NC State Picks Up Swimmer & Coach of the Year

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The NC State men’s swimming & diving team picked up a pair of ACC awards as head coach Braden Holloway was named ACC Men’s Coach of the Year and Andreas Vazaios was named ACC Men’s Swimmer of the Year Thursday, as announced by the conference office.

Holloway won the award for the fourth-straight year and the fifth time overall while Vazaios earned the honor for the first time.

From the Coach
“This is definitely not a coach of the year, but a staff of the year,” said head coach Braden Holloway. “Hats off to our staff, all of our coaches, our support staff; strength and conditioning, nutrition, sports psychology, our administration and all those out there who support these young men daily in their quest for excellence, especially our parent group and alumni group who travel so well and support these guys at all competitions. We’re grateful for all the support, it’s a great honor for this staff to receive this award in such a great confrerence and we’re proud of these young men and all they’ve accomplished.

We’re very proud of Andreas, he’s an exceptional young man, an outstanding student and he happens to swim pretty fast. He’s worked hard each and every day, he believes in our coaching staff and he believes in our support group. He loves NC State and its really great to see him thrive and succeed this year. He’s very versatile; he’s got a lot of speed on all four strokes and he helps us on multiple relays. To be a national champion multiple times and to be so close in the other events; he’s been a great asset to our program and a leader in and out of the pool. We’re so happy for him winning this award, I know he’s thankful to his teammates for helping him push to reach these heights and it’s an honor for them as well.”

ACC Men’s Coach of the Year – Braden Holloway
The Pack finished fourth at the NCAA Championships for the third-straight year and won NCAA titles in five events; the 100 backstroke, 200 butterfly, 1,650 freestyle, 400 freestyle relay and 800 freestyle relay. Coleman Stewart’s title in the 100 backstroke was the first individual NCAA Championship by an NC State men’s swimmer since Cullen Jones won the 50 freestyle in 2006 and the first individual title under Holloway. The Wolfpack’s five event titles was an ACC record for most event titles by an individual school.

The Wolfpack earned All-America honors 10 times in individual events along with All-America Honorable Mention honors five times. NC State earned All-America honors in all five relays.

At the ACC Championships NC State won four of the five relays, 10 of the 13 individual swimming events and earned 23 podium finishes on route to winning its fourth-straight title.

ACC Men’s Swimmer of the Year – Andreas Vazaios
At the NCAA Championships Vazaios earned NCAA Titles in 200 butterfly and the 800 freestyle relay. In the 200 butterfly Vazaios broke the ACC and school records while the Pack’s 800 freestyle relay team broke the NCAA, U.S. Open, ACC and school records. Vazaios lead-off split of 1:31.32 seconds also broke the school and ACC records.

He garnered All-America honors in the 200 IM, 100 backstroke, and 200 medley relay. He tied as the third-highest point-scorer at the meet with 75 points.

At the ACC Championships Vazaios won the 200 IM and was part of the first-place finishing 400 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay; he took second in the 200 butterfly and third in the 200 freestyle.

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