Gamecock Swimming Dominates Queens

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina swimming cruised past Queens University of Charlotte on Friday afternoon at the Carolina Natatorium as both men and women’s programs topped the Royals in dual meet action. The women’s program won 196-63, extending their record to 3-2 while the men secured their victory 165-96 which has them at an even 2-2 record.

On the women’s side, the Gamecocks won all 14 events while the men totaled 11 first place finishes. The distance groups for both programs showed out today as they swept the 500 and 1000 free, with the Garnet & Black claiming the top three spots in the events.

Women

Amy Riordan led the women’s team with 18 points after picking up victories in her two individual events, swimming both the 100 free and 100 fly for the first time this season. Additionally, Ellery Ottem, Emma Reiser, Annaliese Streeter, Jordan Agliano, Peyton Curry, Caroline Chasser and Meghan Harnish all picked up their first individual wins of the season.

• Freshman Emma Reiser picked up her first collegiate win, leading the 1000 freestyle sweep with a time of 10:08.11
• Dylan Scholes made her first 100 back appearance of the 2024-25 campaign, touching first in 54.45 which is the third fastest time this season for the Gamecocks.
• Ottem was the only swimmer to break 1:50 in the 200 free, finishing first in 1:48.77. The sophomore had the fastest splits for each 50 out of all 11 swimmers in the event.
• Curry and Aubrey Finn finished first and second in the 50 free, only .10 apart from each other. Curry grabbed the win, clocking a 23.57 while Finn swam a 23.67.
• Amy Riordan continued the sprinters dominance with a win in her first 100 free of the 2024-25 slate, touching the wall in 51.18 which is the fourth fastest time for South Carolina this season.
• Delaney Franklin earned her third 200 breaststroke win of the 2024-25 campaign with a time of 2:16.93. Annaliese Streeter and Caroline Kudela completed the sweep for the Gamecocks, placing second and third respectively.
• Madison Kolessar led the 500 sweep, winning in 4:56.82. Nora Fluck and Megan Willar took second and third place.
• The 100 fly Gamecocks swept Queens as well. Riordan picked up her second win of the meet after finishing in 55.90 followed by Ottem and Breckin Gormley.
• The women wrapped up their 14-event sweep with a dominant win in the 400 free relay. The group of Ottem, Curry, Riordan and Scholes finished nearly seven seconds ahead of the runner up after clocking a 3:22.78.

Men

Connor Fry, Tommy Eaton and Linus Kahl brought in 18 points apiece for South Carolina as the three Gamecocks won their two individual events.

• Connor Fry led the 1000 free sweep, taking first after clocking a 9:16.73. Ryan Turner and Umut Yildirim rounded out the podium in second and third place respectively.
• Raymond Prosinski earned his first 200 free win of the season after swimming a 1:39.97.
• Michael Laitarovsky won his first 100 back of the season, clocking a 47.98. Kaden Smesko and Ryan Hufford completed a Gamecock sweep in the event, placing second and third respectively.
• Kahl secured his second 100 breaststroke victory of the season, touching the wall first in 54.88 followed by Liam Kerns who edged out the third place finisher by .07. Kahl followed up with a win in the 200 breastsroke, swimming a 2:00.37 for his third victory in the event of the 2024-25 slate.
• Eaton picked up his first win of the day in the 200 fly, clocking a 1:47.05. The grad student then went on to win his second consecutive 200 IM of the season after trailing Queen’s Noah Beladi for the first three 50s before out splitting him by three seconds for the free leg of the event.
• Fry led the 500 free for the Garnet & Black, earning his second win of the season in the event after touching the wall in 4:34.16. Prosinski and Turner helped complete the sweep, placing second and third.
• Eldor Usmonov won the 100 fly with a time of 48.17 followed by Gage Hulbert in second.

Quotables

“I’m extremely proud of the effort and competitiveness of both teams today! We raced extremely well and I feel that we’re in a very good place heading into our midseason meet in 10 days,” head coach Jeff Poppell stated.

Diving at UNCW

Sophie Verzyl swept her events against the Seahawks, winning the 1-meter with 319.65 points. She took first in the 3-meter with a new season best of 398.03.

Reagan Patterson (260.25) and Aislinn Zeuechner (259.58) took second and third place behind Verzyl in the 3-meter.

Charles Bayer won the 1-meter with 321.45 points.

Up Next for the Gamecocks

South Carolina swimming returns to the Carolina Natatorium in two weeks to host the Gamecock Invitational from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22. The diving program heads to Athens, Georgia during the same dates to compete in the UGA Invitational.