The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/846301
JULY 2017 ■ 151 ■ Team Of The Year The expectations were high for women's cross country after its strong fifth-place finish in the fall of 2015, and the Wolfpack did not disappoint. At two highly com- petitive fields, NCSU came in second in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind., and the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wis., announcing that NCSU was a team that would be a fac- tor at the NCAA Championships. After easy wins at the ACC Champion- ships in Cary, N.C., and the NCAA South- east Regional in Charlottesville, Va., NC State came in fourth at the national meet in Terre Haute, Ind., for the best finish for the Pack since it finished second in 2001. ■ Coach Of The Year In its previous nine seasons, women's soccer had accumulated an ACC record of 6-83-4, went winless four times and never won more than two league contests in a season. It had just one overall record better than .500. Fourth-year head coach Tim Santoro, though, was upbeat going into the season because he knew the recruiting class, ranked No. 19 nationally by BigSoccer.com, he had targeted to turn around the program had ar- rived on campus 11-strong. Combined with a five-member sopho- more class, Santoro fielded a young but talented team that would prove to bely its inexperience. NC State went 11-9-2 overall, including 4-5-1 in the always challenging ACC. That was the most league and overall victories since the 1995 team. Among the conference wins was a 1-0 tri- umph at eventual national runner-up North Carolina. A 20-year NCAA Tournament drought was broken, and then NCSU beat No. 8 Minnesota and No. 19 Pepperdine to reach the Sweet 16. ■ Individual Male Performance Of The Year The honor goes to the collective 4x200 re- lay team in swimming of junior Ryan Held, junior Andreas Vazaios, sophomore Justin Ress and senior Soren Dahl that crushed the field by more than three seconds at the NCAA Championships to give the Wolfpack its second relay national title in as many years (the 4x100 won in the spring of 2016). Their combined time of 6:06.53 broke the NCAA and U.S. Open records. Held swam the leadoff split in 1:31.37, which was an ACC record in the 200 freestyle. ■ Individual Female Performance Of The Year Departing senior Alexia Zevnik went out with a bang, nearly capturing the first NCAA title for a female swimmer at NC State with her second-place finish in the 200 backstroke. She had three All-American individual performances at the meet, taking fifth in the 200 individual medley and 11th in the 100 backstroke. Zevnik also swam on a pair of All-America relays (400 freestyle and 400 medley). ■ Breakout Male Performer Of The Year Bradley Chubb entered the starting lineup on the football team as a sophomore defen- sive end in 2015, but he made a huge jump last fall that elevated him to the premier group of players at his position nationally. Chubb had 10.5 sacks and 22 tackles for loss and earned second-team All-ACC hon- ors. He was leading the country in tackles for loss entering the bowl season, and his total was second most in school history for a single season. He impressed enough to have been pro- jected as a high draft pick (second or third round) by the NFL in April, but he chose to return for his senior season at NC State instead. ■ Breakout Female Performer Of The Year Junior forward Chelsea Nelson went from key reserve as a sophomore to full- time starter this past season for head coach Wes Moore's basketball program, and she thrived. Nelson increased her sophomore aver- ages of 7.2 points and 5.0 rebounds a game to 11.2 points and 6.0 rebounds an outing, leading the Pack in the latter category and Head coach Tim Santoro's women's soccer team not only snapped a 20-year NCAA Tournament drought, but also notched wins over No. 8 Minnesota and No. 19 Pepperdine to reach the Sweet 16. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP