March 29, 2013
INDIANAPOLIS — The South Carolina men’s swimming and diving team capped Friday’s finals session at the 2013 NCAA Championships with a 15th-place finish in the 800 freestyle relay at the IU Natatorium, earning All-America honors for each member of the team.
The Gamecock relay of Gerard Rodriguez, Michael Flach, Marwan El Kamash and Alex Fitton swam a time of 6:24.54 to secure the 15th-place finish. It’s the first time a Carolina relay team has earned All-America honors since the 800 freestyle relay team finished 11th at the NCAA Championships in 2007. The finish secured four points for the Gamecocks to put them in 33rd place heading into the final day of competition.
“We knew this was our best chance for a relay to score,” South Carolina head coach McGee Moody said. “They stepped up and swam well. We’ve had some up and down swims this week, and I think they pulled it together in this one relay. They put points on the board. Four All-Americans is the most we’ve had since 2007. I’m happy with that, and as important Michael had a good swim in his leg in the relay. I think he’s got some confidence going into the 200 butterfly tomorrow. We will see what he can do and see if we can close it out with another good swim tomorrow.”
Earlier in the day Carolina competed in two events in the preliminaries. In his second individual event of the week, Flach swam a time of 1:36.67 to finish 39th in the 200 freestyle. It took a time of 1:34.66 to make the consolation final in the event and a time of 1:33.88 to advance to the championships final.
The Gamecocks delivered a solid swim in the 200 medley relay to begin the morning. The team of Jay Warner, Rodriguez, Flach and Fitton finished 24th overall with a time of 1:27.94, which is the second fastest time in school history.
South Carolina will wrap up its week at the NCAA Championships on Saturday, as Flach will swim in the 200 butterfly. The preliminaries will get underway at 11 a.m. Live results will be available at NCAA.com, and live video will be available at ihigh.com.
Friday, March 292013 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving ChampionshipsIndianapolis, Ind. - IU NatatoriumDay 2 Finals800 Freestyle Relay15. Rodriguez, Flach, El Kamash, Fitton 6:24.54
Prelims Results200 Medley Relay24. Warner, Rodriguez, Flach, Fitton 1:27.94
200 Freestyle39. Michael Flach 1:36.67
