Jan. 23, 2010
| Coach Moody |
| Taryn Zack |
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina junior diver Taryn Zack broke a pair of school records in 1- and 3-meter diving on Saturday as she helped lead a Gamecock sweep of UNC Wilmington and Vanderbilt in the season’s final home meet. The Gamecock men took down UNCW by a 180-115 score while the Carolina women beat UNCW 182-110 and Vanderbilt 192-94.
Zack put together one of the best overall performances of her career in surpassing the marks of Gamecock great and current assistant coach Allison Brennan. Zack scored a 357.75 in 1-meter diving to break Brennan’s mark of 348.75, set in 2006. Later in the meet, she posted a 389.03 on the 3-meter board, outpacing Brennan’s mark of 385.20.
“It was just an outstanding performance from Taryn,” diving coach Todd Sherritt said of the defending SEC 1-meter champion. “She gets to finish on a strong note heading to the conference meet, and I think this proves that she has a legitimate shot at winning one or both SEC events. It’s unbelievable for a junior to be having this kind of success.”
Zack led a contingent of Gamecock divers that won all four events on both the men’s and women’s sides, with Allison Barr taking runner-up honors on both boards for the women. For the men, it was Ryan Kuser taking victory in the 1-meter with a career-best score of 333.45, and Rylan Ridenour ran away with victory on the 3-meter board with 386.10. Kuser’s 3-meter score of 349.65 was also a career-best for the Gamecock sophomore.
In the swimming portion of the meet, it was all South Carolina as the Gamecock women earned victories in nine of 14 events while the Carolina men took top billing in 10 races. Defending SEC Freshman of the Week Michael Flach once again led the way for the men, winning all three of his individual events while swimming the leadoff leg on the second-place 400 freestyle relay team. Flach posted winning times of 4:30.30 in the 500 free, 9:27.46 in the 1000 free and 1:51.10 in the 200 fly.
Senior Dominique Lendjel competed in his final home meet and went out in style, scoring victory in the 200 backstroke (1:50.86) and the 200 individual medley (1:53.04) while earning a runner-up showing in the 50 free (21.18). Another senior, Andrew Atzhorn, took a victory in the 200 free (1:42.43) to lead one of nine 1-2-3 sweeps for Carolina on the day.
Other men’s wins included freshman Alex Fitton’s first collegiate victory in the 100 free (46.91), James Crawford in the 100 back (51.27), Bobby Cave in the 200 breast (2:02.93, won by more than eight seconds) and Isaac Badillo in the 100 fly (49.85).
On the women’s side, junior Claire Thompson got back to her winning ways with three victories in the 200 free (1:51.75), 500 free (5:00.08) and 1000 free (10:15.35). Her twin sister, Christine, took second place in both the 200 (1:53.59) and 500 free (5:01.35).
Senior Kristina Delp made the most of her final home meet as she lowered her personal best in the 100 free for the second straight week, swimming a 51.66 to knock four-tenths of a second off last week’s PR and take first in the race. Delp also swam the anchor leg of the victorious 200 medley relay team (1:45.94) and swam the second leg of the winning 400 free relay squad (3:27.87). Fellow senior Sharntelle McLean was on both relay teams as well, and she took runner-up honors in both the 50 free (23.58) and 100 free (52.34).
Junior Megan Sparks picked up a pair of victories in the 100 back (57.33) and 200 back (2:03.38), and freshman Meghan Brockington was the fastest in the 200 fly, posting a career-best time of 2:03.56.
Seven seniors were honored prior to Saturday’s meet. Kristina Delp, Meridith McKee, Sharntelle McLean and Morgan Ricke represented the four Gamecock women’s seniors, while Andrew Atzhorn, Dominique Lendjel and Trey Tharpe were honored as the men’s senior class.
The Gamecock men pulled even at 4-4 on the season while the Carolina women improved to 3-6 overall, 1-2 in SEC competition. South Carolina will close out the regular season next Saturday, Jan. 30, with a tri-meet against Georgia and Alabama in Athens, Ga.
