The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/89497
Last season, junior Jonathan Boffa qualified for the NCAA Championships in three different freestyle events and was a crucial part of the Pack's ACC champion 400-medley relay team. REACHING FOR MORE der first-year head coach Braden Hollo- ■ PREVIEW T MEN'S SWIMMING way. The team also finished second in the league's regular-season standings with an ACC record of 6-2, in addition to an overall mark of 9-2. 104 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY RYAN TICE Last Year's Improvement A Step Further "It was a fun journey," Holloway said. The Wolfpack Is Ready To Take The men's team is the most storied he NC State men's swimming and diving team improved from eighth at the ACC Championships in 2010-11 to fifth last year un- "The gentlemen did a good job of accepting change. Once they got into a little bit of a groove, I think a lot of our improvements were based a lot on their emotions and their attitude, believing in themselves. Once they got rolling a little bit, they wanted to show everybody that this is a good program. They believed they could achieve greatness. "The atmosphere that they created every day at practice was contagious. I think a lot of their improvement was a newfound desire, a different desire than they ever had before." swimming and diving program in ACC history and has 24 league crowns. The Pack won 12 in a row at one point, but haven't finished on top since 1992. However, Hol- loway feels his team is building back to that point and, most importantly, the athletes believe it, too. "They were encouraged by what they were able to do last year," he said. "I think they spent the year being hungry and saw that success, that has made them more hungry. I also think we still could have been better at the end of the year, so that's PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS