May 11, 2013

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — South Carolina rising sophomore swimmer Marwan El Kamash delivered a stellar performance in the 400-meter freestyle on Saturday at the Charlotte UltraSwim, which is being held at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center in Charlotte, N.C.

El Kamash swam against three Olympians – Conner Jaeger, Matt McLean and Conor Dwyer – in the event and held his own as he outswam Dwyer to finish one spot ahead of him in sixth place with a time of 3:56.07. On Friday night, El Kamash advanced to the B-final of the 200-meter freestyle and placed 11th overall with a time of 1:50.56, which could be a good enough time to earn a spot on the Egyptian National Team for the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain.

“We are having a great weekend in Charlotte,” South Carolina head coach McGee Moody said. “Both the men and women are swimming very fast, very early in our summer season. Marwan swam the times he needed to represent his country at World Championships in Barcelona. We will just have to wait for the official announcement from Egypt. We wrap up the meet tomorrow and hope to finish with more great races.”

Rising senior Matt Navata just missed posting a World Championship cut in the 400-meter IM as he finished seventh in the A final with a time of 4:28.16. He came up just .11 of a second short of delivering a qualifying time.

Michael Flach, a rising senior, advanced to the C-final in both the 200-meter butterfly and the 400 freestyle. He claimed 20th in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:06.66 and 23rd in the 400 freestyle with a mark of 4:07.75. Rising senior Gerard Rodriguez advanced to the D-final in the 400 freestyle and finished 27th with a time of 4:07.34.

The final day of competition at the Charlotte UltraSwim will be held on Sunday, with preliminaries at 9 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.