Feb. 16, 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. –

The South Carolina Swimming and Diving team travels to Auburn, Ala. on Tuesday for the 2015 SEC Championships. The competition runs through Saturday at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.

MEET INFORMATION
2015 SEC Championships
Date: Tuesday, Feb. 17-Saturday, Feb. 21
Time: Prelims begin each day at 10 a.m. Tuesday finals begin at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday at 6 p.m.
Location: James E. Martin Aquatic Center in Auburn, Ala.
Live Video: Preliminaries and finals be aired on the SEC Network + (WatchESPN), available through participating providers. More information on the SEC Network available here.
Championship Central | Notes

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Tuesday, Feb. 17 | Live Video (Finals)
10 a.m. – relay preliminaries (if requested)
11 a.m. – men’s 1-meter diving preliminaries
2 p.m. – women’s 3-meter diving preliminaries
5:30 p.m. – day one finals

Wednesday, Feb. 18 | Live Video (Prelims) | Live Video (Finals)
10 a.m. – day two preliminaries (swimming)
1 p.m. – women’s 1-meter diving preliminaries
6 p.m. – day two finals

Thursday, Feb. 19 | Live Video (Prelims) | Live Video (Finals)
10 a.m. – day three preliminaries (swimming)
1 p.m. – men’s 3-meter diving preliminaries
6 p.m. – day three finals

Friday, Feb. 20 | Live Video (Prelims) | Live Video (Finals)
10 a.m. day four preliminaries (swimming)
1 p.m. – women’s platform diving preliminaries
6 p.m. – day four finals

Saturday, Feb. 21 | Live Video (Prelims) | Live Video (Finals)
10 a.m. – day five preliminaries
1 p.m. – men’s platform diving preliminaries
4 p.m. – 1,650 freestyle timed finals
6 p.m. – day five finals

REGULAR SEASON RECAP
The Gamecocks wrapped up the regular season with records of 9-4 (women) and 6-4 (men). The women’s nine wins are the most since 2002.

HISTORY AT THE SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Gamecock men finished 10th at last season’s Championship, while the women finished 11th. The highest finish for both squads is fifth place.

SEC HONORS
After the women’s victory over Misssouri, the Gamecocks swept the SEC weekly honors as freshman Taylor Worrell and seniors Victoria Mitchell and Patricia Kranz were all recognized by the conference. Worrell was named SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week, Mitchell earned SEC Women’s Swimmer of the Week honors and Kranz was named SEC Diver of the Week.

Earlier this season senior Cole Miller and junior Lauren Lamendola were named SEC Male and Female Divers of the Week after their performances against East Carolina and College of Charleston.

MAKING THE CUT
Ten Gamecock swimmers have combined for 28 NCAA provisional cuts in 10 different events. Five Gamecock divers have recorded a zone qualifying score.

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOK
Redshirt sophomore Kevin Leithold and freshman Nils Wich-Glasen set school records this fall in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, respectively. Leithold posted a time of 53.36 at the Virginia Tech Invitational, shaving .21 seconds of his previous record time of 53.57. Wich-Glasen beat the previous record of 1:56.47, held by senior Alex Vance, by .49 seconds with his time of 1:55.98 at the Virginia Tech Invitational. Senior Cole Miller set a record on the platform (6 dives) with his score of 360.90 at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Freshman Akram Mahmoud closed out the regular season with a record-setting performance in teh 1,650 freestyle. Mahmoud’s time of 14:58.72 beat the previous record, which had stoo since 1988, by almost seven seconds.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
The Gamecock freshmen put together an impressive first semester as they account for 18 top-10 times in school history and six of the ten swimmers who posted NCAA B cuts.

WATCH OUT FOR WICH-GLASEN
Freshman Nils Wich-Glasen has quickly become one of South Carolina’s top performers. He posted the first NCAA qualifying time for the Gamecocks this season, with a B cut time of 1:58.49 in the 200 breaststroke against East Carolina and College of Charleston. In addition to his school-record in 200 breaststroke, Wich-Glasen owns two times that rank in the top-10 in school history (100 breaststroke and 200 IM). His season-best times in the 100 (54.71) and 200 (1:55.98) breaststroke rank 17th and seventh in the SEC, respectively.

LEITHOLD IN THE LEAD
Redshirt sophomore Kevin Leithold is the Gamecocks’ top performer this season in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 200 IM. He has four times that rank in the top-20 in the SEC this season, including the fourth fastest time in the 100 breaststroke with his personal record of 53.36. Along with his school-record in the 100 breaststroke, Leithold owns four times that rank in the top-10 in school history.

BEWARE OF BOLAND
Sophomore Jonathan Boland is the Gamecocks’ top backstroker this season, posting NCAA B cut times in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. His career-best times in both events, which he set at the Virginia Tech Invitational earlier this season, rank fourth all-time in school history and 16th and 15th, respectively, in the SEC this season. Boland also recorded the fastest time in the 100 butterfly this season.

GOING THE DISTANCE
Freshmen Akram Mahmoud and Tomas Peribonio have quickly become the Gamecocks’ top distance swimmers this season. Mahmoud holds the school record in the 1,650 freestyle, while Peribonio ranks fourth. Mahmouds’ time ranks seventh in the conference this season, while Peribonio’s comes in at No. 11. The pair also owns the third and fourth best times in the 1000 freestyle in school history and 12th and 14th in the conference this season, respectively. Peribonio also ranks in the top-20 in the SEC in the 500 freestyle and 400 IM.

Senior Victoria Mitchell is the top performer on the women’s side in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle. Her personal record of 9:57.92 in the 1000 freestyle is the 12th fastest in the SEC this season. She also ranks 20th in the conference with her career-best time of 16:36.81 in the 1650 freestyle.

SHE HAS MERRITT
Freshman Heather Merritt leads the women’s team in the 100 and 200 backstroke, as well as the 200 IM and 100 butterfly. Merritt owns the second fastest times in school history in both the 100 backstroke and 200 IM. She also ranks seventh in the 200 backstroke and ninth in the 100 butterfly.

VAY MAKES A SPLASH
Freshman Meredith Vay posted the Gamecocks’ (women’s team) first time under 50 second in the 100 freestyle since the 2013 SEC Championships. Her time of 49.69, which she recorded on the first leg of the 400 freestyle relay at the Virginia Tech Invitational, ranks fourth all-time in school history. Vay leads the Gamecocks in this season in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle.

DIVE RIGHT IN
On the men’s side, senior Cole Miller leads the Gamecocks in all three diving events. His scores rank second (1-meter), fifth (1-meter) and third (platform).

Freshman Julia Vincent leads the women’s squad on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards and senior Patricia Kranz had the highest score on the platform this season. Vincent’s score of 377.85 ranks first in the SEC this season.