Ethan Holloway,Ā the son of NC State head coach Braden Holloway, committed to NC State for 2026 earlier this fall. Just two months later, Ethan posted lifetime best times in all of his events at Winter Juniors-East.
He most notably finaled in the 50 and 100 freestyles at the meet. After tying for 24th in prelims of the 50 free in a 20.37, he blasted a 20.05 to win the swim off, earning him a spot in finals. At night, he swam a 20.14 to win the ‘C’ final. He also finished 23rd in the 100 free, after posting a lifetime best 44.83 during prelims.
Best Times Comparison
| At Time Of Commitment | Now | |
| 50 Free | 20.96 | 20.05 |
| 100 free | 46.04 | 44.83 |
| 200 free | 1:40.56 | 1:38.92 |
| 100 back | 50.45 | 49.86 |
| 200 back | 1:50.17 | same |
| 100 Fly | 51.45 | 48.26 |
Ethan made several changes to his training this fall, including a greater focus on swimming. In the past, he balanced basketball with his training, and he continues to play golf.
“I went into this season with more motivation than I have ever had,” Ethan said. “I have always been a multi-sport athlete until recently I decided to choose swimming. I want to give a lot of my success to my coaches and teammates for how much they push me and discipline me to be better everyday. My coaches have put so much work into my swim career and always want what they think is best for me.”
That increased focus has been paired with more individualized training at his club, New Wave Swim Team based out of Raleigh, where the coaching staff has adjusted practice structure to allow for greater specificity.
“In addition to my main coach Zach Murray, New Wave has added a second coach on deck so we can split and do more specific training sometimes,” Ethan said. “This helped not only me, but other swimmers on my team get more specific training they may need.”
Ethan Holloway has also emphasized strength and speed development outside of the pool, an area that appears to be paying off in his sprint events.
“I have been very consistent with dryland and weight training, trying to get stronger while also doing mobility work,” he said. “Another thing that really has helped is Wolfpack Elite Speed Force. This practice is led every Thursday by high level coaching where we will do some weeks of power and endurance, then switch to top speed. Not only does this build my confidence in sprinting, but it gives you sets you may not always get in club swim.”
Ethan will arrive on campus next fall as a member of the class of 2030 along with #12 ranked Liam Carrington, BOTR ranked Sam Marsteiner, BOTR ranked Austin Temple, and Jan Gajda of Poland. Temple also raced the 50 and 100 free at Winter Juniors-East, posting a 20.09 in the 50 for 8th and a 45.21 in the 100 for 14th. Temple swam a 44.21 in prelims.
“NC State has the best team culture I have ever seen and I am really just excited to train while having fun doing so. I am really grateful for the opportunity they gave me and I canāt wait to show them what Iāve got. “
Athletes get recruited for their upside all the time. Itās not like he was given a roster spot as someone who could only muster a 22.0 50 free. Nobody would be looking into this recruit in a bad way if his dad werenāt the coach. If anything, his dad had obvious insider information to recruit him and it will likely pay off.
What position did he play in basketball?
just because he has dropped time does not mean he can justify his spot on the team. the fact that faster people have been cut and he is still allowed on in insane
Do you have any examples to share?
I was curious so I did a search.
Last year, NC State had 10 swimmers who were faster than 20.05 in the 50 free. Of them, 7 are still on the roster and 2 graduated. The exception is Ryan Weaver. I don’t know if Ryan was cut or made the decision on his own. Ryan posted a pretty lengthy explanation for his decision to stop swimming and didn’t mention being cut and had only positive things to say: https://www.instagram.com/p/DG6X4oNPyym/?hl=en&img_index=1
Regardless, Ryan also said this: “I want to start by thanking (Braden Holloway) and (NC State) for taking that chance on the local kid from a smaller club team in Durham.”
So, even if Ryan… Read more Ā»
Ryan was cut. As you’d expect, he was not happy about it.
I guess he took the high road though.
Bro do you not understand his capabilities??? This dude is insane, ever since I met him during Covid I knew he was gifted, leave him alone, just because you donāt have the commitment to a college you want doesnāt mean you have to ruin it for someone else. May God forgive your judgement
Leave the kid alone. Glad he’s getting better and hopefully will prove the haters wrong. He’s clearly good enough to swim D1 and Braden can do what he wants. I do however have problems with this nothing burger of an article about a kid who “went all best times” at a meet. But it will have some of the best engagement numbers of the day so that’s why it’s here.
It’s news because his Dad is an Olympic coach. Makes it interesting.
You don’t think it’s newsworthy for a kid who got ripped for not being good enough for NC State dropping a lot of time?
Damn, why do some of y’all hate swimming and sports so much?
Braden, did you read what I wrote? Quit gaslighting me. I am supporting the kid. I clearly support swimming and I love reading SwimSwam. No, I hate the fact that the kid cut time, like a lot of kids do, but because he’s an Olympic coach’s son you write an article about it and he is still getting ratioed.
Way to go Ethan! Keep it up. š„šŗš„
letās gooooo, so well deserving! in one season that was his time drops. comparison is the thief of joy, how about we spread good things instead of comparing him, people are on their own pace for swimming and heās still in HS, heās recruited to NCSU, letās see where yall are recruiting then if you have so much to say?
The haters in these comments know nothing about swimming. Stick to instagram reels.
For the sake of it I hope this dude is just a very late bloomer and goes huge pbās at NCISAAās, NCSAās and putās himself in a position where he would make an immediate impact on their roster. Still an uphill battle for him but at least now those times are what D1 caliber recruiting times should be around but still a bit off what NC state probably looks for mainly.
Tbf other than Carrington next years class not just for NC state but in general is not as fast as the last few classes have been only 3 incoming sprinters and only carrington has times to make an immediate impact next year. Not my place to normally comment… Read more Ā»
Who cares whether he becomes a D1 swimmer or not? Not everyone has the talent for that. He made major improvements and that’s great.
I think itās important to point out that he was recruited to a D1 roster because he was the coachās son. Yes he is NOW in recruiting range but he got his spot before the last second āyeah we have one more space availableā conversation. Nepotism at its highest after hundreds of cuts and roster changes in the last year.
Also, he always had D1 level times. I swear people act as though there’s no athletics outside the power 4.