Swimming and Diving . October 11, 2024

Women’s Swim & Dive Grabs Season-Opening Win

Final Results

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina swimming and diving split results in its season-opening tri-meet against Georgia and Vanderbilt. The women defeated Vanderbilt 249-45, but fell to #13 Georgia 167-133. The Gamecock men lost to #8 Georgia 221-79.

WOMEN
On the women’s side, three swimmers claimed individual wins, and the team posted six new entries in the program’s all-time top-10 lists. In diving, South Carolina’s women when 1-2-3 on both boards with senior Sophie Verzyl leading the way on both.

Junior Amy Riordan turned in an event win in the 200 free in a time of 1:44.89, just shy of her program record. She finished second in the 200 backstroke in a time of 1:55.29.
Fellow junior Dylan Scholes picked up her own individual win in the 50 free, turning in a time of 22.72. She finished fifth in the 100 free with a 50.41
Senior Greta Pelzek finished with an individual win in the 200 fly in a time of 1:55.79 and a second place finish in the 100 fly with a 53.39.
Junior Verzyl completed the sweep in the 1M (330.38) and 3M (396.00) competitions with her teammates completing the 1-2-3- finish on both boards.
In the first individual event of the day, the Gamecocks had three swimmers enter the all-time top 10 in the 1000 free. Graduate student Madison Kolessar turned in a 9:49.49 to finish third and become the event’s third-fastest Gamecock in program history. The freshman duo of Emma Reiser and Megan Willar finished fifth and sixth in 9:54.54 and 9:55.95, respectively, to become the ninth and 10^th
In the 100 backstroke, the Gamecocks went 2-3 with junior duo of Faith Khoo (54.09) and Meg Maholic (54.36).
South Carolina went 2-3 in the 200 medley relay with the team of Khoo, Annaliese Streeter, Aubrey Finn, Peyton Curry finishing in a 1:39.17 and Rioridan, Caroline Kudela, Pelzek, Scholes in a 1:39.25.
Sophomore Delaney Franklin beat her personal best on the all-time list in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:11.69 to remain the seventh-fastest Gamecock performer in the event. She also finished second in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:02.01.
Sophomore Finn became the ninth-fastest swimmer for the Gamecocks in the 100 fly after finishing fifth in a time of 53.42.
In the 200 individual medley, sophomore Meaghan Harnish picked up a second-place finish in a time of 2:00.83.
In the 400 freestyle relay the Gamecock team of Riordan, Curry, Ellery Ottem and Scholes finished second in a time of 3:16.67 for the fifth-fastest performance in program history.

MEN
The Gamecock men picked up a sweep of the breaststroke events from Linus Kahl, and newcomer Tommy Eaton put up a program all-time top-five time in his debut meet.

The Gamecock 200 medley relay team of Michael Laitarovsky, Liam Kerns, Eldor Usmonov, Quinn Buck finished in a 1:26.68 to pick up a second-place finish.
Senior Linus Kahl swept the breaststroke events taking the individual win in both the 100 and 200 with times of 53.70 and 1:57.29, respectively.
In his Gamecock debut, graduate student Tommy Eaton finished in a 1:44.01 in the 200 fly to become the fifth-fastest swimmer in program history.
Graduate student Usmonov and senior Wylie Kruse had second place finishes in the 100 fly (46.92) and 200 (1:45.89) backstroke, respectively.
Sophomore Connor Fry and senior Laitarovsky both picked up points for the Gamecocks with their third-place finishes. Fry finished the 1000 freestyle in a 8:59.43, while Laitarovsky posted a 47.27 in the 100 backstroke.
On the diving side, sophomore Max Spencer took second on the 3M with a score of 378.83.

Head Coach Jeff Poppell on the Team’s Performance
“I am so very proud of both teams and the way that they fought against a great Georgia team today. The women found themselves in a tight battle, which came down to a few close races that unfortunately when the other way at the finish. The men showed a lot of effort and grit and won a few races as well. Our divers were outstanding on the boards, and it was awesome to see Sophie Verzyl back after taking an Olympic redshirt year. We look to build on the things we learned from this meet as we continue through the season.

Up Next for the Gamecocks
The Gamecocks will head on the road for the first time this season to face Duke in Durham, N.C. on Fri., Oct. 25 at 4 p.m. The following day the Gamecocks will go down the road to compete against Chapel Hill at 10 a.m. Sat., Oct. 26.

For all the latest South Carolina swimming and diving information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockSwmDive).