Gamecocks Earn Seven Spots in VT Invite Event Finals

Feb. 2, 2018

BLACKSBURG, Va. –

BLACKSBURG, Va.-South Carolina swimming and diving came out strong in the first night of the Virginia Tech ‘Technotational’ in Blacksburg, Va. Seven Gamecocks made event A-finals on the first day of the three-day invitational, including an A-final victory in the men’s 200 IM.

Jack Smith earned the Gamecocks’ best finish on the first day of competition at the meet. The junior took first place in the 200 IM A-final, as well as in the event preliminaries. He swam his fastest time of the day in the prelims at 1:48.74, followed by a time of 1:48.77 in the final.

Brandonn Almeida posted the fastest 500 freestyle prelim time with a 4:28.72, but did not compete in the night’s event finals.

Alexander Overton and Jack Best advanced to the men’s 50 free A-final, finishing fourth and seventh, respectively, in the event. Overton’s faster time of the day, a 20.91, took fifth in the prelims.

On the women’s side, Rebecca Cohen placed sixth in the 500 freestyle prelims with a season-best time of 5:03.34 to qualify for the event’s A-final, then lowered it by more than two seconds to 5:01.01 in the final.

Caroline Spence swam the Gamecock women’s fastest time in the 200 IM with a 2:07.72, which was her season but shy of the A-final by four tenths of a second. In the night’s B-final, the freshman dropped her time by more than a second, finishing first with a time of 2:06.31.

South Carolina had 10 entries in the women’s 50 freestyle, with three advancing to the A-final. Katherine McComas took fourth in the event with a 23.75, while Lauren Hilt and Danielle Doennebrink touched in fifth and eight, respectively.

The Gamecock women had two entries in the 200 freestyle relay, finishing fourth at 1:35.25 and sixth at 1:37.66. The women also placed fourth and fifth in the 400 medley relay, with times of 3:53.51 and 3:58.29, respectively.

South Carolina will be back in action on Saturday in day two of the Virginia Tech ‘Technotational’ with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m.