The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/846301
JULY 2017 ■ 139 BY TIM PEELER S itting on a riser at NC State's Casey Natatorium, Ryan Held darts his eyes over to the spot in between lanes six and seven where, in the middle of his first practice with the Wolfpack men's swimming team, he threw up all over the pool deck. It's an unpleasant, humbling memory for a guy who thought he might never belong in a program looking to regain the pow- erhouse status it had from 1950-80, when coaches Willis Casey and Don Easterling churned out national champions, Olympi- ans and NCAA top-10 finishes. There he was, seasick from the waves of the better swimmers around him, cleaning up the mess he made in his first workout with his new teammates. "When I was growing up in Springfield, Illinois, I was always pretty good against the competition we had," Held said, re- membering his freshman fall in Raleigh. "But it wasn't great competition. No one would really second-guess me if I didn't go all-out in practice. "When I finally got here, I was just get- ting swamped by all these bigger, faster guys. Every time we went into the pool, I was doing nothing but breathing tons of water from all the waves they made. I just stood up on the deck and puked every- where. My teammates weren't too happy." Held had known failure before. As a high school sophomore, he was disqualified in the state finals of the 100 freestyle race for flinching on the blocks just before the starting gun. When he saw the headline in the paper the next day — "Held DQed at State Finals" — he vowed to never suffer through such a humiliation again. He won three state titles, set two state records as a junior and senior, and caught the attention of Wolfpack coaches Braden Holloway and Todd DeSorbo. Last spring, after watching teammates Anton Ipsen and Soren Dahl of Denmark and Simonas Bilis of Lithuania make their national teams, Held was determined to join them in Brazil. "We were at our team banquet after the season and before the USA Swimming Tri- als, and they flashed up this slide that said congratulations to those three Olympians," Held remembered. "And I started thinking, why not me?" It took three lifetime best performances at the USA Trials, but Held made it as a surprise member of the U.S. National Team. Even though the Olympics was his first real international meet, he was any- thing but intimidated. Amazingly, barely three years after sign- ing with the Wolfpack, Held was stand- ing on a podium in Rio de Janeiro in the comforting arms of legendary swimmer Michael Phelps, watching the United States flag rise and listening to the national an- them play after winning the gold medal in the 4x100 relay. He couldn't stop the tears or the smiles of his teammates. It was the golden mo- ment of the 2016 Olympic Games, re- played time after time for the rest of the games and on every highlight package. He did interviews for NBC's Today Show and anyone else who was interested. The moment brought Held international fame for the next nine months, while he repeatedly recounted the experience to his teammates, to his former high school, to swimmers all over the country. The Governor of Illinois declared Ryan Held Day in his home state soon after he returned from Rio, and he was recognized on the field in the middle of an NC State football game. "I was treated like a rock star," Held said. "It was pretty incredible." Held, who returned to practice with his teammates in between personal appear- ances, certainly didn't let up on his train- ing. He won seven medals at the ACC Championships, was part of the Wolfpack's second consecutive national championship relay quartet and finished second in the 50 freestyle to Olympic teammate Caeleb Dressel of Florida. For the second year in a row, the Wolfpack matched the best finish in program history, tying for fourth at the NCAA Championships. ROCK STAR SWIMMER Ryan Held Had A Dream Year, Winning A Gold Medal At The Olympics And A National Championship With The Wolfpack Held (second from left) was part of the United States' gold medal-winning 4x100 relay — which included Nathan Adrian (far left), Caeleb Dressel (far right) and 23-time Olympic gold medal win- ner Michael Phelps (second from right) — at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS