Bilis Goes 19.8 As NC State Steamrolls Florida State In Raleigh

Simonas Bilis ripped the second-fastest 50 free time in the nation, and distance man Anton Ipsen went a nation-leading distance time as the NC State Wolfpack men and women beat ACC foes Florida State.

Full results

Men’s Meet

Bilis, who finished top 3 at NCAAs in both the 50 and 100 frees last year, was on fire in the sprints, as he usually is early in the season. Bilis won the 50 free by a crazy margin, going 19.83 – nearly half a second up on the rest of the field.

That time sits #2 in the NCAA this season behind defending national champ Caeleb Dressel of Florida. Bilis passes 2014 NCAA Kristian Gkolomeev in the rankings.

Bilis also won the 100 free in 43.80 and jumps into the top 5 nationally.

In the distance races, Danish sophomore Anton Ipsen hit two high-ranking times while winning handily. He opened the meet with a 9:00.23 in the 1000 free. The two margins that stand out there: he won by 12 seconds and is #1 in the NCAA by 3.

Ipsen was also 4:23.40 to win the 500, the second-best swim in the nation so far behind reigning NCAA champ Clark Smith of Texas.

NC State swept all but two of the men’s swimming events against a solid Florida State squad, showing off the well-rounded roster that brought them an ACC title last year.

Hennessy Stuart swept the backstrokes, breaking a pool record in the 200 with a 1:43.37. He and teammate Andreas Schiellerup went 1-2 in the 100 back, with Stuart leading in 47.82.

Second in that 200 back was Florida State’s Connor Kalisz, who was a lifetime-best 1:45.08 for the Seminoles.

FSU did manage to exploit NC State’s weakness in the breaststrokes, with Jason Coombs taking both wins. Coombs beat out Derek Hren 55.22 to 55.46 in the 100, and topped Christian McCurdy in the 200, 2:02.43 to 2:02.54.

Florida State diver Tyler Roberge also swept the 1-meter and 3-meter boards in 1-2-3 finishes for the Seminoles.

The other dual-even winner was NC State’s Soeren Dahl, who took the 200 free (1:37.21) and 100 fly (48.29). Second in that 200 free was freshman Justin Ress, who would go on to win the 200 IM in 1:48.90.

That led to a 197-013 win for the NC State men, in search of a second-straight ACC title.

Women’s Meet

The NC State women maintained their momentum after big wins against USC and Hawaii last week. The Wolfpack lost just a single event in a throttling of their ACC rivals.

Reigning ACC sprint champ Riki Bonnema doubled in the 50 and 100 frees for the Pack in suffocating swims. Her 22.62 crushed the 50 free field by seven tenths of a second, and sits #4 in the NCAA this season.

Bonnema was also 50.01 to win the 100 free in a 1-2-3 sweep.

She combined with rangy junior Rachel Muller to sweep the freestyle races. Muller won three times by herself, taking the 200 free (1:49.34), 500 free (4:55.42) and 1000 free (9:58.88). Those 1000 free and 200 free wins came back-to-back in a brutal meet-opening double for Muller.

Alexia Zevnik just barely missed three wins of her own, finishing second to Muller in that 200 free with a 1:50.30. She would respond to that narrow miss with wins in the 200 back (1:58.35) and 200 IM (2:03.11) for NC State.

Though the 200-99 final score was rough on the visiting FSU Seminoles, Florida State had a big bright spot in freshman Megan Brown, who took the team’s lone win. Brown blew out the 200 fly field with a 2:00.58, winning by two full seconds. She was also the closest challenger to Zevnik in that 200 IM, taking second to close the meet.

NC State’s Kayla Brumbaum ruled the breaststrokes, winning both the 100 (1:02.08) and 200 (2:16.12) over FSU’s dynamic duo of Natalie Pierce and Sami Pochowski.

Other event winners for NC State were Ashlyn Koletic in the 100 back (54.22) and Yuri Nakano in the 100 fly (54.18), plus senior Rachel Mumma on the 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards.