South Carolina Wins Season's First Home Meet
Oct. 26, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 20 South Carolina men’s swimming and diving started homecoming weekend with a 168-132 victory over North Carolina Thursday afternoon at Carolina Natatorium. South Carolina’s No. 22 women’s swimming and diving team also had a strong meet, but fell short to the No. 19 Tar Heel women, 159-141.
The Gamecock men used a strong start and continued to create separation in the five races after the first diving break to secure their victory over the Tar Heels. Eight individual victories powered South Carolina to its victory with Fynn Minuth picking up two firsts, 200 butterfly and 500 freestyle, for the Gamecocks. Freshman diver Grant Summers also added two wins, claiming both the 1- and 3-meter competitions.
Emma Barksdale led the way for the women with wins in the 1000 freestyle and 500 freestyle and 200 IM. Senior diver Julia Vincent matched that win total, claiming both diving competitions as well. The women stayed close to North Carolina throughout the meet, bringing the final result down to the last event. With a second-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay, the women were unable to top the Tar Heels.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
-South Carolina swept all four diving events, with Grant Summer taking first in the 1-meter and 3-meter for the men and Julia Vincent winning both events for the women.
-Sophomore Kevin Liu earned the first win of his collegiate career with a 1:47.43 finish in the 200 backstroke.
-Emma Barksdale played an important role for the Gamecock women, going undefeated in her individual events by taking first place in the 1000 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 200 IM.
QUOTABLE: HEAD SWIMMING COACH McGee Moody
“We were really good today. North Carolina is a great team; their women are in the top 20 in the nation. Our men came in and fought hard. Honestly, they put the meet away pretty quickly in terms of going into the last break before the 200 IM. I was comfortable with where we were.
The women fought it all the way to the last relay. The bottom line is that young lady [for North Carolina], Caroline Baldwin, she’s an incredibly talented young lady. She led off their last relay at 49.09, which is one of the fastest splits in the country right now.
Our girls gave them everything we had, and we’re going to get back to work tomorrow and start preparing for Auburn.”
QUOTABLE: HEAD DIVING COACH Todd Sherritt
“We had a great day today, no question about it. First of all, Grant Summers winning both boards was incredible. I’m impressed where he’s at right now as a freshman, especially against an experienced team. It wasn’t completely surprising, but he really stepped up. I’m very proud of him, and he’s made a lot of changes and shown a lot of improvement.
Lyle Markman had a good meet today, probably one of his best.
On the women’s side, Julia Vincent continues to be tough. She did some phenomenal things on the low board. We’ve been working hard on her twists, and she had a pretty decent one in the meet. So that was great.
Karlee Price continues to be great on the 3-meter. Mikaela Lujan had a great event on both boards today, really solid. Allyson Nied dove today as an exhibition on the platform, which was fun.
Out of four events, we won all four. It doesn’t matter how that happened, a win is a win, so we’re really happy about that.”
UP NEXT FOR CAROLINA
South Carolina will be back in the Carolina Natatorium on Sat., Nov. 4 when they take on Auburn in their second SEC meet this season. Diving will begin at 10 a.m. and swimming will follow at 11 a.m..
