In a Southeastern Conference women’s showdown, South Carolina swam to a dominant win over Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks outscored the Commodores 165-97.
South Carolina got off to a fast start, winning the 400-yard medley relay by over a second. The winning team of backstroker Ashleigh Ferguson, breaststroker Kersten Dirrane, butterflier Paige Maynard and freestyler Meredith Vay posted a time of 3:50.26.
The Gamecocks’ Sarah Smith won the first individual event of the day: the 1000-yard freestyle. Smith posted a time of 10:16.89, winning by over ten seconds.
The 200-yard freestyle came down to a touch. Vanderbilt’s Summer Brown beat South Carolina’s Taylor Worrell by three-hundredths of a second. Brown touched in 1:52.26.
The Gamecocks finished first and second in the 100-yard backstroke. Heather Merritt picked up the victory with a time of 57.67.
Vanderbilt’s Kara Lucenti took the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:03.86. Dirrane finished second for South Carolina.
The Commodores picked up their second straight individual event, winning the 200-yard butterfly. Breanna Sapienza touched first in 2:02.75.
After helping South Carolina to a win in the 400-yard medley relay, Vay took individual wins in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle. She touched in 24.38 in the 50-yard event and 52.64 in the 100.
Merritt won her second event in the 200-yard backstroke. She posted a time of 2:04.94. Lucenti also won a second event, picking up a win for the Commodores in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:16.91.
Smith continued to dominate in the long distance freestyle events. She won the 500-yard freestyle by nearly eight seconds with a time of 4:56.17.
After a victory in the 200-yard butterfly, Sapienza won the 100-yard event. She posted a time of 55.69.
In the 200-yard individual medley, South Carolina’s Emma Barksdale touched in 2:04.85 to take the win.
The Gamecocks finished out the day with a win in the 400-yard freestyle. The team of Vay, Mckenna Keith, Caroline Petrone and Megan Carlson posted a time of 3:33.07.
Looks like Vay is finally over mononucleosis!