Feb. 20, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. — Senior Kyle Cormier continued his strong run at the 2009 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships, earning a trip to the medal stand with a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle Friday night at the Martin Aquatic Center on the campus of Auburn University. South Carolina’s men still stand eighth after three days of competition while the women are seventh with one day still to go.
“We had a lot of big swims tonight,” head coach McGee Moody said. “I don’t know when the last time was that South Carolina got a guy in every final, but that was huge for us. For the girls, we knew coming in that this would be our weakest day, and we got great swims from the ones that made it to the finals tonight. Allison Barr making the top eight in the platform diving was huge; we needed those points big time.
“All in all, we’re doing what we have to do. We’ve got to have a big day tomorrow if we’re going to get back to fifth place (on the women’s side). If we could do that, that would be huge for our program.”
Cormier broke the 11-year-old Auburn pool record along with event winner Shaune Fraser of Florida (1:33.73) and runner-up Jonas Persson of Tennessee (1:34.02). He now holds the three fastest times in Carolina history after initially breaking the record in December at U.S. Short Course Nationals. Cormier also became the second Gamecock to ascend the medal stand at these championships, joining diver Taryn Zack and her two medals earlier in the week.
“At this point, I’m not sure how fast Kyle can go,” laughed Moody. “He’s been phenomenal. His split in the 400 medley was 42.5, and if he can do that tomorrow, he could get on the medal stand again. “
Nicholas Walkotten lowered his own school record in the 100-yard backstroke, dropping his NCAA `B’ cut time even farther with a clocking of 47.84 to finish third in the heat and 11th overall. Walkotten now owns a pair of school records, and he will attempt to break his own mark in the other event, the 200 butterfly, on Saturday.
Junior Andrew Atzhorn turned in a phenomenal performance in the 400-yard individual medley to pick up a 12th-place overall finish with a time of 3:50.90. It was the fourth fastest time in school history, falling just behind 1987 All-American Gary Binfield, who will be honored as an SEC Legend Saturday night.
Freshman Armin Hornikel, swimming in his first SEC final, turned in the second-fastest time in school history with a 54.42 in the 100-yard breaststroke to earn an NCAA `B’ cut. His time was actually faster than the eighth-place finisher in the championship final.
On the women’s side, Amanda Dunnigan was right on her school-record pace from this morning, touching in 4:15.73 to take 12th place for the Gamecocks. Dunnigan has set a school record every time she has been in the pool this week with new marks in the 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay. She will go for her fifth record of the weekend tomorrow night in the 200-yard breaststroke.
“Amanda had another great swim,” Moody said. “She’s been solid for us all week, and that’s what you expect out of a senior leader. We need another big swim from her tomorrow night if we’re going to get back in the top five.”
Sophomore Claire Thompson was the other Carolina woman in the swimming finals tonight, posting a 1:47.28 in the 200 freestyle to earn an NCAA `B’ cut and take 11th place points for the Gamecocks. Thompson will join her twin sister Christine on Saturday in timed finals of the 1,650 freestyle.
“If we can get both Claire and Christine to score in the mile, that would go a long way for us,” Moody said. “We’ve had big swims all week, and we’ve got to have everyone step up again Saturday night.”
In the diving well, Barr concluded the Gamecocks’ diving effort for the week with an eighth-place finish in the platform event. Her score of 240.30 was a career-best, made even more remarkable considering that South Carolina does not have a 10-meter platform in its swimming and diving facility.
At the end of the night, South Carolina picked up seventh place points in the men’s 400 medley relay due to second-place Florida being disqualified. The team of James Crawford, Hornikel, Walkotten and Cormier turned in a time of 3:14.31, the second-fastest time in school history, and were just out-touched by Kentucky in 3:14.03. Auburn took first place with an SEC-record time of 3:04.58.
For the women, it was the team of Megan Sparks, Dunnigan, Lindsey Olson and Claire Thompson setting another school record with a 3:41.87 in the 400 medley relay, earning a sixth-place finish ahead of Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU and Vanderbilt. The new record comes almost a year to the day after Sparks and Thompson joined Mandee Cregar and Christy Williams to set the previous mark of 3:43.84 at the SEC Championships in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
With one day to go in the team competition, Auburn holds a commanding lead on the men’s side with 588.5 points with Florida (405) and Tennessee (397.5) locked in a battle for second. On the women’s side, Florida holds a slim 534-526 lead over Auburn, and Georgia is lurking in third with 498.5.
Saturday morning’s preliminaries will feature the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke and 200 butterfly, with timed finals of the 1650 freestyle to begin later in the day. Live results can be accessed through AuburnTigers.com.
TEAM STANDINGS - MEN1. Auburn - 588.52. Florida - 4053. Tennessee - 397.54. Georgia - 287.55. LSU - 2376. Alabama - 1957. Kentucky - 191.58. South Carolina - 126
TEAM STANDINGS - WOMEN1. Florida - 5342. Auburn - 5263. Georgia - 498.54. Tennessee - 279.55. Alabama - 2106. Arkansas - 1917. South Carolina - 1758. Kentucky - 1559. LSU - 15210. Vanderbilt - 56
