Feb. 17, 2010
| Coach Moody |
ATHENS, Ga. – Taryn Zack took a fourth-place finish in the women’s 1-meter diving final to lead South Carolina on the opening night of the SEC Swimming & Diving Championships at the Gabrielsen Natatorium. The men’s 800 freestyle relay squad also posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the evening’s finale.
Following three scored events on each side, the Gamecock women sit seventh with 64 points while the Carolina men are tied for seventh with Kentucky at 58 points apiece.
Zack was unable to defend her 2009 SEC 1-meter title as she posted a score of 314.35, a nine-point improvement over her preliminary score. Florida’s Kara Salamone took the title with a 326.70, while Auburn’s Anna Aguero (320.30) and Georgia’s Hannah Moore (315.70) took silver and bronze, respectively. Fellow junior Allison Barr posted a season-best score of 295.25 and finished in eighth place, matching her showing in last year’s championships.
In the evening’s finale, the men’s 800 freestyle relay squad of Michael Flach, Alex Fitton, James Crawford and Andrew Atzhorn posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 6:34.03 to finish in seventh place, knocking nearly nine seconds off their previous best this season. In addition, Flach’s leadoff split of 1:36.62 set a personal record for the freshman, earning an NCAA `B’ cut in the process.
The women’s 800 freestyle relay finished ninth with a season-best time of 7:25.56; it was the ninth-fastest time in school history. The team of Kristina Delp, Meghan Brockington, Christine Thompson and Claire Thompson touched in 7:25.56, five seconds faster than their previous best this year.
The swimming portion of the meet got underway with the 200 medley relay. Both Gamecock squads posted season-best times but fell just short of their respective NCAA qualifying marks. The women’s team of Megan Sparks, Bridget Halligan, Sharntelle McLean and Delp finished ninth with a time of 1:43.91, besting their previous mark by more than two seconds with the ninth-fastest time in school history. On the men’s side, it was Dominique Lendjel, Bobby Cave, Isaac Badillo and David Livsey clocking in at 1:30.73, also their season-best by two seconds, to finish eighth with the Gamecocks’ sixth-fastest time ever in the event.
The Gamecocks return to the pool Thursday morning for the first session of individual preliminaries. On the schedule for Thursday morning are the 50 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley. Following swimming, the divers will return to the boards for men’s 1-meter and women’s 3-meter preliminaries. Swimming prelims get underway at 10 a.m. with diving tentatively set for a 1 p.m. start. Live results and video are available through GeorgiaDogs.com, and fans can receive up-to-the-minute information on the Gamecocks via Twitter by following @GamecockSwim.
