The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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134 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY MATT CARTER T he metrics suggest that the 2014‑15 athletics calendar year was the best in recent memory for NC State. An examination of the on‑the‑field per‑ formances highlight a string of successes from fall to spring that signals a continued rise in prominence for Wolfpack sports. The Wolfpacker looks back at the year in State athletics with a list of some of the best teams and individual showings. ■ Director's Cup Finish The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup mea‑ sures the competitive success of college ath‑ letic programs on the field, and in 2014‑15 NC State recorded its best‑ever finish in the standings, checking in at No. 27. Among ACC schools, including Notre Dame, the Pack checked in at No. 6. Fourteen NC State sports registered points, and 10 teams had a top‑25 finish in their respective sports in at least one ranking. The top finisher was men's swimming and diving, which won the ACC title and finished eighth at the NCAA Championships. The Directors' Cup finish coupled with the academic achievements, including a school‑ record 71 percent Federal Graduation Rate and the second‑highest ever Graduation Suc‑ cess Rate at 81 percent, left NC State direc‑ tor of athletics Debbie Yow proud. "The combined academic and athletic success of our programs in 2014‑15 is something the NC State community appre‑ ciates," Yow said. "We applaud the efforts of our student‑athletes, coaches and staffs on a truly special year and the progress we're making in all of our key goal areas." NC State's previous best finish in the Directors' Cup had been No. 32. The Pack has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the standings since Yow's arrival in the summer of 2010 (see chart). ■ Team Of The Year In a remarkable turnaround from four years ago when the Wolfpack men's swim‑ ming and diving team finished eighth in the ACC Swimming & Diving Champion‑ ships, the Pack won the conference title in 2015 and finished eighth at the NCAA Championships. The Wolfpack came close to an even better finish at nationals. The 200‑yard freestyle relay team touched the wall first, but was disqualified because of an illegal exchange. Had the Pack held onto those 40 points, they would have finished sixth in the final championship standings. Nevertheless, men's swimming delivered the Pack its lone conference title during the year and provided the highest NCAA team finish for the program in 37 years. It also tied for the fifth‑highest team finish in school history. The future is bright for the program. Rising seniors Simonas Bilis and Christian McCurdy plus rising sophomores Anton Ipsen and Hennessey Stuart were all first‑ team All‑Americans in individual races, and rising sophomore Ryan Held got an honorable mention All‑America honor. ■ Coach Of The Year The man responsible for the rise of the men's swimming program was head coach Braden Holloway, who will be entering his fifth year at the helm next season. Holloway notched his second ACC Men's Coach of the Year honor after lead‑ ing the Pack to a dominating performance at the ACC Championships and a top‑10 showing at nationals. Holloway's success is not limited to the men's program. He also is responsible for the women's swimming and diving team that finished 17th at the NCAA Championships this spring, notching its second straight top‑20 finish for the first time since 1983. Hol‑ loway is confident that the women are on a trajectory to join the men as a conference title contender in the near future. ■ Individual Male Performance Of The Year It belongs to The Wolfpacker's Male Ath‑ lete of the Year: rising fifth‑year senior heavyweight wrestler Nick Gwiazdowski. After rolling to the ACC title, Gwiaz‑ dowski entered the NCAA Championships A Year To Remember A Look At The Highlights From NCSU Sports In 2014-15 NC State Directors' Cup Finishes Under Debbie Yow Year Ranking 2009-10 89* 2010-11 67 2011-12 37 2012-13 34 2013-14 41 2014-15 27 * Standing for the year before Yow arrived The Wolfpack men's swimming and diving team captured the ACC championship and finished eighth nationally for the program's best NCAA showing in 37 years. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS