Feb. 22, 2014
ATHENS, Ga. – On the final night of the SEC Championships, South Carolina closed out its week by breaking three more records during the final session at the Gabrielsen Natatorium. Juniors Alex Vance and Victoria Mitchell broke two of those records twice today.
Kevin Leithod opened up finals night for the Gamecocks in the 100 freestyle C-Final. The redshirt freshman slightly lowered his prelim time down to 43.78 as he finished in fourth.
After finishing 20th during the afternoon in the 1650 freestyle, Victoria Mitchell completed a long day by finishing eighth in the 200 backstroke. The junior clocked in at 1:57.01, just over three tenths of a second lower than her school record which she set in the morning during prelims.
With four Gamecocks competing in the finals of the 200 breaststroke, Amanda Rutqvist was the lone one from the women’s team. In her last trip to the conference championships, the senior placed second in the B-Final after a big surge from the back over the final 100 to post a time of 2:10.07, nearly three seconds better than her time in the prelims.
On the men’s side, senior Matt Navata pushed forward during his final laps as he finished third at 1:58.67, while junior Jared Kauffman took seventh with a new personal record at 1:59.06 in the event’s C-Final. Next up was Vance, who already posted the school record in the event earlier in the day to get into the A-Final. The junior re-broke the record in the finals at 1:56.47, but it wasn’t enough as he finished eighth.
After setting the school record just to make the finals on the platform, junior Patricia Kranz finished eighth in the event with 244.25 points.
The men closed out the night by breaking another school relay record as Marwan El Kamash, Jay Warner, Michael Flach and Leithold slipped past a five-year old record that they couldn’t take down a year ago. The time of 2:55.62 topped the record by five hundredths of a second.
As a team, the Gamecock men finished 10th with 491 points, while the women were 11th with 260 points. Florida won its second-straight SEC crown on the men’s side and Georgia captured its fifth in a row.
Carolina will now turn its attention to other meets across the country to see where its team’s times stack up with others as they wait for NCAA invitations.
Day 5 Finals Results
Men’s 100 freestyle
C-Final
4) Kevin Leithold 43.78
Women’s 200 backstroke
C-Final
8) Victoria Mitchell 1:57.01
Women’s 200 breaststroke
2) Amanda Rutqvist 2:10.07
Men’s 200 breaststroke
A-Final
8) Alex Vance 1:56.47
C-Final
3) Matt Navata 1:58.67
8) Jared Kauffman 1:59.86
Women’s Platform Diving
8) Patti Kranz 244.25
