44 ■ THE WOLFPACKER
BY MATT HERB
hen he returned to
his alma mater in
2011 to take charge
of its swimming and
diving teams, Braden
Holloway had a vi-
sion: He wanted to
build NC State into
the kind of program that could compete
at a national level on a consistent basis.
He also had a problem: The Wolfpack
hadn't been at that level in years.
Prior to his arrival, the men's and
women's teams had both put together
a series of middling performances in
the ACC. The men had never finished
higher than fifth in the 10 years predat-
ing his arrival, while the women had
never finished higher than sixth.
During that same span, the Wolfpack
only placed in the team standings of
the NCAA Championships three times,
with a 21st-place finish by the women
in 2006 ranking as the best showing by
either squad.
Holloway thought the Wolfpack were
capable of much more.
" My ex p e c ta t i o n s we re to c re -
ate a consistent-performing program
at a high level," he said recently. "The
thought process was, this program has
been elite before. It had been a while,
but it had done it before. There was no
reason we couldn't do it again."
A five-time All-American during his
years as a Wolfpack swimmer in the late
1990s and early 2000s, Holloway had
moved into coaching after his gradua-
W
SUSTAINED
EXCELLENCE
As A New Season Dawns, NC State Looks To Continue Its Success In the Pool
Senior Katharine Berkoff set an American record in March with her first-place performance in the 100-yard backstroke at the NCAA Championships.
PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS
