The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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120 ■ THE WOLFPACKER team All-American at the NCAA Champi- onships in the 50 and 100 freestyle. Adding to the freestyle relay mix is Virginia Tech transfer Joe Bonk. He helped a Hokies relay to an All-America finish before mi- grating back to his hometown of Raleigh. In the long distance swims, sophomore Anton Ipsen earned first-team All-Amer- ica honors last winter in the 1,650 free- style with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships and earned honorable men- tion accolades in the 500 free. Ipsen was named the ACC Men's Freshman of the Year. Junior Adam Linker was also an NCAA qualifier in both long distance races, and senior Austin Snyder was second in the 1,650 at the 2014 ACC Championships. Had Ipsen not been the ACC Rookie of the Year, the honoree could have been Hen- nessey Stuart. He won the 200 backstroke in a conference record time at the ACC meet and finished seventh in the race at nationals for first-team All-America status. He was also an NCAA qualifier in the 100 back, where he finished third at the confer- ence meet, and the 200 individual medley. Senior Christian McCurdy won ACC titles in the 200 butterfly and 400 indi- vidual medley and finished fourth nation- ally in the 200 fly to receive first-team All-America recognition as a sophomore. Last season, McCurdy was fourth again at nationals in that race. Junior Andreas Schiellerup is a versatile swimmer, who took fourth in the 50 free and second in the 100 backstroke at the ACC Championships, and is a valuable contributor on the Pack's relays. Junior Soren Dahl was All-ACC in the 200 indi- vidual medley and represented Denmark this past August in the World Champion- ships. Junior Derek Hren was second at the conference meet in the finals of the 100 breaststroke. While the Wolfpack has a wealth of tal- ent returning, some newcomers could leave their mark as well. Holloway is hopeful that diver Stewart Spanbauer, a three-time AAU Diving All-American and state cham- pion at Summit Country Day in Cincinnati, can help boost the divers. Local prospect Justin Ress from Cary High was also one of the most touted swimmers in the 2015 class. The key will be putting everything together so that the NC State swimmers are in peak form in March when the national championships are held in Atlanta. "We need to find out where we are," Holloway said. "It's puzzle pieces on other puzzle pieces." ■ Three Swimmers To Watch Senior Simonas Bilis NC State's last two national champion swimmers were, like Bilis, freestyle sprinters. David Fox won the 50 free in 1993, and Cullen Jones took first in that race in 2006. Bilis has already swam faster than either of those two ever did at NC State. He is a two-time ACC champion in the 100 free and added the 50 and 200 free titles to his collection last sea - son. He won the 50 in a conference record time of 18.98 seconds to become the first ACC swimmer to break 19 seconds. Sophomore Anton Ipsen Bilis was last season's ACC Men's Swimmer of the Year, and Ipsen was the ACC Male Freshman of the Year. He was honored after emerging as a potential future star in the long distance swims. Ipsen took first in the 500 and 1,650 freestyle races at the ACC Championships, and he finished fifth at the NCAA Championships in the latter race. Ipsen was also 10th at nationals in the 500. Sophomore Hennessey Stuart It's only his second season, but Stuart is already building a case to be the best backstroke swimmer in school history. During his first season, Stuart set an ACC record at the conference championship meet while winning the 200 backstroke. Stuart also has the fastest non-relay related 100 backstroke in school history. ■ By The Numbers 25 ACC championships won by NC State in pro- gram history. 5 Highest finish at nationals in school history, done in 1955 under Willis Casey. 0 Losses in dual meets last season for NCSU, the first time the Wolfpack won every meet since 1982 under Don Easterling. Noting The Pack • NC State had a pair of swimmers compete at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia: senior Simonas Bilis and junior Soren Dahl. Bilis represented his native Lithuania and swam in the 50-meter freestyle, finishing 20th out of 113 swimmers with a time of 22.51 seconds. He also helped the 4x100 relay team grab the 19th fastest mark. Dahl's 50-meter butterfly time of 41.13 seconds was tied for 28th fastest among the 80 that com- peted. He also helped the Danish 4x200 relay team set a national record with a time of 7:13.72, fast enough to earn a spot in the 2016 Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. • Dahl also competed in the 2015 Danish Na- tionals, where he was joined by teammates Anton Ipsen, a sophomore, and Andreas Schiellerup, a junior. Ipsen won gold medals in the 400-, 800- and 1,500-meter free relays, while Dahl took first in the 50-meter fly, silver in the 100-meter fly and bronze in the 50-meter free. Schiellerup had a silver in the 50-meter free and bronzes in the 50- and 100-meter backstroke. Newcomer To Watch Justin Ress — The Cary (N.C.) High product is following in the footsteps of his mother Maya, who swam at NC State from 1980-84. Ress was the 4-A state championship MVP in 2015 after winning the 500 free and 200 individual medley. He is also accomplished on the international scene. Ress swam with the USA 18-under all-star team in Dublin, Ireland, at the Irish Open Long Course Championships, where he finished second in the 200-meter individual medley and third in the 400 individual medley. He has qualified for both of those races as well as the 200-meter backstroke for the 2016 Olympic Trials. Anton Ipsen won ACC titles in the 500 and 1,650 freestyles en route to being named the ACC Men's Newcomer of the Year last season, and he was a first-team All-American in the 1,650. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS