Verzyl Takes First on Opening Day of Invite

Knoxville, TN – South Carolina diver Sophie Verzyl took first place in the one meter dive at the Tennessee Invitational on Thursday. The freshman scored an NCAA Zone qualifying score of 294.10 in the preliminary round to move on to the finals. In the finals, Verzyl achieved another Zone qualifying score of 304.55 to take first place.
 
Verzyl came out at the top of 23 divers competing from six schools. The Columbia, S.C. native had a statement win with a score that outplaced her nearest competitor by over 20 points.
 
For the men, junior Manny Vazquez Bas also earned two Zone qualifying scores on the day in the three meter dive. Vazquez Bas placed second in both the preliminary and final rounds with scores of 369.90 and 360.25 respectively.
 
On the swim side of the competition, the Gamecocks held steady and achieved a number of NCAA B-cut times and several new personal records. Carolina had swimmers qualify for finals rounds in every event of the day, including seven women in the 200 individual medley finals.
 
Gamecock Notables

• Sophomore Hayley Mason achieved a new personal best in the 500 free with a time of 4:50.80 in the finals.
• Senior Mari Kraus swam a B-cut time of 1:59.84 in the preliminary round of the 200 IM to set a new personal record.
• Sophomore Connor Daniels achieved a B-cut time in the 500 free twice with a time of 4:22.94 in the preliminary rounds and 4:22.21 in the finals to bring home 6th place.
• Carolina’s men had five swimmers qualify for the final round in the 500 free and three of them achieved B-cut times: No. 6 Daniels (4:22.21), No. 10 Rafael Davila (4:21.07), and No. 11 Tamas Novoszath (4:22.58)
• Junior Patrick Groters placed in the top-10 of the 200 IM finals with a B-cut time of 1:44.02.

 
The Gameock women are in fourth place with a score of 112 and the Gamecock men are in fifth place with a score of 128 through one day of competition.
 
The second day of the invitational will begin on Friday at 10 a.m. with preliminary rounds. Live results can be found on the Meet Mobile app or on HyTek web results.
 
Friday Schedule
Session 4 – Swim Prelims (10 a.m.)
100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back
Session 5 – Dive Prelims (1 p.m.)
Men’s 3 meter diving, women’s 1 meter diving
Session 6 – Friday Finals (5 p.m.)
Men’s 3 meter diving, 200 medley relay, 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, women’s 1 meter diving, 800 free relay
 
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