The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1000643
JULY 2018 ■ 137 BY MATT CARTER N C State set a lot of new stan- dards in athletics during the past year. Men's swimming and wrestling both took plat- form (top-four) finishes at the NCAA Championships, tying the ACC's best-ever finish in the latter. Women's cross country and gymnastics joined men's swimming in winning league titles. Women's basketball reached the Sweet 16, football won a bowl game and finished in the top 25, and men's basketball made it back to the NCAA Tournament in year one under Kevin Keatts. Volleyball won its first-ever NCAA Tournament match, and men's golf ad- vanced out of the regionals to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2012. Baseball was awarded one of 16 re- gional hosting sites. And both tennis and soccer teams received postseason berths. The Wolfpacker takes a look back at the year that was with a list of some of the best team and individual showings for the Red and White. ■ Directors' Cup Finish Behind a dominant stretch through the fall and spring, NC State was ranked in the top five of the Learfield Directors' Cup at one point before notching its highest ever finish at No. 15. That is a far cry from the No. 89 ranking in 2009-10, the year before Debbie Yow took over as the director of athletics. ■ Team Of The Year There was a wide range of options for team of the year, but the most dominant squad on campus was men's swimming and diving. The team crushed the competition at the ACC Championships and then fin- ished fourth at the NCAA Championships. Closer inspection also shows that NC State actually had the second-highest swimming points at the NCAA Champi- onships behind only Cal, but was passed by Texas and Indiana when diving points were added. The team won five national titles — three individual and two relay — and set an American record in one of the relays. ■ Coach Of The Year This again is another cast of candidates that runs long. Gymnastics' first-year head coach Kim Landrus won a conference title, volleyball coach Linda Hampton-Keith took the pro- gram to new heights in her second year, and both women's basketball coach Wes Moore and men's basketball coach Kevin Keatts turned what were supposed to be rebuilding seasons into postseason berths. The honor, though, goes to wrestling's Pat Popolizio. In his sixth year as the head coach at NC State, he led the Pack to a fourth-place standing at nationals, tying the ACC record for the best finish by a league member. NC State Directors' Cup Finishes Under Debbie Yow Year Ranking 2010-11 67 2011-12 37 2012-13 34 2013-14 41 2014-15 27 2015-16 32 2016-17 29 2017-18 15* * Best finish in school history