NC State wins swimming national titles in 1650-yard freestyle, 200-yard butterfly
Posted March 26, 2023 11:51 a.m. EDT
Updated March 26, 2023 11:53 a.m. EDT
On the final day of the 2023 NCAA Championships, the NC State men's swimming and diving team finished its 2022-2023 season with a fifth place team finish and National Championship titles in the 1650-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly.
The team finished with 373.5 points, marking the second-highest team finish in program history. NC State finishes the meet behind California, Arizona State, Texas, and Indiana.
SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS:
1650-yard freestyle: The distance duo of Will Gallant and Ross Dant started off the night by finishing as the National Champion and National Runner-Up in the event. Dant, swimming from the last heat of the afternoon, destroyed his previous best time to finish as the National Runner-Up in the event with a time of 14:30.32 after finishing third in the event last season. Gallant continued the momentum that Dant started by leading the final heat, securing his first National Championship title and the 1-2 podium punch for NC State. He finished with a time of 14:28.94.
Also swimming in the early heats of the event, Owen Lloyd dropped four seconds off of his best time to take 11th place, scoring more much-needed points for the Wolfpack. His time of 14:46.16 moves him up to No. 6 in school history. James Plage posted a time just off of his lifetime best to take 18th (14:49.02).
200-yard butterfly: Sophomore Aiden Hayes fed off of the electric momentum ahead of him in the session, leading to the program's second National Championship title of the night. His time of 1:38.79 won by just .18 of a second. At the same facility in 2018, Wolfpack alum Andreas Vazaios brought home the same title to Raleigh.
Swimming in the Championship final after an 18th place finish in the event last season, senior Noah Bowers finished in sixth place with the first All-American honor of his career. Luke Miller picked up more points for the Wolfpack with an 11th place finish (1:42.12).
200-yard backstroke: Kacper Stokowski finished up an incredible week of individual events, ending in sixth place of the 200-yard backstroke (1:39.35), an event where he finished in 10th place at last year's meet.
Hunter Tapp competed in his second individual event of the meet, finishing 19th with a time of 1:41.16.
200-yard breaststroke: Arsenio Bustos went 3-for-3 for setting lifetime best times in his individual events with his time in the 200-yard breaststroke. Finishing 15th overall, the sophomore bettered his own program record in the event with his prelims time of 1:52.21.
100-yard freestyle: NC State had five representatives in the event, all swimming in prelims. Bartosz Piszczorowicz led the way with an 18th place finish (42.04). Nyls Korstanje finished 24th (42.23), Noah Henderson 27th (42.40), Drew Salls 46th (43.05), and David Curtiss finished 48th with a time of 43.12 seconds.
400-yard freestyle relay: The Pack ended the meet with a fourth place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay, finishing with a time of 2:47.09. Noah Henderson led off the relay with a 42.31 second swim, with Bartosz Piszczorowicz going 41.05, Nyls Korstanje posting a time of 42.03, and Giovanni Izzo passing others in the field with his 41.70 anchor leg.
National Championship Titles (3)
- 200 medley relay: Kacper Stokowski, Mason Hunter, Nyls Korstanje, David Curtiss (NCAA, ACC, Meet, Program, US Open records)
- 1650 freestyle: Will Gallant
- 200 butterfly: Aiden Hayes
All-American Honors (13)
- 800 freestyle relay: Miller, Piszczorowicz, Bowers, Tapp (sixth place)
- 500 freestyle: Dant (seventh place)
- 200 IM: Bustos (sixth place)
- 200 freestyle relay: Henderson, Korstanje, Miller, Curtiss (third place)
- 100 butterfly: Hayes (sixth place), Korstanje (seventh place), Stokowski (eighth place)
- 100 backstroke: Stokowski (second place)
- 400 medley relay: Stokowski, Hunter, Hayes, Miller (fourth place)
- 1650 freestyle: Dant (second place)
- 200 backstroke: Stokowski (sixth place)
- 200 butterfly: Bowers (sixth place)
- 400 freestyle relay: Henderson, Piszczorowicz, Korstanje, Izzo (fourth place)
Honorable Mention All-American Honors (10)
- 500 freestyle: Gallant (twelfth place)
- 200 IM: Izzo (twelfth place)
- 50 freestyle: Korstanje (ninth place), Henderson (tenth place), Curtiss (fourteenth place)
- 100 butterfly: Bustos (eleventh place)
- 100 backstroke: Izzo (eleventh place)
- 1650 freestyle: Lloyd (eleventh place)
- 200 breaststroke: Bustos (fifteenth place)
- 200 butterfly: Miller (eleventh place)
