Turkish swimmer Erge Gezmis will finish his NCAA swimming career at the University of South Carolina. He is expected to have one season of eligibility remaining with the Gamecocks after swimming for two seasons at the University of Florida and two seasons at NC State
Gezmis entered the portal earlier this year with the goal of transferring and using his bonus 5th year of eligibility that was awarded by the NCAA for all student-athletes who participated in the COVID-impacted 2020-2021 season.
A Turkish champion in the 200 free, Gezmis specializes in the middle distance freestyle, butterfly, and IM races.
Best Times, Yards:
- 200 free – 1:34.72 (2020 ACC Championships)
- 500 free – 4:16.49 (2019 SEC Championships)
- 100 fly – 46.46 (2019 Florida Last Chance)
- 200 fly – 1:41.87 (2019 Florida Last Chance)
- 200 IM – 1:43.19 (2020 ACC Championships)
- 400 IM – 3:43.47 (2021 ACC Championships)
Gezmis finished 3rd in the 200 IM at the 2020 ACC Championships and finished the year ranked 17th in the NCAA after the cancellation of the NCAA Championships. A year later, at the 2021 ACC Championships, he placed 3rd in the 400 IM.
He was also a member of ACC Championship winning 800 free relay in 2021.
At South Carolina, he will be reunited with a pair of familiar faces: head coach Jeff Poppell and assistant coach Robert Pinter were both at Florida when Gezmis was there.
“Coach Jeff and Robert have coached me at the University of Florida for two seasons; so it’s an exciting opportunity to be coached by them during the last year of my swimming career!” Gezmis told SwimSwam.
He joins a South Carolina team that is in rebuilding mode. This year, under a first-year coaching staff led by Poppell, the South Carolina men finished last out of 10 teams, while the South Carolina women were 10th out of 12 teams. Still, both showed signs of improvement – largely thanks to transfers. On the men’s team, the top scorer at the meet was junior diving transfer Manny Vaquez Bas, and their third-best scorer was junior swimming transfer Patrick Groters.
The top scorer at SECs for the South Carolina women was also a transfer – graduate diver Brooke Schultz, who is the daughter of the school’s new head diving coach Dale Schultz.
As a transfer, Gezmis too is expected to make a huge impact on the Gamecocks – his best times would have scored him between 75 and 80 points at last year’s SEC Championship meet.
