Swimming and Diving . February 16, 2018

Gamecocks Earn Three Podium Places on Day 3 of SEC Championships

Feb. 16, 2018

COLLEGE STATION, Texas –

2018 SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS — DAY #3
MEET RESULTS // CHAMPIONSHIPS CENTRAL

Meet: 2018 SEC Championships — Day 3

Date: Feb. 16, 2018

Facility: Student Rec Center Natatorium

Location: College Station, Texas

Place	Team	Points
1.	Florida	595
2.	Texas A&M	527
3.	Georgia	514
4.	Tennessee	506
5.	Auburn	438.5
6.	Missouri	424.5
7.	South Carolina	381
8.	Alabama	360.5
9.	Kentucky	326
10.	LSU	253.5

Place	Team	Points
1.	Texas A&M	737
2.	Tennessee	544.5
3.	Georgia	543
4.	Auburn	374.5
5.	Missouri	355
6.	Kentucky	350
7.	Florida	347.5
8.	South Carolina	333.5
9.	Alabama	319
10.	Arkansas	252
11.	LSU	210
12.	Vanderbilt	120

Name	Event	Finals Time
Julia Vincent	Women’s 3-Meter	2nd – 369.00
Emma Barksdale	Women’s 400 IM	3rd – 4:05.66
Brandonn Almeida	Men’s 400 IM	3rd – 3:39.09
Tomas Peribonio	Men’s 400 IM	4th – 3:41.67
Fynn Minuth	Men’s 200 Freestyle	6th – 1:34.35
Karlee Price	Women’s 3-Meter	7th – 327.00

South Carolina swimming and diving continued its success at the 2018 Southeastern Conference Championships on day three with three podium finishes. Defending SEC Champion Julia Vincent took home the silver in women’s 3-meter diving, while Brandonn Almeida and Emma Barksdale earned bronze medals in the men’s and women’s 400 IM, respectively.

Vincent was able to work her way back from a slow start in the women’s 3-meter final after finding herself in seventh place after her first dive. She improved to fourth with her second dive, climbing to third and then second to finish with a score of 369.00 and take the silver.

Karlee Price also earned a spot in the women’s 3-meter final as a freshman. She finished with a career-best score of 327.00 to take seventh in the event.

Barksdale started the day strong, recording a new school record in the women’s 400 IM prelims with a 4:05.43 to earn a spot in the A-final. The time marked her third school-record time at the 2018 SEC Championships and earned her a second-place finish in prelims. The junior came back in the A-final to take third with a time of 4:05.66.

All three Gamecock men who competed in the 400 IM prelims earned a second swim in the night’s finals. Almeida highlighted the event with a bronze-medal finish and a new school record in the A-final with a time of 3:39.09. Tomas Peribonio, the previous school record holder, took fourth in the event with an A-final time of 3:41.67. Cody Bekemeyer swam a new career-best in the 400 IM during the B-final to finish 13th overall with a time of 3:45.08.

Fynn Minuth took sixth in the men’s 200 freestyle A-final with a time of 1:34.25 to finish off day three for the Gamecocks. Rafael Davila swam a personal-best 1:36.54 in prelims to earn a spot in the event C-final, where he took 24th overall with a time of 1:37.32.

Four South Carolina women swam personal-best times in the women’s 100 butterfly prelims. Christina Lappin’s PR doubled as the new school record as she topped her time from last season’s SEC Championship with a time of 53.54. The sophomore then came back to beat that time and take second place in the C-final with a 53.23.

Katie Shannahan also earned a spot in the 100 butterfly C-final, finishing 24th overall with a time of 54.30.

The men recorded three more career-best times in the 100 butterfly in their preliminaries. Lionel Khoo earned a spot in the event C-final with a 47.32 in prelims. He finished 21st overall with a final time of 47.89.

Three Gamecock women earned spots in the 200 freestyle C-final with their preliminary times. Emily Cornell swam a career-best time at 1:47.17 in prelims, which she topped in the C-final with a time of 1:46.51, the third-best time in South Carolina history.

Heather Merritt and Taylor Worrell also swam in the 200 freestyle C-final, finishing 20th and 24th overall, respectively.

QUOTABLE: HEAD SWIMMING COACH McGee Moody

“We are in a very tight team race on both the men’s and women’s sides. We had another record-setting day today. We have to be sharp tomorrow if we want to be in the battle on Sunday.”

QUOTABLE: HEAD DIVING COACH Todd Sherritt

“Today was another great day. Freshman Karlee Price made her first final. During the prelims, she was on the bubble and doing her last dive. She received 65 points on her reverse 2 1/2 twister and put herself in the finals. She then moved up and finished seventh.

“Julia Vincent had another outstanding performance, finishing out her senior year with a silver medal. Vincent stayed steady all day long and performed some great dives. We have been working on her reverse twisters and seemed to have achieved a break-through on both boards this meet. That dive is key if she is to win the NCAA Championships. I have yet to see her perform her optimal list. We had a couple misses tonight, which kept her from the gold. The good news is even she is a little off, she is still up there. I think we are going to see her execute that top performance before she’s done.”

UP NEXT FOR CAROLINA

The Gamecocks are set to compete in day four at the SEC Championships on Saturday. Prelims begin at 10 a.m. (CT) and include the men’s and women’s 200 butterfly, 100 backstroke and 200 breast, as well as men’s platform diving. Finals for all the day’s events begin at 7 p.m. (CT), to be followed by the men’s and women’s 400 medley relay.