Feb. 21, 2015
AUBURN, Ala. – The Gamecocks wrapped up the SEC Championships with a medal and four school recording-setting swims from freshmen Tomas Peribonio, Bryce Kananowicz, Nils Wich-Glasen and Meredith Vay.
The final day of competition was highlighted by Wich-Glasen’s second-place finish in the final of the men’s 200 breaststroke. He finished in 1:52.97, breaking his own school record for the second time today. Peribonio recorded the top time in school history in the 1,650 freestyle (14:50.25), breaking Akram Mahmoud’s record from earlier this season and earning him a fourth-place finish. Kananowicz set the school record in the 200 backstroke with his time of 1:44.21. Vay broke a 10-year-old 50 freestyle record with her time of 49.17 in the preliminary and then broke her own record in the final as she finished in 49.16.
The South Carolina men wrapped up the Championship in seventh place with 567 points while the women finished in 11th place with 357 points. Florida won the men’s title, totaling 1314.5 points and Georiga takes home the women’s title with 1450 points.
Peribonio placed fourth overall in the men’s 1,650 freestyle and freshman Akram Mahmoud followed with a fifth-place finish and a career best of 14:51.27. Junior Marwan El Kamash took 12th in the event with a personal record of 15:13.34.
In the women’s 1,650 free, freshman Sarah Smith placed 27th with a personal record of 16:47.42 and senior Charlotte Ward finished in 16:50.69 and 29th place.
Freshman Bryce Kananowicz finished 17th overall and first in the C final of the men’s 200 backstroke. In the preliminary, sophomore Jonathan Boland (1:45.91) placed 28th overall and senior Michael Covert (1:46.66) placed 34th. Freshman Caleb Tosh set a personal record of 1:48.28 to finish in 40th place.
Freshman Heather Merritt (1:58.63) and junior Ashleigh Ferguson (1:58.87) finished 23rd and 24th, respectively, in the 200 backstroke final. Both recorded career-best times in the preliminary, 1:58.11 and 1:57.30 to advance to the C final. Sophomore Megan Carlson placed 30th overall with her time of 1:58.91.
Leithold finished 11th overall in the men’s 100 freestyle with a personal record of 43.47. He advanced to the B final with his prelim time of 43.78. Robert Gilchrist, Joshua Clothier, Patrick McCrillis and Evan Mahoney placed 38th, 41st, 42nd and 49th, respectively, all with career-best times.
Sophomore Cooper Brown, senior Rachel Elliott and sophomore Carolina Petrone placed 47th, 54th, and 60th, in the women’s 100 freestyle.
Senior Alex Vance (1:58.25) and freshman Jeremiah Bohon (2:01.47) finished 18th and 24th overall, respectively in the men’s 200 breaststroke. The pair advanced to the C final after recording times of 1:58.67 and 2:00.88, respectively in the preliminary. Freshman Thomas Hang finished 32nd overall with a personal record of 2:04.25.
Freshman Kersten Dirrane led the Gamecocks in the women’s 200 breaststroke, finishing 25th overall with a personal record of 2:15.80. Junior Ellen Johnson (2:16.60) and freshman Brittany Oxley placed 29th and 30th overall, while junior Elise Weisert (2:20.97) finished in 40th place.
Senior Cole Miller placed eighth in the men’s platform diving finals with a score of 383.70, which is a school record. Sophomore Jordan Gotro finished 10th overall with a score of 339.00, which is a career best.
The men’s team wrapped up the competition with a ninth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay (2:56.83) while the women placed 10th with a time of (3:20.68).
NOTABLES
- At the conclusion of the SEC Championships, South Carolina has 20 swimmers with at least one NCAA provisional cut
- Ashleigh Ferguson’s time of 1:57.30 ranks second in school history. e
- Jeremiah Bohon set a personal record of 2:00.88 in the prelim of the 200 breaststroke.
- Both the men and women’s 400 freestyle relay times are the fourth-fastest in school history.
- Cole Miller advanced to final in all three diving events.
- Cooper Brown and Caroline Petrone set personal records in the 100 freestyle.
QUOTABLE
Head Swimming Coach McGee Moody
“I’m extremely proud of our men and women, they fought all week long. We had a lot of stuff to overcome along the way. They were in situations along the way where they were forced to step up and swim faster that I think even they thought they could, tonight especially. We were in a very tight team race and I thought they responded really well. We had some outstanding individual performances. Meredith Vay broke record after record all week long. She had and outstanding meet and I’m looking forward to continuing on with her at NCAAs. The men were faced with a very, very tight team race with Texas A&M and LSU and we saw some races today that I think were a product of that. Tomas Peribonio has established himself as one of the top freshmen in the country, he broke our school record in the mile and until Akram (Mahmoud) broke it a few weeks ago, it stood for a very long time. He (Peribonio) had an outstanding meet an he’s going to punch his ticket to NCAAs, same thing for Arkram. We’ve set a huge number of school records this year and I’m very proud of that. Nils Wich-Glasen had a huge, huge swim tonight. He qualified sixth out of prelims, broke the school record an then demolished his own swim from this morning. I think this is a testament to the direction our program is going. We have a great coaching staff here, one of the best in the country and we’re ready to take this, keep growing and keep moving up in the SEC.”
Freshman Meredith Vay
“I was pretty shocked (about winning a medal) and I’m really excited for the next three years.”
Freshman Nils Wich-Glasen
“Of course I was expecting to have a good meet but I wasn’t expecting (to win a medal). “
Head Diving Coach Todd Sherritt
“Preliminaries today went pretty well. Jordan (Gotro) did an awesome job. He didn’t make finals but he finished 10th and he’s a sophomore so he’ll do what he need to do to get there (to finals) next year. It was a very tough final to make. Of course, any time you make the final coming from a school that doesn’t have a 10-meter platform, its very special and when you finish sixth (as Cole Miller did) its even more special. He broke a record this morning and then broke it again tonight. He’s had a great, great career at South Carolina.”
Senior Cole Miller
“It was really good (making finals in all three events). I was happy with how I perfomed this week. I have made the platform finals since freshman year so it was good to be back up there.”
UP NEXT
The Gamecock divers will be back in action March 10-11 at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships in Athens, Ga. The South Carolina swimmers will await word on who will be going to NCAA Championships. After the SEC Championships the men’s 800 freestyle relay recorded an automatic qualifying time while 20 Gamecocks have provisional cuts. The women’s (March 19-21) will be held in Greensboro, N.C. and the men’s (March 26-28) will take place in Iowa City, Iowa.
