March 26, 2014

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Five individuals will represent South Carolina this week at the 2014 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. The meet runs Thursday through Saturday at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas. Preliminaries will begin each day at 12 p.m., and finals will be contested each night at 8. Sophomore Marwan El Kamash will swim in three individual events for the Gamecocks (100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle), while seniors Michael Flach, Gerard Rodriguez, Jay Warner and redshirt freshman Kevin Leithold will join El Kamash to swim the relay events.

MEET INFORMATION
Date/Opponent: Thurs., March 27 – Sat., March 29 at NCAA Championships
Time: 12 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. ET each day
Results: Live Results
Video: ESPN3 (Finals – Friday & Saturday)
Location: Austin, Texas
Facility: The Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center
Meet Notes | @GamecockSwim

HISTORY AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
This is the 30th year South Carolina will have at least one student-athlete compete at the NCAA Men’s Championships. The Gamecocks last appearance at the meet came in 2013 when then-junior Michael Flach swam the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 200 butterfly. South Carolina has 12 top-25 finishes all-time at the NCAA Championships, with the last being a 20th-place showing in 2004. The Gamecocks’ best finish was a 10th-place showing in 1987 after winning the Metro Conference Championship. During that year’s championships, South Carolina had All-America performances from nine individuals and two relays. The Gamecocks have never had an individual national champion.

LAST TIME AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2013
Then-junior Michael Flach was the team’s lone individual at the championships as he competed in the 200 freestyle (39th), 500 freestyle (45th) and 200 butterfly (27th). Flach also joined his teammates on the 200 (24th) and 400 (28th) medley relays, along with 800 freestyle relay which proved to be the group’s top event. Joined by Marwan El Kamash, Alex Fitton and Gerard Rodriguez, Flach and Co. became Carolina’s first relay team to earn All-America honors since 2007 as the team finished 15th with a time of 6:24.54. As a team, South Carolina finished 38th.

BREAKING NATIONAL RECORDS
Already one of the top swimmers in Egypt, sophomore Marwan El Kamash solidified his spot in late November at the Egyptian Championships where he broke both the 400 and 800 freestyle national records. In four races at the Championships, the native of Alexandria, Egypt, won the 200, 400 and 800 freestyles, and took second in the 50 freestyle.

SEC CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP
South Carolina saw five school records fall at the SEC Championships in Athens, Ga., two from individuals and three from its relays. Junior Alex Vance broke the men’s 200 breaststroke record twice on the final day, topping out at 1:56.47. Junior Victoria Mitchell performed a similar feat, breaking the women’s 200 backstroke record twice on the final day as she posted a time of 1:57.01 in the finals.
The 800 freestyle team comprised of Marwan El Kamash, Kevin Leithold, Michael Flach and Gerard Rodriguez shattered the school record in the event with a time of 6:20.59 as the finished fifth with an NCAA `A’ cut at the SEC Championships. Despite finishing ninth in the 200 medley, the group of Jay Warner, Eric Lethander, Leithold and Flach set the school record in the event at 1:26.13, more than a half a second better last year’s group. The 400-medley relay of Warner, Leithold, Flach and El Kamash broke the school record with a mark of 3:11.58, which topped the group that set the record at the 2013 SEC Championships. Overall, the Gamecock men finished the meet in 10th, while the women placed 11th.

CLOSING OUT HOME SLATE WITH A WIN
With the senior class competing for the final time at home, it was a bittersweet ending to for the group as the finished off their careers at Carolina Natatorium with a pair of sweeps over Queens and Wingate. The men defeated Wingate 187-130 and Queens 176-141, while the women won 182-129 over Wingate and 172-136 over Queens. The two teams combined to post the top time in 27 events during the two-day meet. The Gamecocks depth shined as they collected eight total 1-2-3 finishes for the weekend. Carolina also had at least 18 1-2 finishes. Individually, Kevin Leithold led Carolina on the weekend with five total wins, with three coming from relays. Elizabeth Maltby (500 and 1,000 free), Elise Weisert (100 and 200 breaststroke) and Taylor Vincent (50 and 100 free) each led the women in individual wins as each picked up two.

BACK STRONG AFTER 49 DAYS
In their first meet in 49 days, both the South Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams came away with convincing wins over Duke on Jan. 11 at the Carolina Natatorium. The Gamecock men claimed their win with a score of 184-116, while the women won 167-133. The Gamecocks won 19 of 32 events on the day and finished 1-2-3 in five events (men’s 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle; women’s 200 butterfly and 500 freestyle) and claimed at least the top two spots in 12 races.

GAINING MOMENTUM TO END THE FALL
The Gamecocks put together one of their best performances at an invitational in program history, totaling 15 NCAA B cut times during the three-day Virginia Tech Invitational, with 11 of those times coming from the men’s team which moved them up to No. 17 by Endless Pools’ rankings following the meet. Redshirt freshman Kevin Leithold led the way with five times that rank in the nation’s top 30, including the fourth-fastest mark in the 100 breaststroke at 53.57, which broke the school’s seven-year-old record in the event. Redshirt senior Michael Flach posted three B cuts, while seniors Gerard Rodriguez had two and Jay Warner chipped in one. On the women’s side, South Carolina earned a pair of B cuts in the 200 breaststroke and 400 IM. Junior Victoria Mitchell earned one in each event as he won the 400 IM and took fourth in the 200 breaststroke. Senior Amanda Rutqvist earned her B cut as she won the 200 breaststroke, while senior Abby Galbreath was right behind Mitchell in the 400 IM to capture hers.

MEN CAPTURE FIRST SEC WIN OF 2013
Led by redshirt freshman Kevin Leithold who won three individual races (100 breaststroke, 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle) and led the Gamecock 400 freestyle relay team victory, the squad defeated LSU 166-134 at Carolina Natatorium. The Gamecocks won a total of eight events, finishing at least first and second in five of those races. Senior Gerard Rodriguez earned wins in both the 200 and 500 freestyles, while fellow senior Michael Flach was right behind him.

WORKING TOGETHER AGAIN
Until last year, the Gamecocks hadn’t had a relay team invited to the NCAA Championships since the 800 freestyle relay team qualified in 2007. That team finished 11th in the event to earn All-America honors. Last year’s 800 freestyle relay team of Gerard Rodriguez, Michael Flach, Marwan El Kamash and Alex Fitton entered the meet with the 19th fastest time in the country at 6:23.99, which was the school record at the time. That team finished 15th.

This year’s group of El Kamash, Flach, Rodriguez and Kevin Leithold hold the 16th fastest time in the nation as the group broke last year’s school record time by more than three seconds at the SEC Championships at 6:20.59.

Schedule of Events

Thursday, March 27
12 p.m. ET (prelims)
200 freestyle relay
500 freestyle
200 IM
50 freestyle
400 medley relay

2:30 p.m. ET (prelims)
1-meter diving

8 p.m. ET (finals)
200 freestyle relay
500 freestyle
200 IM
50 freestyle
1-meter diving
400 medley relay

Friday, March 28
12 p.m. ET (prelims)
200 medley relay
400 IM
100 butterfly
200 freestyle
100 breaststroke
100 backstroke

2:30 p.m. ET (prelims)
3-meter diving

8 p.m. ET (finals)
200 medley relay
400 IM
100 butterfly
200 freestyle
100 breaststroke
100 backstroke
3-meter diving
800 freestyle relay

Saturday, March 29
12 p.m. ET (prelims)
200 backstroke
100 freestyle
200 breaststroke
200 butterfly
400 freestyle relay

2:30 p.m. ET (prelims)
Platform diving

5:45 p.m. ET
1,650 freestyle (early heats)

8 p.m. ET (finals)
1,650 freestyle (last heat of timed finals)
200 backstroke
100 freestyle
200 breaststroke
200 butterfly
Platform diving
400 freestyle relay