Swimming and Diving . January 20, 2018

Gamecock Women Top Georgia Tech at Home

Jan. 20, 2018

COLUMBIA, S.C. –

FINAL RESULTS

Meet: South Carolina vs. Georgia Tech

Date: January 20

Facility: Carolina Natatorium

Location: Columbia, S.C.

Name	Event	Time
Julia Vincent	Women’s 1-Meter Diving	310.73
Julia Vincent	Women’s 3-Meter Diving	358.20
Gamecock Women	200 Medley Relay	1:42.32
Sarah Smith	Women’s 1000 Freestyle	10:12.52
Rafael Davila	Men’s 1000 Freestyle	9:07.27
Emma Barksdale	Women’s 200 Freestyle	1:48.16
Kersten Dirrane	Women’s 100 Breaststroke	1:02.82
Nils Wich-Glasen	Men’s 100 Breaststroke	54.33
Marissa DelGado	Women’s 200 Butterfly	2:01.48
Christina Lappin	Women’s 50 Freestyle	23.08
Emily Cornell	Women’s 200 Backstroke	1:59.98
Kersten Dirrane	Women’s 200 Breaststroke	2:14.85
Nils Wich-Glasen	Men’s 200 Breaststroke	1:56.82
Emma Barksdale	Women’s 500 Freestyle	4:53.79
Akram Mahmoud	Men’s 500 Freestyle	4:25.07
Christina Lappin	Women’s 100 Butterfly	55.31
Emma Barksdale	Women’s 200 IM	1:59.48
Tomas Peribonio	Men’s 200 IM	1:48.32
Gamecock Women	400 Freestyle Relay	3:24.01

South Carolina women’s swimming and diving took home a win over Georgia Tech on Saturday at home. The Gamecocks topped the Yellow Jackets 176.5-118.5 with a total of 14 first-place finishes. The South Carolina men dropped a 168-130 decision to No. 24 Georgia Tech.

The Gamecock women started the meet strong placing in the 200 medley relay to build upon Julia Vincent’s first-place finish on the 1-meter. The women tallied 10 more top-three finishes before the first diving break, where Vincent took her second win of the meet on the 3-meter. The Gamecocks were able to keep their momentum, earning at total of 29 top-three showings in the meet.

In the men’s competition, South Carolina tallied two event wins leading into the first diving break. Freshman Rafael Davila delivered one of these two wins, swimming a 9:07.27 in the 1000 freestyle, marking the Gamecock men’s second-best time in the event this season.

Distance freestyle continued to be a strength for South Carolina’s men, with the Gamecocks taking first, second and third in both the 500 and 1000 freestyle races. In the 1000 free, Cody Bekemeyer and Tamas Novoszath followed up Davila for second and third place, respectively. Bekemeyer and Davila were joined in the top three by Akram Mahmoud for the 500 freestyle, where Mahmoud took first, Bekemeyer second and Davila third.

Emma Barksdale and Nils Wich-Glasen were standouts for the Gamecocks against Georgia Tech, with Barksdale earning three event wins and Wich-Glasen taking two. Barksdale, a junior, earned first-place finishes in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, and 200 IM, while Wich-Glasen, a senior, swept the men’s breaststroke races with wins in the 100 and 200.

QUOTABLE: HEAD SWIMMING COACH McGee Moody

“Our women were outstanding today. I was very happy with their performance. Their training is really starting to pay off. Georgia Tech is a much-improved women’s team from where they were just three or four years ago. Coach [Courtney Shealy] Hart has done a great job with them, and our women really embraced that challenge today.

“On the men’s side, the interesting dynamic today was that this is one of the fastest meets our men have swam this season. Many of our men had their fastest times of the season; Georgia Tech just matches up well in those events. This is what makes swimming so great – you’ve got to be the first one to get your hand on the wall, and we missed a couple of opportunities to do that today. I think our men learned that lesson, and it will benefit us at the end of the year.”

QUOTABLE: HEAD DIVING COACH Todd Sherritt

“I thought we had a solid day. I think all the [divers] did well today and Grant [Summers] had a good meet.

“I’m trying to handle it a little different this year, holding my team back just a bit. I thought last year I might have peaked them just a little bit too early, so when we got to NCAAs, we didn’t have as strong of showing as I wanted to have. I’m just holding them back a bit. I think in the next couple weeks, we’re going to see some jumps in performances.

“Not that today went bad, but for example with Julia, she’s not peaked yet at all. She’s got a lot of things ahead of her with conference and NCAAs. I pace that, and I’m doing that with the rest of the team too.” ;

UP NEXT FOR CAROLINA

The Gamecocks return to Carolina Natatorium for their final home meet of the season. South Carolina will host UNCW, East Carolina, Queens and Wingate in the South Carolina Collegiate Invitational. The meet will start at 4 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday and will serve as the team’s Senior Meet.