Tyler Driscoll Is a Big Wolfpack Revelation on Day 1 of “Swimapalooza” Spectacular

Georgia vs. NC State (Swimapalooza)

• November 8-9, 2024
• Gabrielsen Natatorium, Athens, Georgia
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), two-day dual meet
• Friday Results PDF

The University of Georgia and NC State hosted the first half of the “Swimapalooza” spectacular on Friday. The fan-oriented affair focused on a shorter schedule of mostly 50 and 100 yard races and featured a kids’ zone, free t-shirts, free food, face painting, autograph sessions, and an in-house Emcee.

750 fans turned out for the meet and the results in the pool did not disappoint – though it was the visitors from NC State who dominated the first day of competition.

Swimapalooza photos and videos

Team Scores After Day 1

• Men: #4 NC State 128 – #10 Georgia 58
• Women: #7 NC State 119 – #14 Georgia 67

The meet will continue with teams racing the longer half of the lineup, with 200 yard races and the 1000 free, on Saturday morning.

Women’s Day 1 Highlights

The NC State women were badly in need of a reload in their sprint group this year, and sophomore Tyler Driscoll is giving them just that. As a freshman last season, she was unable to surpass her high school best time in the 50 free, but after a lifetime best two weeks ago against Arizona State (22.36) she crushed another one on Friday night, winning the individual race in 21.88.

She came to Raleigh with a best of 22.40 and now ranks 4th in school history behind only Katharine Berkoff, Kylee Alons, and Ky-lee Perry.

She later added a 52.84 to win the 100 fly in another personal best. Only her teammate, highly-touted freshman Leah Shackley, beat her with a split of 51.08.

She was on the “B” relay for NC State in the session-opening 200 medley, splitting 22.72 on a fly leg, but it was NC State’s “A” relay that won in 1:36.66. They were half-a-second clear of Georgia, with Cassie Moses (22.31) holding off Georgia anchor Katie Sikes (21.86) for the win.

The younger end of the NC State women’s team came up big on day 1 of the meet. Besides the aforementioned, another star freshman Erika Pelaez won the 100 free (47.81) and 200 free (1:44.20), clearing the field by almost a second and 1.3 seconds, respectively.

That swim in the 100 free was just .03 seconds shy of the best time she did as a senior in high school.

Pelaez now has five wins in five individual swims in her collegiate career so far. She also moved to four-for-four in relay results this season, splitting 21.34 on the 2nd leg of NC State’s winning 200 free relay.

In spite of having the better 50 freestylers on paper, that closing 200 free relay was a nailbiter.

Splits Comparison

Driscoll didn’t swim on the 200 free relay.

The Georgia women are expected to have a better day on day 2 as their program is generally better known for the longer races. They showed that with a win in the 500 free from Rachel Stege in 4:37.02. That time ranks her 2nd in the NCAA so far this season behind only Texas’ Jillian Cox (4:34).

She led a Georgia 1-2-3 finish with Abby McCulloh (4:40.21) and Dune Coetzee (4:40.87) behind her.

Other Day 1 Winners:

• Freshman Lily Christianson finished 2nd in the 50 free in 22.23 and won the 100 IM in 54.94. She’s another young swimmer for NC State and is the 2024 Indiana High School Champion in the 50 and 100 free. Her 100 IM time is a school record, though the 100 IM has only recently become more popular in collegiate meets.

Men’s Day 1 Highlights

The NC State men led the meet off with a dominant win in the 200 medley relay, swimming 1:22.75. That’s a season-best and about a quarter-second faster than they swam against Arizona State two weeks ago. They remain the 2nd-best relay in the country.

That winning group included Quintin McCarty (20.89), Sam Hoover (23.40), Luke Miller (19.86), and Drew Salls (18.60) – with each leg out-splitting their Georgia counterpart.

McCarty would come back later in the meet to win the 50 free in 19.22 ahead of Salls (19.38) as part of 1-2-3 Wolfpack finish.

It was a broad effort for the NC State men, with their six individual wins coming from six different swimmers. That included Jerry Fox in the 100 free in 42.26, beating out freshman teammate Kaii Winkler (42.71). That time for Fox is about a second better than he was in a dual meet last season and was even about half-a-second better than he was at the mid-season GAC Invite last season.

It wasn’t all sprinters in the win column for NC State: 21-year-old freshman David Bethlehem won the 500 free in 4:16.62. Bethlehem was 4th in the 1500 free in the pool and 3rd in the 10km open water race at the Olympic Games this summer.

While Georgia didn’t have the depth to hang with NC State in scoring, they did get in some good licks early in the meet. In the first individual event of the meet, the 200 free, Tomas Koski won in 1:31.93 – the second-best time in the country behind Texas’ Luke Hobson (1:31.86). Koski beat a good field that included Winkler (1:32.85), Diehl (1:33.74), and Fox (1:34.51).

One race later, All-American Ruard Van Renen won the 100 back in 45.03, which is also the second-best time in the country (behind Texas’ Will Modglin at 44.81).

Other Day 1 Winners:

• Luke Miller won the 100 fly in 45.53. That follows a 45.20 in the team’s last meet for the defending NCAA Championship bronze medalist.
• Sam Hoover won the 100 IM in 47.20 by a full second over Daniel Diehl.
• NC State freshman Arsen Kozhakhmetov from Kazakhstan won the 100 breaststroke in 52.80 over Sam Hoover (52.87). Kozhakhmetov is following in the footsteps of his country’s most famous swimmer Dmitry Balandin, who was an Olympic gold medal winning breaststroker.