Swimming and Diving . January 18, 2020

Gamecocks Split Final Dual of the Season

COLUMBIA, S.C.— South Carolina swimming and diving got off to a hot start against Georgia Tech, taking 19 of 32 events in its final dual meet of the season. The Gamecocks split the meet, winning 197-103 on the women’s side and dropping a tough 157-143 decision on the men’s side.

Gamecock Notables

The Gamecocks started strong, sweeping the podium in the women’s 200 medley relay, and taking first and third in the men’s. The team of Emily Cornell, Taylor Steele, Hallie Kinsey and Christina Lappin sealed the victory for the women, while Kevin Liu, Itay Goldfaden, Justin Rose and AJ Ross took home first for the men.
Freshman Emma Alexander took home the 200 free win with a time of 1:49.73.
Cornell and sophomore Mari Kraus touched first and second in the 100 backstroke, with Cornell’s winning coming in 54.83.
Carolina dominated the 100 breaststroke on both sides, sweeping the top three spots for the women with senior Ana Menendez-Nava taking home her first win of the year. Lionel Khoo and Itay Goldfaden took home first and second, respectively, for the men.
Sophomore Hallie Kinsey had another productive day, winning both the 100 and 200 butterfly.
Senior Justin Rose, sophomore Dylan Delaney and freshman Guy Gropper took home first, second and third, respectively, in the 50 freestyle.
Christina Lappin won both the 50 and 100 freestyle, sweeping both events for the second time this year.
Senior Albury Higgs and freshman Taylor Steele set the pace in the 200 breaststroke with Higgs taking first in 2:16.06. Higgs also took home the victory in the 400 IM.
Lionel Khoo won his second 200 breaststroke of the season with a time of 2:02.63.
In diving, sophomore Anton Down-Jenkins turned in another dominating performance, scoring 380.18 on the 1-meter and 428.85 on the 3-meter

QUOTABLE HEAD COACH MCGEE MOODY:
“I thought we were outstanding; the women dominated the meet top to bottom, great races all around. Georgia Tech has a really solid men’s and women’s team; they are always great competitors, so I was proud of what we did today. The guys had as much fight today as they have had in my 13 years of being head coach her;, these guys battled all day long and took it down to the last relay. I’m really, really proud of their effort.”

QUOTABLE HEAD DIVING COACH TODD SHERRITT:
“We’ve been working hard, and it showed up today. The guys did a great job, Anton came back after missing one dive and put up a huge score for missing one. Alex Claus did a great job and so did Grant Summers. Georgia Tech has a really good diving team, so we did a good job. We have to keep working towards the SECs and the NCAAs, so we’ll be back to work this week.”

Up Next for the Gamecocks
The Gamecocks will make their final homestand before the SEC Championships next weekend as they host the S.C. College Invitational. Friday’s swim will start at 4 p.m., and Saturday’s will start at 10 a.m. with the Senior Recognition ceremony beginning at 9:45 a.m.

For more swimming updates, follow South Carolina Swimming and Diving on Twitter at @GamecockSwim.