The Duke Blue Devils hosted University of South Carolina Gamecocks and Harvard Crimson at the Taishoff Aquatic Pavilion in Durham for a tri-meet on Saturday, falling to South Carolina (158-136) and to Harvard (199-95). Harvard scored a victory over the Gamecocks (180-120). Complete results.
Duke set the bar high at the outset with a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay, when their “A” team (Kazumu Takabayashi 23.17, Peter Kropp 24.40, David Armstrong 21.44, and James Peek 20.07) prevailed over their “B” team (Bradley Cline, Dylan Payne, Kenny Ng, and Stefan Knight) 1:29.08 to 1:31.70.
Sophomore Kropp gave the Blue Devils their only individual victory, winning the 100 breast in 55.23. South Carolina’s Nils Wich-Glasen (55.49) and Shane McNamara of Harvard (55.81) finished second and third, respectively.
The Crimson dominated the shorter freestyle events, as well as back and fly. Griffin Schumacher brought home a pair of wins in the 50 and 100 free. He clocked a 20.39 to edge Duke’s Peek (20.44) and Knight (20.77) in the 50, and 45.28 in the 100 where he beat teammate Spenser Goodman (45.60) and Peek (45.93). Goodman emerged victorious in the 200 free in 1:39.57. He just out-touched South Carolina’s Marwan El Kamash (1:39.82); Duke’s Cline was third in 1:41.04.
Harvard sophomore Jack Manchester led the way in both backstroke events. In the 200, he led a 1-2-3 Harvard sweep with 1:46.89; teammates Koya Osada (1:47.78) and Christian Yeager (1:50.14) followed. Cline of Duke came in .05 after Yeager for fourth. The 100 back was a close contest; Manchester touched first in 49.50, while Duke’s Takabayashi beat out Osada by 1/100 for second, winning 49.84 to 49.85.
The Crimson placed two different swimmers at the top of the butterfly events. Steven Tan (48.73) won the 100 in front of South Carolina’s Kevin Leithold (49.69) and Armstrong of Duke (49.90). In the 200 it was Christian Carbone (1:50.31) leading the way; Duke’s Ng was runner-up with 1:51.11.
Senior diver Michael Mosca was the final Crimson event winner; after a third-place finish in the 1-meter event behind South Carolina’s Cole Miller and Jordan Gotro, he outscored them both in the 3-meter with 369.45 points. South Carolina’s Miller and Gotro went 1-2 in 1-meter diving, scoring 344 and 340.55 points, respectively.
South Carolina dominated the distance freestyle events, going 1-2-3 in both the 1000 and the 500. Akaram Mahmoud was first to the wall in the 1000, although by a scant .13 over Tom Peribonio, 9:13.50 to 9:13.63. Third went to their teammate Travis Morrin. The 500 went to El Kamash in 4:30.12. He was followed by Mahmoud (4:30.68) and Peribonio (4:32.40).
The Gamecocks’ Wich-Glasen notched two wins: 200 breast and 200 IM. In the former, he won by almost 3 seconds and was the only sub-2:00 200-breaststroker with 1:58.91. Harvard’s McNamara placed second in 2:01.74. Wich-Glasen’s victory in the 200 IM was harder-fought; he touched in 1:50.88, passing Harvard’s Osada (1:51.45) over the final 50 for the win. Duke’s Cline (1:51.58) was third.
The Crimson won the final 400 free relay in 3:02.62 behind Paul O’Hara (46.28), McNamara (46.36), Ed Kim (45.15), and Goodman (44.83).
Final Scores:
Harvard University 180 – 120 University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina 158 – 136 Duke University
Harvard University 199 – 95 Duke University
Congrats on some fast swims in North Carolina to Harvard swimmers, men and women.