The Wolfpacker

November 2018

The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports

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100 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY MATT CARTER N C State men's swimming and diving lost arguably its great- est freestyle sprint swimmer in Ryan Held, an Olympic gold medalist and school-record 25-time All-American. It also lost its best distance freestyle swimmer in Anton Ipsen, the national title winner in the 1,650 free- style last March. Yet head coach Braden Holloway's pro- gram is so deep that it has a tremendous core returning for the Wolfpack, which fin- ished fourth at the NCAA Championships for the third straight year after winning its fourth consecutive ACC title. "This is another good year for our men's roster," Holloway admitted. "We have a big senior class this year, lots of leadership, lots of experience at the national level that I think can continue to move us forward and do big things, but I also think it's important for our underclassmen to get another year of their leadership." Headlining the returning group are a pair of national champions in senior An- dreas Vazaios and junior Coleman Stewart. Vazaios is the reigning gold medalist in the 200 butterfly, but Holloway noted that he was combined total of two-thirds of a second away from winning both the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke, the latter of which was won by his teammate Stewart. Vazaios did not even swim in the 200 freestyle, where he holds the school re- cord, or the 100 butterfly, where he has the fourth-best time in NC State history, at NCAAs last year. "He's definitely the best multi-func- tional, most diverse swimmer we've ever had," Holloway said. "I think even if he got to swim more events at the national level he'd probably see more of that." Although it may be tempting to increase Vazaios' program at the NCAA Champion- ships, the goal is to put him in position to win three national titles, the coach noted. For Stewart, Holloway sees a lot of room for growth. Stewart has expanded his pro- gram to include the 100 freestyle and 100 MORE TO COME The Wolfpack Returns A Strong Core From An Elite Team Senior Andreas Vazaios was the ACC Men's Swimmer of the Year in 2018 and won the national title in the 200 butterfly. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS M E N ' S SWIMMING PREVIEW

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