Oct. 12, 2013
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The South Carolina swimming and diving teams opened up the 2013-14 season by sweeping College of Charleston today as the swimmers competed at the Stern Center in Charleston and divers competed in Columbia. The men won by a score of 178-109, while the women’s score was 166-129. The men claimed 14 first-place finishes, one ahead of the women’s total of 13.
The men were led by senior Matt Navata and junior Michael Covert who each had three individual wins. Covert won the 100 meter backstroke (57.71), 100 meter freestyle (52.78) and the 100 meter butterfly (57.33) while Navata picked up his wins in the 100 meter breaststoke (1:05.92), 400 meter freestyle (4:09.64) and the 400 meter IM. Senior Michael Flach added a pair of wins as well in the 200 meter butterfly (2:04.44) and the 200 meter breaststoke.
Sophomore Ashleigh Ferguson, senior Abby Galbreath, freshman Victoria Mitchell and senior Amanda Rutqvist led the women’s team. Each recorded two wins apiece as individuals. Ferguson grabbed first-place finishes in the 100 meter freestyle (59.55) and 400 meter freestyle (4:27.22). Galbreath earned her wins in the 200 meter backstroke (2:21.68) and the 400 meter IM (5:00.59). Rutqvist claimed wins in the 100 (1:14.89) and 200 (2:39.23) meter breaststokes. Mitchell earned her wins in the 200 (2:05.98) and 800 (8:52.47) meter freestyles.
“Performances that stood out today came from Michael Covert and Victoria Mitchell. Michael won a couple of events for the guys, which was good, and he had a great finish in the 100 freestyle to win that event. Victoria won the 800 freestyle and the 200 freestyle back-to-back with all of about 10 minutes of rest. That was really impressive on her part and I was happy with her as it was her first meet for South Carolina. We had some other freshmen who swam really well and we were excited with how they performed today,” South Carolina head coach McGee Moody said. “But as happy as we are with how we did, we have to look forward to Tennessee. We still have a lot of work to do prior to Friday’s meet.”
Carolina captured wins in all four relays on the day with the women posting times of 2:00.15 in the 200 meter medley and 1:49.40 in the 200 meter freestyle. The men recorded times of 1:44.62 in the 200 meter medley and 1:34.42 in the 200 meter freestyle
Earlier in the day at the Carolina Natatorium, the South Carolina divers hosted College of Charleston. On the women’s side, sophomore Lauren Lamendola recorded a personal best score of 329.92 en route to winning the one-meter springboard, while Patricia Kranz finished second (303.52). Kranz captured first on the three-meter board with 369.23 points, coming up just shy of a career mark. Lamendola was second with 324.08 points.
On the men’s side, only three divers competed, all from Carolina. Both one-meter and three-meter events were won by Cole Miller. The junior won with scores of 365.02 (1M) and 402.60 (3M). Freshman Jordan Gotro was second in both events, while senior Andrew Helmich was third.
“In the first competition, I’m just looking for some objectives that they’ve been working on and see if they make those corrections so the performance was more based on the objectives than scoring. However, when you get the objective, you’re going to score high. I think overall the team did very well. They have some things that they need to work on before Tennessee next week as it will be a challenge for them, but if we smooth out some things this week I think we can win some events.”
The Gamecocks will face their first SEC opponent on Oct. 18 as they travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to compete against Tennessee at 12 p.m., ET.
Diving Results
Women’s 1 M Diving
1. Lauren Lamendola SCAR 329.92
2. Patti Kranz SCAR 303.52
3. Megan Norton CofC 255.08
4. Nicole DeMarco CofC 226.35
5. Tess Shacknow CofC 183.90
6. Sara Weddington CofC 163.35
Women’s 3M Diving
1. Patti Kranz SCAR 369.23
2. Lauren Lamendola SCAR 324.08
3. Megan Norton CofC 277.35
4. Nicole DeMarco CofC 253.13
5. Tess Shacknow CofC 169.13
Men’s 1M Diving
1. Cole Miller SCAR 365.02
2. Jordon Gotro SCAR 339.90
3. Andrew Helmich SCAR 305.03
Men’s 3M Diving
1. Cole Miller SCAR 402.60
2. Jordon Gotro SCAR 323.62
3. Andrew Helmich SCAR 278.40
