NC State Women, Auburn Men Leading After Day One in Greensboro
North Carolina State University annually hosts a midseason invite at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, and the host team’s women dominated the meet’s opening day with 356 points, winning five out of six events contested to top Auburn (293) and Duke (158). But the Auburn men have turned the tables, overcoming a trio of individual wins from the Wolfpack to score 228 points, with Arizona second (173) and NC State third (148).
The NC State women opened with a win in the 200 medley relay. Leah Shackley led off in 23.27, and Eneli Jefimova followed with a 26.26 breaststroke leg. Tyler Driscoll and Erika Pelaez handled the back end on the way to a time of 1:34.51. Auburn took second in 1:34.94, fueled by Lisa Klevanovich coming home in 21.06, and the NC State “B” team placed third in 1:36.12.
Wolfpack sophomores Shackley and Pelaez dominated the 100 butterfly, with Shackley going 50.90 for the top spot and Pelaez coming in at 51.94. Army’s Angie McKane placed third in 52.29. Lisa Nystrand was first in the 400 IM in 4:09.28, with Katherine Helms making it another 1-2 finish for the Wolfpack in 4:09.98. BYU’s Lucy Warnick grabbed third (4:14.35).
NC State’s third individual win came from Eneli Jefimova in the 100 breaststroke. The freshman from Estonia went 57.68 to beat Duke’s Kaelyn Gridley (58.47) and Arizona’s Eleni Gewalt (59.32). The Wolfpack team finished more than a second ahead in the 200 free relay, a time of 1:26.75 courtesy of Cassie Moses, Pelaez, Driscoll and Lily Christianson. Auburn was second (1:28.01) and Arizona third (1:28.34).
Only the 200 free went to a swimmer from a school not named NC State. Duke’s Ali Pfaff defeated Virginia Tech’s Carmen Weiler Sastre by a quarter-second, 1:44.24 to 1:44.49, with Army’s Molly Webber third (1:46.13).
Auburn edged NC State by eight hundredths for the win in the men’s 200 medley relay. Ivan Tarasov, Uros Zivanovic, Sohib Khaled and Kalle Makinen competed for the Tigers, who led on despite a 20.50 leadoff from Aiden Hayes and a 18.54 anchor split from Drew Salls. Arizona came in third at 1:23.21.
Hayes won the 100 fly by 0.17 over Khaled, 45.37 to 45.54, with Virginia Tech’s William Hayon third (46.14). NC State’s Kyle Ponsler finished first in the 400 IM by almost two seconds with his time of 3:42.28, with Auburn’s Mack Schumann second (3:44.25) and BYU’s Tanner Nelson third (3:44.69). Kaii Winkler then put up a time of 1:32.14 to win the 200 free, with Auburn’s Daniel Krichevsky four hundredths behind (1:32.18) and Arizona’s Ralph Daleiden Ciufferri third (1:33.22).
NC State would also win the 200 free relay, with Salls, Winkler, Jerry Fox and Quintin McCarty combining for a time of 1:15.47. McCarty had the fastest split at 18.46 coming home. Auburn got second in 1:16.22, one hundredth ahead of the Wolfpack “B” team.
In the 100 breast, BYU’s Peter Etzold finished first in 52.37, two tenths clear of Auburn’s Mason Ballew (52.56), while Army’s Kohen Rankin placed third (52.71).
