State Wins Sixth Straight ACC Men's Swimming Title

The Wolfpack earned seven event titles and 13 podium finishes while Coleman Stewart was named the meet's Most Valuable Swimmer for the second year in a row

The NC State men's swimming and diving team captured its sixth consecutive ACC Championship on Saturday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. After four days of competition, NC State stood atop the leaderboard with 1,250 points.

The trophy marks the fifth time in ACC history a team has won at the title at least six consecutive times, and NC State becomes just the second school to accomplish that feat at least twice (Virginia).

The title marks the NC State men's program's 30th conference title.

The Wolfpack totaled seven event titles and 13 podium finishes over the course of the meet.

Coleman Stewart capped off an incredible ACC Championship 200-yard backstroke career with a blazing 1:37.71, which shattered the conference record (1:38.56). The win capped off a sweep of the individual backstroke events for the senior for the past three seasons.

With the victory, Stewart becomes just the 11th men's swimmer in the ACC to be a three-time champion in two events (100-yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke), and just the third swimmer to do so in both backstroke events. He is also the first to three-peat since NC State's David Fox did so from 1991-93 in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle.

After his performance this weekend, he was named the ACC Most Valuable Swimmer, the second consecutive year he has garnered the honors, sharing them with Caio Pumputis (Georgia Tech) in 2019.

Nyls Korstanje continued the championship momentum in the 100-yard freestyle in the following event, winning in 42.13 from lane one for his second individual ACC title of the weekend by over half a second.

NC State put an exclamation point on its title in the final event of the championship. The 400-yard freestyle relay squad, consisting of Stewart, Korstanje, Hunter Tapp and Noah Hensley brought home the program's seventh title in the event in eight years in 2:48.03.

ACC CHAMPIONSHIP MEN'S MEDAL RECAP:

Gold:

50-Yard Freestyle: Nyls Korstanje – 19.25

100-Yard Freestyle: Nyls Korstanje – 42.13

100-Yard Backstroke: Coleman Stewart – 44.04

200-Yard Backstroke: Coleman Stewart – 1:37.71

200-Yard Medley Relay: Stewart, Kusto, Sobolewski, Korstanje – 1:24.13

400-Freestyle Relay: Stewart, Korstanje, Tapp, Hensley – 2:48.03

Three-Meter Board: James Brady

Silver:

100-Yard Butterfly: Coleman Stewart – 44.92

800-Yard Freestyle Relay: Knowles, Stewart, Tapp, Hensley – 6:14.98

Bronze:

200-Yard Individual Medley: Erge Gezmis – 1:43.19

100-Yard Butterfly: Nyls Korstanje – 45.47

1650-Yard Freestyle: Ross Dant – 14:37.69

200-Yard Freestyle Relay: Korstanje, Henderson, McGlaughlin, Hensley – 1:17.70

200 BACK:

NC State placed two swimmers in the A Final as Stewart and Ross Dant clocked in at 1:40.60 and 1:42.46 in the prelims, respectively.

Stewart's 1:37.71 clip was followed by Dant's 1:48.61 in the A final, which was good for eighth place after swimming in the 1650-yard freestyle just minutes earlier. Jacob Johnson (16th, 1:45.02) and Hensley (21st, 1:44.83) rounded out scoring in the evening session for NC State.

100 FREE:

Korstanje's 42.92 clip in the prelims qualified him for a shot at his second gold medal of the week on Saturday evening, and he did just that in 42.13 from lane one.

Tapp, Mark McGlaughlin and Luke Sobolewski made their ways into the B and C Finals, posting times of 43.35, 43.65 and 43.51 for top-20 finishes across the board in the evening session.

200 FLY:

Zach Brown posted the third-fastest time in the prelims with a 1:42.27 clip, and Erge Gezmis continued his strong showing, winning his prelims heat in 1:43.41 and dropping over five seconds off his season-best time for his third A Final appearance in as many days. His time also qualified as an NCAA B Cut.

Brown (1:42.30) and Gezmis (1:44.00) collected A Final points, and Noah Henderson found the top 10 in the evening session with a ninth-place finish in 1:44.06. Noah Bowers clocked in at 1:45.60 to round out scoring for the Wolfpack heading into the relay.

1650 FREE

The team took five of the top 15 spots, including three of the top six times. Dant was the top finisher for the Wolfpack, finding the wall third with a 14:37.69 time, which ranks second in program history. Eric Knowles rounded out top-five scoring for the squad with a fourth-place finish in 14:47.94.

NC State took the first and second place spots in the second-to-last heat with 15:03.02 and 15:03.92 marks by Curtis Wiltsey and Danny Erlenymeyer, both top-10 times in school history. Gil Kiesler rounded out the heat with a 15:14.12 mark.

200 BREAST:

Rafal Kusto put points on the team board with a 1:57.96 clip in the finals, dropping a over a second off his prelims time.

DIVING:

The diving squad set the Wolfpack up with its best position in at least the last 10 years with 123 pts., good for fourth place heading into the swimming portion this weekend. James Brady became the squad's first three-meter board champion since 2000. The Cary native made very final at last week's diving championship for the first time in his career and was named the ACC Championship Most Valuable Diver.

400 FREE RELAY:

The 400-yard freestyle relay capped off the night with a gold medal.