The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1137844
JULY 2019 ■ 127 Directors' Cup Finish NC State finished 26th in the final Learfield IMG Directors' Cup standings with 794 points, a year after checking in at No. 15 for the program's all-time best showing. NCSU was also sixth best among the 15 ACC programs. Team Of The Year The men's swimming and diving squad takes the honor for the second straight year. Head coach Braden Holloway's program has established itself as a powerhouse in the ACC and a factor nationally. Led by seniors Andreas Vazaios, Justin Ress and Jacob Molacek plus junior Cole- man Stewart, NC State finished fourth at the NCAA Championships for the fourth consecutive year and notched its fifth straight top-10 finish. Vazaios, The Wolf- packer's Male Athlete of the Year, repeated his national title in the 200 butterfly. The Pack also won its fifth straight ACC title, and in that time it has gone 28-3 in duals against conference foes. It has not dropped a meet to a league opponent over the past three seasons (17-0). One has to go back to Hall of Fame coach Don East- erling's 12 straight ACC titles from 1971- 82 to find a more dominant stretch in the league for NC State. With the looming addition of an outdoor swimming pool that will feature a platform area for divers to practice, Holloway's pro- gram is unlikely to fall off anytime soon. Coach Of The Year There was a long list of credible can- didates to choose from this year, but ulti- mately the choice was also easy. Women's basketball coach Wes Moore had an incredible run with his squad, win- ning the first 21 games of the season to become the last undefeated team in men's or women's college basketball. The team would finish the year 28-6 and reach the Sweet 16 for a second consecutive year. What's remarkable about the campaign is that Moore's squad was severely short- handed due to injuries. Starting point guard Kaila Ealey was lost before the season be- gan with a knee injury. She averaged 8.9 points and 4.2 assists while playing 33.4 minutes per game in 2017-18. Redshirt junior guard Grace Hunter, a transfer from Charlotte in her first sea- son of eligibility with State, went down in game 14 with a season-ending knee injury. She was leading the team in scoring at 14.6 points per contest, and also was averaging 6.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game at that point. Two games later, fifth-year senior guard Armani Hawkins, expected to help pick up the minutes vacated by Hunter, also went down for the year. The former Arizona State transfer was averaging 4.2 points per game off the bench. In game 23, starting forward Erika Cas- sell, a junior, also suffered a season-ending injury. Cassell was averaging 6.6 points and 4.6 rebounds, and had a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Virginia. Following the injuries, Moore primar- ily utilized a six-player rotation for the remainder of the year with spot minutes from the only other two available scholar- ship players. NC State Directors' Cup Finishes This Decade 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* 2018-19 26 * Best finish in school history ROOKIE OF THE YEAR The future is bright in women's swimming and diving, and leading the way is Sophie Hansson. A native of Helsingborg, Sweden, Hansson was named the ACC Wom- en's Freshman of the Year after win- ning conference titles in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke races, making her the first swimmer at NC State to do that since 1982. She would go on to finish third in both races at the NCAA Champion- ships behind a pair of seniors, making her the top returning swimmer in the country next season in those races. Hansson has already taken nearly a second off the school-record time in the 100 breaststroke, and her mark of 57.74 seconds in the ACC champion- ship race was a conference record. Past Wolfpacker Rookies Of The Year Year Name Sport 2018 Hayden Hidlay Wrestling 2017 Cravont Charleston Track & Field 2016 Nyheim Hines Football/Track & Field 2015 Brian Brown Baseball 2014 Andrew Knizner Baseball 2013 T.J. Warren Men's Basketball Sophie Hansson won the ACC title in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 57.74 seconds, the second fastest ever by a freshman in NCAA history. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS