The NC State Wolfpack have named 7 captains for the 2019-2020 NCAA swimming & diving season.
The men’s captains will be Eric Knowles, Noah Hensley, and Coleman Stewart; the women’s captains will be Julia Poole, Kate Moore, Ky-Lee Perry, and Olga Lapteva. The team didn’t name any diving captains.
Hensley, Stewart, Perry and Lapteva are all seniors, while Knowles, Poole, and Moore are juniors.
Among the group, all but Lapteva were individual All-Americans for NC State last season. The group is headlined by Stewart, who individually was 2nd in both the 100 fly (44.46) and 100 back (43.98) last season, plus 4th in the 200 back (1:38.81). In both the 100 fly and 100 back, he’s the highest-placing swimmer from NCAA’s that is racing this year’s collegiate season.
Hensley, meanwhile, has been granted an extra season of eligibility after transferring from Florida State to NC State following his freshman year. ACC intra-conference transfer rules forced him to sit out the 2016-2017 season, which by ACC rules in place at the time should have counted as 1 of his 4 seasons of eligibility. Under new conference rules, however, athletes still must sit out a season, but that does not cost them a year of eligibility. Hensley has apparently benefited from the change and been granted an extra year of eligibility.
The women’s group is led by Ky-Lee Perry, who after having her sophomore season cut short by injury in 2017-2018, rebounded to finish 7th in the 50 free (21.57) and the 100 free (47.43) at the 2019 NCAA Championship meet. This summer, she won the 50 free at the World University Games.
NC State swept both the men’s and women’s ACC Championship titles as a team last season. The men placed 4th at the NCAA Championships, while the women placed 7th. The women’s team have added National Team swimmer Katharine Berkoff to their roster for the 2019-2020 season.
In the past, NC State has announced their captains at the end of previous years, but this year they waited until closer to the start of this season to this year.
The team kicks off its season with the unofficial “Wolfpack Games” event on alumni weekend on September 27th. Their first true dual meet will be against South Carolina on October 25th.
You’re a captain…. you’re a captain….. you’re a captain too!!!
Why is is that the fastest or most successful people are always the captains? Can’t college coaches look past success to define leadership?
I think most schools vote on the captains. Olga Lapteva is one of the captains and I believe didn’t even make the travel team.
The students athletes on the team vote for their fellow teammates to determine who becomes captain…
In many cases the fastest teammates are also the hardest working and most dedicated to the team. Making them the ideal candidates to become team captain.
I wish this was true for my team. Our coaches are wack and picked the captains. We had no say in it and most aren’t happy with the decisions