Gamecocks Deliver 12 First-Place Finishes vs. No. 9 Auburn
Nov. 4, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. –
South Carolina swimming and diving tallied 13 season-best times in Saturday’s home meet against No. 9 Auburn. The Gamecocks showed endurance after one of their toughest weeks of training to date, taking first in 12 total events. The No. 22 Gamecock women took first place in six events, fell 166.5-133.5. The No. 20 men also recorded six first-place finishes against the No. 9 team, taking a 164-131 loss.
Emma Barksdale displayed her versatility by setting team season highs in the 200 freestyle, 200 breaststroke and 200 IM. She took first place in the latter two events and helped the Gamecocks score points as a part of the second-place 400 medley relay team. Christina Lappin and Marissa DelGado also earned team season-best times with first-place finishes in the 50 freestyle and 200 butterfly, respectively.
The men showed their strength in the distance freestyle races. South Carolina’s Akram Mahmoud pushed himself in his race schedule, setting a team season-best time in the 1000 free before turning around and racing the next event, the 200 free. He came back later in the meet to go help the Gamecocks take first and second place in the 500 freestyle alongside Fynn Minuth. Minuth won the race with a team season-best time of 4:24.98, followed up by Mahmoud with a personal season-best time of 4:26.40.
Julia Vincent swept the women’s diving 1- and 3-meter competitions, setting a season-high on the 3-meter with a 380.63. Mikaela Lujan and Karlee Price took second on the 1-meter and 3-meter, respectively. In men’s diving, reigning SEC Freshman of the Week Grant Summers placed third in the 1-meter, and Lyle Markman had his best meet of the season, setting personal season highs on both boards.
QUOTABLE: HEAD SWIMMING COACH McGee Moody
“Today was a pretty good day. I was happy with the way we raced. We raced tough. For the most part, this was one of our highest-volume weeks of training. You have to do that, even with as big of meet as this was against Auburn. We use our training to set up our season training, the way we want it to be in February and March for NCAAs and SECs. This was a big week of training for all of our groups. We worked really hard. I was pretty happy with way we raced. Auburn is one of the best teams in the country year-in and year-out. They have a huge swimming history. It was good to see our athletes step up to the plate and compete and race hard.”
QUOTABLE: HEAD DIVING COACH Todd Sherritt
“We were really challenged on the men’s side. The Auburn men’s diving team is probably one of the best we’ve come up against. I thought we did well against them. I think by the time we get to conference [championships] we will be able to compete closer at their level. Grant Summers is a freshman, but he’s doing pretty well and I think he can make some moves between now and conference. Our women did a fantastic job. Auburn has a strong women’s team as well. Their women made it the finals at conference [championships] and I believe placed at NCAAs. Julia did a great job; I was happy that a lot of things she’s been working on showed up in the meet. Two of our freshmen, Karlee Price and Yu Qian Goh, continue to impress me. They keep putting together good dives. We still have a lot to learn. We’re still improving right now. Overall, I was pretty happy with performances today. We have some rough edges, but we’re just going to keep working and we’ll get them fixed.”
UP NEXT FOR CAROLINA
The Gamecocks will travel to Atlanta, Ga., to compete in the Georgia Tech Invitational on Nov. 16-18.
