Feb. 19, 2014
ATHENS, Ga. – As day two came to a close at the Gabrielsen Natatorium, South Carolina picked up a large amount of its points in two events – the men’s 500 freestyle and the men’s 1-meter diving. The men’s team picked up 79 points in the two events alone.
As it stands through 15 events, the men are in eighth place with 251 points, while the women are in 11th with 109 points.
The Gamecocks top finish of the night came from Marwan El Kamash in the 500 freestyle. After clocking in with a new personal record in the prelims, the sophomore lowered his time in the finals to 4:17.41 to finish fifth, moving up two spots from his seventh-place finish in the prelims. The time was 0.08 seconds from second place all-time at South Carolina.
After finishing slower than their seed times in the morning, senior Michael Flach and Gerard Rodriguez regrouped and took control of the C-Final of the 500 freestyle. In the late stages of the race, the duo surged ahead and clocked in with their top times of the season at 4:18.53 and 4:19.82, respectively. For Rodriguez, the mark was a new personal best for him, topping his previous by nearly three seconds.
In the men’s 200 IM C-Final, redshirt freshman Kevin Leithold placed third of with a time of 1:46.91, coming back stronger from the prelims just as senior teammates did earlier in the 500 freestyle.
In the diving well, junior Cole Miller made his second finals in as many days, finishing eighth with 367.85 points. Two spots behind him was Jordan Gotro, who just missed out on tonight’s finals.
Day three will kick off tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. ET with the prelims of the women’s 400 IM.
Day Two Finals Results
Men’s 500 freestyle
A – Final
5) Marwan El Kamash 4:17.41
C – Final
1) Michael Flach 4:18.53
2) Gerard Rodriguez 4:19.82
Men’s 200 IM
C – Final
3) Kevin Leithold 1:46.91
1-Meter Diving
8) Cole Miller 367.85
Women’s 200 Freestyle Relay
11) 1:33.29
1) Lauren Raczkowski 2) Rachel Elliott
3) Taylor Vincent 4) Cooper Brown
Men’s 200 Freestyle Relay
10) 1:20.22
1) Joshua Clothier 2) Jay Warner
3) Michael Covert 4) Eric Lethander
