Oct. 10, 2014

Results

LEXINGTON, Ky. –

The South Carolina swimming and diving team split its season opener with Kentucky on Friday at the Lancaster Aquatics Center, as the men posted a commanding 207.5-92.5 victory while the women fell 177-123.

The men’s team claimed 14 events, led by freshman Nils Wich-Glasen, who picked up three wins. Wich-Glasen won the 100 breaststroke (55.49), the 200 breaststroke (1:59.86) and the 200 IM (1:50.33). Sophomore Jonathan Boland, redshirt junior Kevin Leithold and junior Marwan El Kamash all added two wins apiece. Boland took first place in the 100 backstroke (49.94) and the 100 butterfly (50.59), Leithold picked up his wins in the 50 (20.68) and 100 (44.87) freestyle and El Kamash took the 200 (1:40.04) and 500 (4:34.28) freestyle events.

Boland, Wich-Glasen and Leithold teamed up with Michael Covert to win the 200 medley relay (1:30.69). South Carolina also won the 400 freestyle relay (3:01.68) with the team of El Kamash, Patrick McCrillis, Covert and Leithold.

Senior Victoria Mitchell, junior Ellen Johnson and freshman Meredith Vay all picked up wins for the women’s team. Mitchell won the 1000 freestyle with a new personal record of 9:57.92. Johnson took first place in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.99) and Vay notched her first collegiate win in the 100 freestyle (51.76).

The Gamecocks swept the diving events as seniors Cole Miller and Patricia Kranz won on both the one-meter and three-meter.

Key Stat
The men’s team won 14 of 16 events en route to a 115 point win over the Wildcats.

Notables
Men’s

• In his collegiate debut, Nils Wich-Glasen won all three of his individual events (100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke and 200 IM)
• Jonathan Boland, Kevin Leithold and Marwan El Kamash all won two events apiece
• Freshman Bryce Kanaowicz picked up his first collegiate win in the 200 butterfly
• Kevin Leithold set a new personal record in the 50 freeestyle (20.68)
• Wich-Glasen’s time of 55.49 in the 100 breaststroke ranks 10^th all-time in school history, his time of 1:59.86 ties Jared Kauffman’s record for fifth all-time in school history
• Tomas Peribonio placed third in the 1000 freestyle his collegiate debut, his time of 9:19.54 ranks seventh all-time in school history
• Senior Bobby Bittner’s second-place time of 50.60 in the 100 butterfly was only .01 seconds slower than Boland’s winning time (50.59)

Women’s

• Meredith Vay picked up her first collegiate win, she also placed second in the 50 freestyle (23.63)
• Victoria Mitchell set a new personal record in the 100 freestyle (9:57.92), ranks third all-time in school history
• Caroline Petrone set a new personal record in the 50 freestyle (24.13)

Quotable
Head swimming Coach McGee Moody
“I’m extremely excited by our performance today. This is by far the best group effort – both men and women – that I’ve seen in my seven years coaching at South Carolina. Our men were dominant; they raced like they wanted it. Our women were impressive, they came up short in the score but they made an impression by the way they raced today.”

Head diving coach Todd Sherritt
“We had a great meet. Patti [Patricia Kranz] beat a two-time All-American [Christa Cabot]. We’ve been working on being more consistent and that’s exactly what Patti did today. Cole [Miller] and Jordan [Gotro] both had no problems on either board. Julia [Vincent] and Lyle [Markman] both had good first meets and I think they’ll improve moving forward.”

Up Next
The Gamecocks will travel to Atlanta, Ga. on Oct. 17 to take on Georgia Tech, with the women’s team also competing against Notre Dame. On Oct. 31 the women’s team will begin South Carolina’s home slate hosting Florida Gulf Coast.