East Carolina Women Win Final Relay to Split With South Carolina

GREENVILLE, North Carolina, October 26. THANKS to a three-and-a-half second victory in the final event, the East Carolina women’s swimming and diving team overtook South Carolina to split their Saturday dual meet. The South Carolina men won 191-107, while the East Carolina women pulled out a 152.5-147.5 win.

South Carolina Press Release

The South Carolina men’s swimming and diving team improved to 2-1 on the season with a convincing 191-107 win on the road at Minges Natatorium against East Carolina, while the women were defeated 152.5-147.5 after the Pirates picked up the win on the final relay of the meet.

The 25th-ranked men’s team claimed 13 events, led by senior Michael Flach and redshirt freshman Kevin Leithold who each grabbed three individual wins. Slow to start the season, Flach picked things up today by winning the 100 (50.49) and 200 (1:51.50) butterfly and the 1000 freestyle (9:31.56). Leithold, who made a big splash last week at Tennessee, won the 50 (12.16) and 100 (45.97) freestyle along with the 200 IM (1:51.17). The two also teamed up with junior Michael Covert and senior Gerard Rodriguez to win the 400 freestyle relay at 3:06.78.

Also producing a multi-win day for the men was sophomore Marwan El Kamash who won the 200 freestyle in 1:39.70 as well as the 500 freestyle in 4:37.28.

“The guys were relatively strong today. They came back well after an off meet at Tennessee with some very good performances today from Marwan El Kamash, Kevin Leithold, Michael Flach and Michael Covert,” head coach McGee Moody said.

“Some guys who we expected to do well last week didn’t, but they came back strong today and sometimes that happens.”

The women’s competition went down to the final event with to teams tied. The Pirates won the 400 freestyle relay by less than four seconds to earn 11 points and win the meet.

The Gamecocks totaled eight wins on the day as Victoria Mitchell claimed three of them. The junior captured the 200 (1:52.06) and 500 (4:44.77) freestyle along with the 200 backstroke (2:00.43). Grabbing two wins was senior Abby Galbreath in the 200 IM at 2:05.08 and the 1000 freestyle (10:13.56).

“The women were very good today. Our girls were faster than they were at Tennessee; they were sharper than they were at Tennessee. East Carolina was just outstanding today, probably the best East Carolina women’s team I’ve ever seen. We took it all the way to the last event, but came up just short. All I can ask is that they keep improving and if they’re doing that, then I can’t hold it against them. I was very proud of what they did,” Moody said.

In the diving well, the Gamecocks won all four boards, going 1-2 in each event. For the men, junior Cole Miller won the 1-meter with a score of 275.40 and the 3-meter with 398.90 points. Freshman Jordan Gotro took second in both events with point totals of 295.5 in the 1-meter and 325.90 on the 3-meter.

Sophomore Lauren Lamendola topped junior Patricia Kranz in both boards with scores of 275.40-266.48 on the 1-meter springboard and 308.10-293.70 on the 3-meter.

“We had a good day winning all of the events, going 1-2 on both boards. Cole had another outstanding performance and Lauren really stepped up to win both boards. It was a good meet, but we need to take the next two weeks to work on some basics,” diving coach Todd Sherritt said.

The Gamecocks will be off next weekend before hosting their only meet of the fall on Nov. 9 as they welcome LSU to the Blatt P.E. Center/Carolina Natatorium. The meet is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET.

East Carolina Press Release

The East Carolina swimming and diving teams split in dual meet action against SEC opponent South Carolina Saturday at Minges Natatorium. The ECU women’s team defeated the Gamecocks 152.5-147.5, while the men fell to South Carolina 191-107. The Pirates improved to 2-0 on the ladies side, as the men are now 1-1 overall.

The ladies meet between the Pirates and Gamecocks came down to the final event as the team entered the 32nd event tied at 141. ECU’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of Anastasia Amoiroglou, Anna Gibas, Tori Angermeier and Anna Maria Svanbergsson won that event with a Minges Natatorium record time of 3:25.77, 3.51 seconds better than the second-place Gamecocks’ A relay team to secure the Pirates first-ever win over South Carolina.

“It was an unbelievable collegiate atmosphere,” Pirate head coach Rick Kobe said. “I couldn’t be happier with how we swam from top to bottom. Even though the guys came up short, they swam great. That is a huge victory for our women’s program.”

The Pirates also set a Minges pool record in winning the 200-medley relay (1:44.67) with Gibas, Charlsie Lincoln, Bailie Monahan and Svanbergsson.

Monahan won both the 100 (55.83) and 200 fly (2:02.16), while finishing second in the 200 IM (2:05.89). Amoiroglou captured first-place in the 50 (23.87) and 100 free (51.98), while Lincoln earned first-place in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.84) and took second in the 200 (2:19.69).

Gibas claimed first-place in the 100 back (56.12) by more than two seconds over freshman teammate Taylor Hague (58.16), while also posting a third-place finish in the 200 back.

ECU’s Rokas Cepulis swept the men’s breaststroke events, setting a pool record in the 100 (56.73) and winning the 200 (2:05.49) by more than 2.3 seconds. Attila Kiraly recorded the Pirates’ only other victory with a time of 1:50.54 in the 200 back.

Nikola Simic finished 0.08 seconds behind South Carolina’ Kevin Leithold in the 50 free and 0.38 seconds in the 100 free to earn second-place in both events.

In the diving well, freshman Ashley Sams posted the Pirates’ top scores on the 1 (253.65) and 3-meter (275.40) springboard to earn third-place in both events. Alex Clark registered a score of 232.35 to finish fourth in the 1-meter diving competition, while Will Beliveau claimed third on the 3-meter springboard (282.60).

The Pirates return to competition Saturday, Nov. 2 as they host a tri-meet with Limestone and Richmond. The meet begins at 1 p.m. inside Minges Natatorium.

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