See also: Sports in North Carolina; North Carolina State University
The 2023-24 collegiate sports season at North Carolina State University (NC State) was among the most successful in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history. By the end of the season, NC State won a total of sixteen Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championships across eight sports. The school became the third in history to make the Final Four in both men’s and women’s basketball as well as the Men’s College World Series in the same year. The school’s athletic teams won five ACC championships, the men’s football team reached the 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl, and several Wolfpack swim team members qualified to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Five ACC Championships
Men’s swimming, men’s basketball, wrestling, and women’s cross country, and gymnastics each won an ACC championship during the 2023-24 athletic year. The men’s swimming team won its third consecutive title. The cross-country team secured their third national title in a row--their eighth consecutive ACC Cross Country win, an ACC record. Wrestler Trent Hidlay won his fourth gold medal in the 197-pound weight class at the 2024 ACC Wrestling Championship. Already a three-time champion in the 184-pound weight class, Hidlay’s most recent win placed him among only ten other ACC wrestlers who are four-time conference champions.
The 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl
The men’s football team also became eligible to participate in the 2023 Bowl season. After winning five consecutive games over the regular college football season, the Wolfpack played against Kansas State University at the Pop-Tarts Bowl. The Bowl was held at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. NC State lost the Bowl to Kansas State, with a final score of nineteen to twenty-eight.
Women’s Basketball in the Final Four
Under head coach Wes Moore, the women’s basketball team advanced to the 2024 NCAA Final Four for the first time since 1998 and for the second time in the entire history of the program. At the 2024 NCAA Championships, the women’s team first defeated number two seed Stanford University (the Cardinals). They next defeated the number one seed University of Texas (the Longhorns), which allowed them to advance to the NCAA Final Four. At the tournament, the women’s team lost to the number one overall seed, the University of South Carolina (the Gamecocks). The final score of the game was fifty-nine to seventy-eight. Despite the loss, NC State finished the season with an overall record of thirty-one wins to seven losses. They also defeated nine Associated Press Top 25 teams during the 2024 college sports season.
Wolfpack Swimmers and the 2024 Olympics
On June 15, 2024, Wolfpack swimmer Katherine Berkof placed second in the 100-meter backstroke at the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. She finished with a time of 57.91 seconds. Her time won Berkoff the opportunity to represent the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Berkoff was the twenty-fourth NC State swimmer, and the forty-third NC State athlete, to compete in the Olympic games. In addition to her Olympic qualifications, Berkoff has won five NCAA Championships, earned six ACC titles, and earned thirty other All-America honors. Nine additional NC State swimmers competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics.