The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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50 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Female Rookie Of The Year Priska Nugroho arrived at NC State with much fanfare after winning the 2020 Australian Open Junior doubles champi- onship. A year earlier, Nugroho reached the singles quarterfinals of the Wimble- don and US Open Juniors and the third round at the Australian Open Junior. Nugroho lived up to the expectations after joining the team in January. She went 23-8 in singles, including 10-3 against ACC opponents, and 26-4 in doubles (10-1 in the league). In duals, Nugroho led the team in both singles (22) and doubles (25) wins, and she finished the year ranked No. 89 nationally in singles. Five of her singles wins and two Year Of Titles NC State Piled Up Championships And Trophies In A Memorable College Year BY MATT CARTER he 2021-22 college athletics season was fruitful for NC State. Led by the Pack women, NC State added a lot of hardware to the tro- phy collection. Only Notre Dame and Virginia matched the Wolfpack's four ACC titles. NC State triumphed in the league in women's basketball, women's cross country, wrestling and men's swimming and diving. The runners took their success to a higher level, winning NC State's first national championship since former men's basketball head coach Jim Valvano and the Cardiac Pack famously won the 1983 NCAA Tournament. Men's swimming and diving finished fourth at the NCAA Championships to bring home another team trophy, the fifth in six years for the program. Women's basket- ball and women's tennis came within one contest of being in the Final Four of their respective sports. Women's swimming and diving finished fifth at the NCAA Championships, while wrestling was 10th. Baseball came within one game of an ACC title before being snubbed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee in a heavily disputed deci- sion among college baseball writers and observers. Additionally, long-distance track runner Katelyn Tuohy, swimmer Katharine Berkoff, swimmer Kacper Stokowski and the women's tennis duo of Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller captured NCAA individual national titles in their respective sports. Here is a look back at the best of the best from the sports year for NC State. T Male Rookie Of The Year Freshman infielder/designated hitter Tommy White only played one season for the Pack on the diamond, but in that year he left a lasting and his- toric impression. Nicknamed "Tommy Tanks," White batted .362 with 27 homers and 74 RBI. White had an incredible slugging percentage of .757. The home runs were what had college baseball buzzing. White set an NCAA record for most homers in a season by a freshman, and he also set a school mark for single-season bombs. He also drove in more runs, by 19, than any other Wolfpack fresh - man had ever done. His slugging percentage was the fourth highest in program history. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Associa- tion named White the National Freshman Hitter of the Year. Unfortunately for the Wolfpack, White entered the transfer portal after NC State was finished with the season and will play at LSU next season. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS Tommy White's 27 home runs were the most in NCAA history by a freshman and the most in a single season by an NC State player. He compiled a gaudy .757 slugging percentage in what will end up being his only season with the Wolfpack. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS Among the many additions to the Wolfpack trophy case in the 2021-22 season were an NCAA team championship in women's cross country, four individual national championships and four ACC team titles. PHOTO BY MATT CARTER