Press Release courtesy of NC State Athletics
The NC State men’s & women’s swimming & diving team opens its regular season on Friday at the Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center, hosting Penn State & Duke in a tri-meet at 5:00 P.M.
Thoughts from Head Coach Braden Holloway
“We’re happy with some new teams that we haven’t faced before with Penn State coming into town, our men have never seen them and if they have it’s been a really long time. Obviously, our men see Duke quite a bit during the year, at conference and at NCAA’s. We’ve got a familiar foe and one that’s not so familiar; it will be great unknown competition for us and another team where we know a lot more about what their strengths are and where we might be able to take advantage. It will be nice having all three teams at once going at it; I think the vibe at the pool will be fantastic and that environment’s going to be loud. It’s going to be a good old college tri-meet and we look forward to some great action with some quality teams.
“The women welcome two strong teams to Raleigh on Friday; obviously Duke is an ACC rival with us and we battle very well each and every year. Dan Colella leads a great coaching staff and always has Duke ready to go. It’s going to be a back-and-forth battle and I think it’s going to be a great competition.
“Penn State is someone that if we’ve competed against them in a dual meet, it’s been a very long time. It’s a team we normally only see at the NCAA Championships, so it’s great having a Big Ten team come in and bring great competition and they match up really well with us in some areas, and in other areas they’re going to be really tough. We’re looking forward to having some new people to race against. It’s great coach Tim Murphy has brought his team down here, and I’m looking forward to having both of these teams to go against this weekend.”
Scouting Penn State
In 2016-17 the Nittany Lion men finished 28th at the NCAA Championships, while the women finished 36th.
Junior Ally McHugh competed at the Phillips 66 U.S. National Swimming Championships in June, finishing the 1500-meter freestyle in 16:16.20 to place fourth overall in the Indiana University Natatorium.
In September, McHugh was named to the 2017-18 U.S. Women’s National Team, while head coach Tim Murphy and assistant coach Erik Posegay were named National Team Coaches.
Penn State recently competed against Virginia with the men falling to the No. 22-ranked Cavaliers 151-149, while the women were defeated 184-104 by the 13th-ranked Virginia squad.
Scouting Duke
The Blue Devils return eight national qualifiers, including one honorable mention All-American in senior diver Mary Ellen Targonski. Senior Leah Goldman was an All-ACC performer in 2016-17 in the 100-yard butterfly.
Duke recently completed in a tri-meet against Virginia Tech & Florida State, where the No. 20 women defeated No. 23 Florida State by a 192.5-160.5 margin but lost to the Hokies, 214-139. On the men’s side, Duke posted nearly identical scores in dual losses to the 20th-ranked Seminoles (208-145) and to 19th-ranked Virginia Tech (209-144).
Event Schedule
- 200 Medley Relay
- 1000 Freestyle
- 200 Freestyle
- 100 Backstroke
- 100 Breaststroke
- 200 Butterfly
- 50 Freestyle
- Diving
- 100 Freestyle
- 200 Backstroke
- 200 Breaststroke
- 500 Freestyle
- 100 Butterfly
- Diving
- 200 Individual Medley
- 400 Freestyle Relay
Promotions
- Poster giveaway
- T-shirt giveaway, while supplies last
- Enter to win Football tickets vs. Clemson (Nov. 4)
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