Nov. 19, 2015
ATLANTA, GA. – The South Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams traveled to Atlanta for a three-day, talent-packed meet at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Both programs would post solid results on the first day, with the men sitting second out of 11 teams and the women fourth of 16.
Both sides would score well right off the bat in the 500 free. The women would see seven swimmers score between the ‘A’ and ‘B’ finals, led by Ashleigh Ferguson (10th) and Sarah Smith (11th). The men placed three in the ‘A’ final, and all three would finish in the top five overall to score big. Akaram Mahmoud led the Gamecocks in the event with a second-place finish (4:17.53).
South Carolina’s first individual winner on day one came in the women’s 200 IM. Freshman Emma Barksdale won by .03 seconds, with Kersten Dirrane (9th) and Marissa DelGado (10th) also scoring in the ‘A’ final. For the men, five Gamecocks packed the top eight overall in the 200 IM, led by Nils Wich-Glasen and Kevin Leithold in second and third, respectively.
For the relays, the women finished sixth in the 200 free and seventh in the 400 medley. The men scored big with third-place decisions in the 200 free and 400 medley, setting themselves up in a position to take the lead in the team standings Friday.
On the boards, the Gamecocks enjoyed equal success in the meet’s first day. For the women, Julia Vincent finished second overall and Marissa Roth placed ninth in the 1-meter dive final. Vincent was the top qualifier out of the morning prelims, and improved her score in the finals with a total of 330.40. The men started the meet out with the 3-meter dive. Jordan Gotro scored for South Carolina with an eighth place finish in the finals, scoring 325.60.
In the team standings, the women are 85 points behind the overall leader, Arkansas. Carolina’s men are just ten points off the lead, behind Alabama.
