Texas A&M vs South Carolina vs Virginia Tech
- October 7, 2023
- Columbia, S.C.
- SCY (25 yard)
- Results
- Team Scores
- Women: Texas A&M 199, South Carolina 101
- Women: Texas A&M 189, Virginia Tech 106
- Women: South Carolina 188, Virginia Tech 122
- Men: Texas A&M 193, South Carolina 102
- Men: Texas A&M 157.5, Virginia Tech 139.5
- Men: Virginia Tech 202, South Carolina 95
Courtesy: Texas A&M Athletics
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Texas A&M women’s swimming & diving commanded the lanes and springboards against South Carolina and Virginia Tech, finishing in first place in 14 of 16 events. The Aggies topped the Gamecocks 199-101 and the Hokies 189-106.
The Aggies began the day with a pair of top finishes. The 200 medley relay team of Miranda Grana, Bobbi Kennett, Olivia Theall and Chloe Stepanek placed first, clocking in at 1:39.58. The Aggies kept the hot start going, claiming the top three spots in the 1000 free as Abby Grottle finished first with a time of 10:01.48, followed by Hayden Miller (10:02.48) and Rachel Love (10:08.53).
Stepanek dominated for the Maroon & White with individual wins in the 200 free (1:47.47), 50 free (23.05) and 100 free (49.75).
Grana continued her success in her young collegiate career by touching the wall first in the 100 back (52.49) and the 200 back (1:56.39).
Joslyn Oakley and Mayson Richards took over the top spots on the 3-meter springboard, scoring 326.85 and 321.30, respectively. The duo also claimed first and second on the 1-meter springboard with a score of 298.88 for Oakley and 278.33 for Richards.
UP NEXT
The Aggies are set to return home to host Tennessee on Oct. 27 at 11 a.m. to kick off swim & dive reunion weekend.
POST MEET QUOTE
Women’s Swimming & Diving Assistant Coach Caroline Maxvill Stanek on the team’s performance …
The women stepped up on the road today. We got some great wins and we also got our hand on the wall in some battles for second through fifth for those points. Winning on the road against two good teams puts us in a good spot to approach the next set of meets. We still have some details to clean up, but it was a ton of fun to see them step up, set the tone and race.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Texas A&M men’s swimming & diving team picked up a pair of road wins, topping South Carolina and Virginia Tech Saturday morning at the Carolina Natatorium. A&M earned a 193-102 win over the Gamecocks and knocked off the Hokies, 157.5-139.5.
The Aggies got the day started with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay, as the team of Thomas Shomper, Logan Brown, Connor Foote and Baylor Nelson clocked in at 1:28.14.
Nelson helped lead the way with three individual first-place finishes, touching the wall first in the 200 free (1:35.88), 200 back (1:45.06) and 200 IM (1:45.50).
Trey Dickey and Batuhan Filiz dominated the distance events, finishing 1-2 in the 1000 free and 500 free. Dickey clocked in at 9:12.99 in the 1000, while Filiz went 9:15.17, and Dickey posted a time of 4:27.79 in the 500, with Filiz going 4:27.87.
A&M put its depth on full display throughout the day, securing three of the top four spots in the 100 breast, four of the top five spots in the 200 fly, three of the top four in the 200 back and closed out the individual events filling four of the top five spots in the 200 IM.
Allen Bottego continued his early season success sweeping the springboards. He secured the top spot on the 1-meter with a score of 355.58, while Victor Povzner took second place with a score of 322.73. Bottego led the way with a score of 368.10 on the 3-meter, followed by Takuto Endo in third (355.43), Rhett Hensley in fourth (347.70) and Povzner in fifth (316.28).
UP NEXT
The Aggies returns home for their second SEC meet of the season, hosting Tennessee on Friday, Oct. 27 at 11 a.m.
POST MEET QUOTES
Men’s Swimming & Diving Head Coach Jay Holmes on the team’s performance against South Carolina …
We appreciate the meet and competition we had with South Carolina. We were able to get a lot out of that meet. We had several guys stepping up in key places that we needed to see, like Thomas Shomper and Carter Nelson having the start of a season that you hope to see out of your seniors. Logan Brown, as a freshman coming on the 200IM like he did. Tyler Hulet is also starting out so well in our backstroke group. Team effort being able to go to South Carolina and win like we did.
On the competition with Virginia Tech …
What a great college dual meet versus Virginia Tech. Every race had a significant moment in how this thing played out. It’s not often when a team loses both relays and still wins the meet, but that’s what happened here. We hoped going in that diving and our distance group would keep us in this thing and that is what happened. It was a great effort by [Allen] Bottego winning both boards. Trey Dickey and Batuhan [Filiz] going 1-2 in those distance events was basically a relief. After that it was a back-and-forth fight. We won the backstrokes and the freestyles 200 and above. They won the breaststrokes and the flys. In all of those events everything was really tight and could have gone either way. The meet basically came down to Baylor [Nelson] winning the 200 IM. What a great race between him and [Carles Coll Marti], both of those guys were NCAA Championship finalist in the 200 IM last season. After the whole meet going back-and-forth, it came down to that race. Once we got to that point in the meet our staff knew whatever team won that race would win the meet. It continues on with Baylor, if you put him in pressure situation and that guy wins.
I was really proud of our staff, Jason Calanog and Michael Walker, today. They did a super job getting our team prepared and staying on task. It’s still just a step in our journey, but I’m really proud of how our staff and team took that step today.
Courtesy: Virginia Tech Athletics
COLUMBIA, S.C. – For their first tri-meet of the season, the Hokies went against South Carolina and Texas A&M. The final score for the Tech women against Texas A&M was 106-189 and the score against South Carolina was 112-188. The Tech men won against South Carolina 202-95 and had a close battle with Texas A&M with a final score of 139.5-157.5.
Tech Women
In their first event of the meet, the Virginia Tech women took third in the 200 medley relay at 1:42.36 with the team of Carmen Weiler Sastre, Fanni Gyurinovics, Emily Claesson and Parker Bolduc. Weiler Sastre continued her speed, tying for third place in the 200 free at 1:50.63. Keeping up the strong freestyle swims and placing third in the 50 free and 100 free, Fanni Gyurinovics touched the wall at 23.69 and 51.28.
Swimming distance, freshman Kate Anderson placed fourth in the 1000 free at 10:13.34, with Chase Travis coming right behind her in fifth at 10:13.71.
Weiler Sastre showed her diversity in the pool. She placed second in the 200 back with a final time of 1:57.96.
On the boards, Miah Fisher finished third in the 1-meter event with a score of 272.93. Sophomore Peyton Guziec placed fifth in the 3-meter diving event, scoring 274.43.
In the last event of the meet, Weiler Sastre, Gyurinovics, Claesson and Anna Summers won the 400 free relay with a time of 3:23.64.
Tech Men
Starting off the meet with a men’s win in the 200 medley relay were Gabriel Yuk, Carles Coll Marti, Mario Molla Yanes and Brendan Whitfield clocking in a 1:27.33. Yuk later placed fourth in the 100 back at 48.88, with Nico Garcia Saiz coming behind him in fifth at 48.96. Maintaining the top five spots in backstroke, Garcia Saiz placed third in the 200 back at 1:46.59, and Yuk placed fifth at 1:49.69.
The Hokie men dominated the 200 free, with Brendan Whitfield placing second at 1:36.31, Tanish George Mathew placing third at 1:39.61 and Daniil Pancerevas placing fourth at 1:39.72. Continuing his strong freestyle swims, Whitfield placed first in the 50 free at 20.23. Taking the top three spots in the 100 free, Molla Yanes took first at 44.83, Dominguez placed second at 44.96 and Mathew took third at 45.03.
Taking the top spot in the 100 and 200 breast events was Coll Marti, clocking in at 53.83 and 1:57.24. AJ Pouch took second in both events at 55.38 and 1:58.74.
In a race of endurance, Luis Dominguez placed third in the 1000 free at 9:22.54. Keeping the men’s top three swims in freestyle, Garcia Saiz placed third in the 500 free at 4:30.97.
Sophomore Landon Gentry took his first win of the season in the 200 fly at 1:48.98. The Hokies dominated the 100 fly with Molla Yanes placing first with a time of 47.66, Will Hayon taking third at 48.60 and Gentry tying for fourth at 48.77.
In the last individual event of the meet, Coll Marti placed second in the 200 IM, with a time of 1:46.10.
Winning the last relay in Columbia, Whitfield, Molla Yanes, Hayon and Dominguez finished the 400 free relay with a time of 2:56.25.
Up Next
The Hokies bring the heat to Christiansburg in their first home meet of the season against Duke on October 21.
Courtesy: South Carolina Athletics
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina swimming & diving completed their first home meet of the season with the women splitting results between Texas A&M and Virginia Tech and the men’s team falling in both duals in front of a crowd that was over one thousand strong.
On the women’s side, the Gamecocks defeated the Hokies 188-122 but fell to the Aggies 101-199. For the men, Texas A&M claimed the win 193-102 while Virginia Tech won 202-95.
Gamecock Notables
- The Gamecock women’s ‘A’ team of Bella Pantano, Annaliese Streeter, Nicholle Toh and Aubrey Chandler placed second in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:41.99.
- South Carolina’s men’s ‘A’ relay team of Michael Laitarovksy, Daniel West, Linus Kahl, and Mark Shperkin claimed third place in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:29.50.
- The men’s freshmen distance duo of Connor Fry and Umut Yildirim earned a 4-5 finish in the 1000 free. Fry swam a 9:27.38 while Yildirim finished with a 9:29.88.
- Sophomore Amy Riordan earned a second-place finish in the 200 free, swimming a 1:49.00.
- Youssef Bahgat and Raymond Prosinski went 5-6 in the 200 free for the men. Bahgat finished with a time of 1:41.34 and Prosinski with a 1:42.48.
- Pantano and Tia Salcutan earned a 2-3 finish in the 100 back with Pantano touching the wall in 55.02 for second and Salcutan close behind at 55.17 for third.
- In the men’s 100 back, Laitarovsky claimed the first event win of the day for South Carolina. His time of 47.74 put him on top.
- Streeter and senior Laura Goettler went 3-4 in the women’s 100 breast. Streeter touched the wall in 1:04.61 and Goettler in 1:04.70.
- Junior Greta Pelzek was the highest-placing Gamecock in the 200 fly, finishing second. She swam a 1:59.97.
- Chandler and sophomore Dylan Scholes went 4-5 in the 50 free for the women. Chandler swam a 23.74 and Scholes a 23.77.
- Shperkin and Jackson Davis placed 5th and 6th in the men’s 50 free. Shperkin touched the wall in 20.72 and Davis in 21.08.
- Chandler got right back in the water after the break and improved her placement in the 100 free, swimming a 51.12 for second place.
- Salcutan earned her second third-place finish of the day in the 200 back with a time of 1:58.08.
- Wylie Kruse earned South Carolina’s highest placement in the men’s 200 back. His sixth-place finish came with a time of 1:50.28.
- Goettler earned her second podium finish of the day in a breaststroke event, placing third in the 200 breast with a time of 2:19.19.
- Duda Sumida continues to solidify herself as an efficient all-around swimmer, placing third in the 500 free. Her time of 4:56.89 was just over a second off from the first-place finisher.
- Prosinski is quickly proving himself as an asset in middle-distance events for the team. He placed fifth in the 500 free with a time of 4:34.88.
- Toh and Pelzek earned a 2-3 finish in the 100 fly with Toh in second with a 54.08 and Pelzek in third with a 55.44.
- Sumida again made a mark for the team, claiming the women’s first event win of the day in the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.92. She was followed in third place by Goettler (2:05.66) and in fifth place was Pelzek (2:05.73).
- In the 400 free relay, South Carolina’s ‘A’ team of Scholes, Chandler, Toh, and Riordan placed second with a time of 3:24.15.
- The men’s team closed out the meet with a 3:03.87 in the 400 free relay that was good for fourth place overall. Freshman Ryan Hufford, Shperkin, Laitarovsky, and sophomore Quinn Buck combined for the time.
- On the dive side of things, junior Blair Isenhour led the women’s team. She placed fifth on the 1-meter with a 261.45 and third on the 3-meter with a 296.78.
- For the men’s divers, freshman Max Spencer led the team with a second-place finish on the 3-meter (362.70) and a fourth-place finish on the 2-meter. He was followed by sophomore Charley Bayer who placed sixth on the 3-meter (308.48) and third on the 1-meter (319.73).
Head Coach Jeff Poppell on the Team’s Performance
“What a great atmosphere today at the Carolina Natatorium with over a thousand people in attendance. We really enjoyed the opportunity to compete against both Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. Their men’s programs are two of the best in the nation and the experience for our men is exactly what we need as we seek to close the gap in the years to come. For our women, we came up short against the Aggies but earned a great win against a good Virginia Tech team that is consistently one of the best in the ACC. We had a number of our women post in-season bests, which is great this early in the year, and our freshmen continue to take strides each and every week.”
Up Next for the Gamecocks
South Carolina will head back on the road for the next dual, traveling to Charlotte, N.C., to take on Queens. The meet will be on Friday, Oct. 20 and will begin at 4:00 p.m.
