 fly this season. He came into his senior season this fall with a lifetime best of 1:47.12 from 2019 and went 1:45.37 just last week.
Georgia freshman Tomas Koski, younger brother of former Bulldog All-American Matias Koski, is making his stamp on the program early. He swam 1:33.71 in the 200 free, which is a new lifetime best (previous was 1:33.85 from March at a club meet).
He’s beginning to develop some of that range that his older brother was well-known for, and is now ranked #3 in the NCAA this season behind Rafael Miroslaw (Indiana – 1:33.42) and Julian Hill (Arizona State – 1:33.51).
Georgia sophomore Ruard van Renen, a South African transfer from Souther Illinois who was the top mid-major scorer at NCAAs last season, recorded the 2nd-fastest 100 back time in the NCAA this season with a winning mark of 45.19. He now ranks 5th in program history.
Other top-5 times this season came courtesy of Bulldogs fifth-year Ian Grum in the 200 back (1:40.27, No. 4 in NCAA), junior Reese Branzell in the 100 free (42.55, No. 4 in NCAA), and fifth-year Zach Hils in the 200 IM (1:44.85, No. 5 in NCAA).
Women’s Recap
Fresh off winning two gold medals and a silver for Team USA at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, Georgia junior Rachel Stege claimed the 500 free crown in 4:44.86 while also placing 3rd in the 1000 free (9:47.15) behind fellow Bulldog juniors Abby McCulloh (9:43.71) and Dune Coetzee (9:42.19). Coetzee’s season-best 9:35.69 in the 1000 free ranks 5th in the NCAA this season while Stege’s season-best 9:37.37 ranks 6th.
Stege leads a resurgent Georgia women’s freestyle group that is reminiscent of the ones that led the program to seven NCAA titles (including ones where head coach Stefanie Williams-Moreno was a member of the team).
Including a win in the 200 from Coetzee (1:47.20, beating out Duke star Sally Foley in 1:47.70) and freshman Helena Jones in the 100 free (49.00), the Bulldog women won all but one of the freestyle events at the meet. They also dominated the 400 free relay in 3:17.96, with NC State 2nd in 3:20.00 — more than two seconds behind. Georgia’s relay included a 49.18 leadoff leg from Jones.
Jones’ individual 100 free was a career best, though she does have a 48.12 relay split from the Arizona State meet. She came out of high school with a best time of 49.04, and has been knocking on the door of that swim until her big breakthrough this weekend.
Georgia fifth-year Zoie Hartman cruised to victory in the 200 IM with a time of 1:57.79, which ranks her No. 6 in the NCAA this season.
The NC State women were led by senior Katharine Berkoff, who secured 1st-place finishes in the 100 back (51.84) and 50 free (22.56). Her season bests in the 100 back and 50 free are 50.83 and 22.34, respectively. That 50 free win is the only freestyle event that Georgia didn’t win.
The Duke women started off hot with a victory in the 200 medley relay (1:38.75) while also picking up individual wins in both breaststroke and butterfly events. Kaelyn Gridley led the way with a sweep of the 100 breast (1:00.56) and 200 breast (2:11.05), which she placed 6th in at NCAAs last season as a freshman (2:06.26). Turkish senior Aleyna Ozkan triumphed in the 100 fly (52.94), sophomore Martina Peroni touched 1st in the 200 fly (1:58.30), and Ali Pfaff brought home a win in the 200 back (1:56.47) for the Blue Devils.
Duke and Georgia will get a rematch with the Wolfpack in a couple weeks at the NC State Invite from Nov. 16-18 at the Greenboro Aquatic Center.
NC state fans (however few they are in numbers) are so mad right now lol
NCS will have a loaded roster, eye popping times, and over a dozen individual scorers and still somehow get 5th at NCAAs
Let’s not acknowledge that Duke women were leading NC State going into the last relay…awkward 😅
NC State Fall Invite is in Greensboro next week, not Raleigh.
It’s not next week. It’s in 10 days
UGA freshman Tomas Koski also posted top-5 time. Won the 200 free, 1:33.71 (No.3 in NCAA).
I believe he also got the NC state pool record.
Woah woah woah why isn’t there an entirely separate article on how UGA Women upset the #4 team????
I was gonna comment this but I didn’t wanna make anyone mad. By almost 30 points too! And NCS had their hard hitters – Berkoff, Noble, and Arens were all swimming.
Swimming off events and no relays
cope harder
Andrew is that you??? Are you actually defending my team? I love it 🥹
I didn’t know the 100 back and 50 free were now Berkoff’s “off events!”
Referring to others. Not worried about Berkoff. She can swim and win whatever she wants
Was not expecting the dawgs to get that close to NCS and I surely wasn’t expecting the uga women to beat NCS by that much. If they develop a little more throughout the season, that UGA women’s freestyle group could be lethal.
Sort of feels like a throwback Georgia team to the heyday when they were competing for team titles every year.
I was gonna say the trio of Stege, Coetzee, and McCulloh feels like a more distance-oriented Schmitt, Romano, and Vreeland. Obviously they are not at the caliber of those three yet, but they’re all juniors, so they still have time to develop. Stege and Coetzee are on very high upward trajectories right now.
Stefanie and Neil are obviously doing something right right now. The team looks very happy, they’re improving, they’re getting great recruits (and transfers), and looks like they could be a legitimate threat in years to come. As a UGA fan, it was hard to watch them towards the end of the Bauerle era, like when the women got 18th at NCAA’s, and the transition era, but they seem to really be picking up steam again.
How about last year? How were the women last year at NCAAs under Stef?
Who didn’t swim for NC State?
I didn’t notice any major absence for the women. Was there one that we didn’t see?
Not sure about women, but men had Stokowski, Hayes, Bowers, Ponsler out.