Gamecocks Complete Third Day of SECs With 13 Finalists
College Station, Texas – South Carolina swimming and diving completed the third day of the SEC Championships with 13 individual event finalists. Eleven swimmers and two divers earned second opportunities to compete.
On the swim side of things, Laura Goettler advanced to the A-final and Victoria Kwan to the B-final of the 400 IM. Goettler advanced after having swam a new career-best time of 4:10.27 in the preliminary round, jumping up to third place in the program’s all-time top-10. In the finals, Goettler swam a 4:13.37 to place eighth overall and Kwan swam a 4:12.68 for 12th place.
In the men’s 400 IM, seniors Chase Allison and Patrick Groters both advanced to the finals. Allison qualified with a preliminary time of 3:47.93, a new personal-best time and making him the seventh fastest swimmer in program history. In the finals, Allison swam a 3:52.96 for 16th place and Groters was disqualified for a one-handed touch.
The women’s 100 fly finals had three Gamecocks – Paige Collins in the C-final and Greta Pelzek and Nicholle Toh in the B-Final. Collins finished with a time of 53.24 for 22nd place overall. Pelzek swam a 52.65 for 13th place. Toh made the largest jump of the group cutting her time from 52.69 in the prelims to 52.35 in the finals. Her time is a new personal best and makes her the 2nd fastest swimmer in program history.
Both Guy Gropper and Erge Gezmis set new personal best times in the prelims of the 100 fly. Gezmis swam a 46.80 while Gropper swam a 46.84 to land them both in the C-final. Gezmis finished with a final time of 46.88 for 20th place while Gropper had a final time of 47.36 for 22nd place.
Senior Janie Smith set a new personal best time in both the preliminary and final rounds of the 200 free. She set a new PR of 1:46.15 in the prelims and lowered it in the final with a 1:45.75 for tenth place overall. Smith was joined in the finals by freshman Amy Riordan who finished with a final time of 1:46.72 for 15th place.
In the diving well, senior Manny Vazquez Bas and freshman Charley Bayer both qualified for the finals after placing fifth and seventh place respectively in the prelims. Both Gamecocks retained their spots though the final with the senior scoring a 391.90 and the freshman scoring a 317.10.
South Carolina ends the second day of competition in sixth place on the women’s side with 385 points, and in eighth place on the men’s side with 270.5 points.
The SEC Championships will continue tomorrow with the 200 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, women’s platform diving, and the 400 medley relay. Swim prelims will begin at 9:30 a.m. CT with dive prelims beginning at noon CT. Finals will begin at 5:30 p.m. CT. The SEC Network + will provide coverage of all events. A detailed schedule of events, live results, and streaming links is available here.
For all the latest South Carolina swimming and diving information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockSwim).
Finals results
Women’s 400 IM
8 – Laura Goettler – 4:13.37
12 – Victoria Kwan – 4:12.68
Men’s 400 IM
16 – Chase Allison – 3:52.96
DQ – Patrick Groters
Women’s 100 fly
11 – Nicholle Toh – 52.35
13 – Greta Pelzek – 52.65
22 – Paige Collins – 53.24
Men’s 100 fly
20 – Erge Gezmis – 46.88
22 – Guy Gropper – 47.36
Women’s 200 free
10 – Janie Smith – 1:45.75
15 – Amy Riordan – 1:46.72
Men’s 3-meter diving
5 – Manny Vazquez Bas – 391.90
7 – Charley Bayer – 317.10
