Feb. 19, 2010
ATHENS, Ga. – Two South Carolina swimmers earned spots in their respective event finals on Friday at the SEC Swimming & Diving Championships.
Junior Claire Thompson was the first to qualify as she posted a time of 1:49.21 in the 200-yard freestyle, giving her the 15th seed in the consolation final. Her time also earned her first NCAA provisional qualifying mark of the season, slipping just .01 seconds under the standard of 1:49.22. It will be Thompson’s second straight year to compete in the 200 freestyle consolation final; she finished 11th at last season’s SEC Championships with a time of 1:47.28.
On the men’s side, freshman Bobby Cave advanced to his first SEC consolation final in the 100 breaststroke, touching the wall in 54.88 seconds to finish 11th in the preliminaries. It marks a personal best for the Gamecock freshman and also ranks as the third-fastest time in school history. His time also fell below the NCAA provisional standard of 55.51, giving him his initial `B’ cut as a collegian.
Several other swimmers, while not qualifying for finals, had strong performances Friday morning. Freshman Meghan Brockington finished 26th in 100 butterfly prelims with a time of 55.78; that time propelled her into the Carolina top 10 with the ninth-fastest time in school history. Sophomore Chris Kelly finished 20th in the 400 individual medley prelims with a time of 3:56.92, a personal best. In all, 20 Gamecock swimmers posted personal-best times in the morning session.
South Carolina’s divers did not compete in the men’s platform event on Friday.
Finals get underway at 6 p.m. as Cave, Thompson and the 400 medley relay teams will compete for the Gamecocks. Live video and results are available through GeorgiaDogs.com, and fans can receive up-to-the-minute updates via Twitter by following @GamecockSwim.
WOMEN’S 400 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
| Whitney Avers | 25th | 4:25.48 PR |
| Aileen Atzhorn | 28th | 4:29.81 |
| Alyssa Hand | exh | 4:33.06 PR |
MEN’S 400 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
| Chris Kelly | 20th | 3:56.92 PR |
| Michael Flach | 23rd | 3:59.80 |
| Collin Kaden | 24th | 4:00.80 PR |
| Ryan Connolly | 25th | 4:01.98 |
WOMEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY
| Meghan Brockington | 26th | 55.78 PR |
| Bridget Halligan | 29th | 56.58 PR |
| Kerry Abel | 33rd | 57.41 PR |
| Haley Staubach | 33rd | 57.41 |
| Shaylyn Blake | 36th | 57.61 |
| Kristina Delp | 38th | 57.89 |
MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY
| Dominique Lendjel | 19th | 48.72 PR |
| Isaac Badillo | 22nd | 49.04 PR |
| David Livsey | 24th | 49.53 PR |
WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE
| Claire Thompson | 15th | 1:49.21 B |
| Christine Thompson | 28th | 1:51.83 |
| Meghan Brockington | 35th | 1:52.99 PR |
| Matea Peteh | 26th | 1:54.10 PR |
| Stephanie Hellenga | exh | 1:54.70 PR |
| Colleen MacMillan | 41st | 1:56.60 PR |
MEN’S 200 FREESTYLE
| Alex Fitton | 23rd | 1:39.69 PR |
| James Crawford | 27th | 1:40.39 |
| Matt Columbus | 32nd | 1:42.21 PR |
| Brooks Ross | 36th | 1:43.00 PR |
WOMEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE
| Lydia Hackert | 29th | 1:06.51 |
MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE
| Bobby Cave | 11th | 54.88 PR B |
| Andrew Seiler | 23rd | 57.69 PR |
WOMEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE
| Megan Sparks | 23rd | 56.06 |
| Haley Staubach | 25th | 56.60 PR |
MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE
| Dominique Lendjel | 22nd 50.09 | |
| Trey Tharpe | 27th | 52.29 |
