Diving, Backstroke Lead South Carolina Women to First Win over Georgia Since 1985
Two diving sweeps and a pivotal 1-2-3 in the 200 backstroke led the South Carolina women to their first win over Georgia since 1985.
The 17th-ranked Gamecocks upset No. 12 Georgia, 157-141. The ninth-ranked Georgia men had no such trouble, claiming a 178-64 win.
South Carolina maximized its advantage on the boards, with Sophie Verzyl winning 1-meter with a score of 323.10 and teammate Aislinn Zuechner finishing second. Verzyl scored 395.78 to win 3-meter, her score more than 100 points ahead of Zuechner. Campbell Long was third.
In the pool, South Carolina put the meet on their terms in the 200 backstroke. Amy Riordan won in 153.95, with Tori Abruzzo second and Katie Buehler third. Buehler had won the 100 back in 54.10, .13 seconds over teammate Megan Maholic.
Jordan Agliano won the 200 butterfly in 1:56.68 and finished second in the 100. The same held for Delaney Franklin in breaststroke, her 2:10.81 winning the longer race before finishing second in the 100.
Dylan Scholes won the 50 free in 22.89 seconds, with Kara West third. Scholes was second in the 100 free and helped the Gamecocks go 2-3 in both relays.
Despite the loss, Kennedi Dobson had a stellar collegiate debut for Georgia. She won the 1,000 free and 200 free back-to-back, then added a win in the 500 free. Her time of 9:29.94 in the 1,000 was a best time that made her the No. 3 performer and No. 7 performance in program history. She earned NCAA qualifying times in the 500 free (4:36.32) and 200 free (1:43.40), the latter the No. 10 performer in school history.
Dobson also led off the winning 400 free relay with a split of 48.96, which would’ve won that event ahead of the time of teammate Marie Landreneau.
Landreneau was part of both winning Georgia relays, her anchor split of 22.59 on the 200 medley holding off South Carolina by .14 seconds. Charlotte Headland was on that relay, then won the 100 breast in 1:00.84 and finished second in the 200 breast. Emma Norton won the 100 fly, Ieva Maluka the 200 individual medley.
Much like Dobson, Tomas Koski started the men’s meet with back-to-back wins in the 1,000 free and 200 free. He also added the 500 free win and a decisive split on the winning 400 free relay.
The Olympian from Finland went 4:17.91 for an NCAA cut in the 500 free. He won the 1,000 in 8:56.95 and the 200 in 1:34.55, then split 42.68 on the 400 free relay.
Georgia didn’t lose a race. Ruard van Renen swam fly on the winning medley relay, went 45.10 to win the 100 back, 43.23 to edge teammate Tane Bidois in the 100 free and finished second to teammate Drew Hitchcock in the 100 fly.
Hitchcock did the fly double, then won the 200 IM. Bidois won the 50 free and was on both victorious relays. Elliot Woodburn (100 breast), Cale Martter (200 breast) and Sam Powe (200 back) added wins for the Bulldogs, while Matthew Bray did the diving double.
