South Carolina Swimming and Diving Splits With North Carolina; Gamecock Men, Tar Heel Women Win

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Photo Courtesy: South Carolina Athletics

In the 2019 rendition of the Battle of the Carolinas, South Carolina swimming and diving split with North Carolina. The men’s team picked up its first victory of the year 172.5-127.5, while the women fought hard but were edged out 159-141.

Team Scores

  • Women: North Carolina 159, South Carolina 141
  • Men: South Carolina 172.5, North Carolina 127.5

RESULTS

South Carolina Swimming and Diving Press Release

  • South Carolina started off the meet hot, sweeping the 400 medley relays. The team of Emily Cornell, Taylor Steele, Hallie Kinsey and Christina Lappin won the women’s event, while Kevin Liu, Lionel Khoo, Jordan Yip and Lewis Burras won for the men.
  • Sophomore Coleman Kramer set a new personal record when he won the 1000 freestyle, finishing with a time of 9:27.07 – 13 seconds faster than his previous best.
  • Senior Kevin Liu took home the win in the 100 backstroke, his first of the season in that event.
  • Freshman Taylor Steele picked up the win in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:02.04.
  • Freshman Jordan Yip notched his first win of the season, winning the 200 butterfly with at time of 1:50.00
  • Senior Christina Lappin and sophomore Lewis Burras asserted their dominance in the 50 and 100 freestyle, sweeping both events.
  • Senior Emily Cornell took home her first 200 backstroke win of the season. She is the program record holder in the event.
  • In diving, sophomore Anton Down-Jenkins continued his hot streak, sweeping both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives with scores of 354.75 and 437.55.

QUOTEABLE: HEAD SWIMMING COACH MCGEE MOODY

“We were really good today. This was by far, collectively, the best meet we’ve had this season. We were sharp. and we talked about it as a team that we would have to be our fastest to compete with UNC. One thing we’ve been working on is getting our hands on the wall and how fourth- and fifth- place finishes are important. We had so many of our kids step up and out-touch UNC by one-one hundredth of a second. I’m proud of our kids.”

QUOTEABLE: HEAD DIVING COACH TODD SHERRITT

“UNC has some great divers; I’m very proud of how our guys did today. Anton dove really well, and he had a great 3-meter today. The girls did solid today. Overall, I’m happy with how everything went. It was great competition today, and I’m looking forward to the Georgia Tech Invite.”

North Carolina Press Release

Led by triple winner Bryanna Cameron, the University of North Carolina women’s swimming and diving team improved to 2-1 on the year with a 159-141 over South Carolina Friday afternoon at Carolina Natatorium. The Gamecock men scored a 172.5-127.5 win over the Tar Heels, who were led by double winner Valdas Abaliksta.

“It was a hard fought meet with some ups and downs,” head coach Mark Gangloff said after the meet. “You always want to come away with a win, which is what our women’s team did. Some very tough racing from Bryanna Cameron and many of the women.

“On the men’s side, we were a little flat and we lost a couple of close races which decided the outcome of the meet. Tyler Hill stepped up today and had some very nice swims which was nice to see.

“Overall the entire program was tough and we fought hard.”

The Carolina women won 10 events on the day and had multiple instances of teammates finishing in the top three. Among those included Sophie Lindner and Emma Cole in the 200 free (1-2), Grace Countie and Heidi Lowe in the 100 back (1-3), Lilly Higgs and Allie Reiter in the 100 breast (1-3), Higgs and Reiter again in the 200 breast (1-2), and Cole and Brooke Perrotta in the 100 fly (2-3).

Cameron took first in the 500 and 1000 free as well as the 200 fly. Her time of 1:58.94 in the 200 fly was just off her season best in the event and her second time reaching the NCAA B standard in the event.

Despite being defeated by the Gamecocks, the men also had some solid performances. Tomas Sungaila and Dimitrios Dimitriou finished 1-2 in the 200 freestyle, both of them with personal bests for the season (1:39.30 and 1:40.53). In addition to his personal best in the 200 free, Dimitriou won the 500 freestyle and shaved more than two seconds off of his seed time for a new personal record of 4:33.20.

Abaliksta and Jacob Rauch finished 1-3 in the 100 breast with personal bests of 54.50 and 56.64. Chris Thames and Alex Mays also finished 1-2 in the 200 back. On the 100 back, Mays, Thames, Tucker Burhans, and Luka Tomic secored second through fifth, a strong showing for the Tar Heels.

Freshman diver Paige Burrell won the women’s 3-meter diving with a score of 283.88, a 23.03 point improvement from her former personal best in the event. Her teammate, Emily Grund, placed third in the event. In the 1-meter, Grund placed first with a personal best of 284.33, and Burrell came in third.

Fabian Stepinski posted a pair of top-3 finishes for the men, with Bryan Allen joining him with a third-place finish in the 1-meter and Alex Hart taking second in the 3-meter.

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