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Ryan Held Leads NC State With ACC Record at ACC Men's Championships

NC State started Tuesday’s competition in seventh place, but quickly jumped to first as they earned gold in all four events in hopes to claim the 2017 ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship title. 

“It’s a good day for us. We had opportunities today that we had to make sure we put ourselves in the position in the morning to do [well]. At night, it’s a little bit more fun. There were some fun races tonight,” NC State head coach Braden Holloway said. 

NC State is on top of the pack with 471 points, followed by Louisville with 402.5 points. Virginia Tech is in third with 384 points, followed by Notre Dame (365.5) and Florida State (337) to round out the top five teams. 

Anton Ipsen kicked off the sweep of events in the 500 freestyle, where his time of 4:11.92 earned him his third-straight win in and placed him in elite company. Ipsen is the fifth athlete in ACC history to have three-consecutive wins in the event.

“There’s some good history with our program in that event,” Holloway said. “He’s a tough competitor and that was a fun race.”

Andreas Vazaois placed first in the 200 individual medley where he set a new conference and meet record with a time of 1:41.25. 

Ryan Held broke the meet record in the 50 freestyle—twice. He topped his preliminary time of 18.77 in the finals with a time of 18.68. His finals time also broke the conference record and was the second-fastest time in the country this year. 

Held was also a member of the 200 freestyle relay where he was joined by Justin Ress, Joseph Bonk and Andreas Schiellerup to capture gold in 1:16.27. The win was the Wolfpack’s fourth-straight in the event.

The 2017 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships resume Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. with preliminaries for the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, and 100 backstroke. The finals for those events, in addition to the 400 medley relay, will begin at 6 p.m.

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