South Carolina vs. Virginia Tech
- January 4, 2025
- Christiansburg Aquatic Center — Christiansburg, VA
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Scores:
- Women: HM South Carolina, 175.16 def. #25 Virginia Tech, 124.83
- Men: #10 Virginia Tech, 204 def. NR South Carolina, 96
- Full Results
Six pool records fell as Virginia Tech hosted South Carolina for the Hokies’ Senior Day. Virginia Tech earned a resounding victory on the men’s side of the meet, outscoring South Carolina by 108 points. The Gamecock women were victorious over the Hokies, 175.16 to 124.83.
Men’s Recap
Carles Coll Marti continues to roll less than a month after becoming the short-course meters 200 breaststroke world champion. The fifth-year was integral to the Hokies’ win. He earned three individual event wins, all in pool record time, contributing half of the pool records that fell during the meet.
Coll Marti kicked things off by posting a season-best 51.00 to win the 100 breaststroke by over two seconds. He split 24.10/26.90 to move up the NCAA season rankings to fifth, improving from the 51.10 he swam at the Wolfpack Elite Invitational. The swim is just five-hundredths off Coll Marti’s lifetime best of 50.95, which he swam at the 2024 ACC Championships.
He earned a sweep of the breaststroke events at the meet, posting a pool record 1:50.88 to win. Coll Marti’s season best in this event is a 1:50.09 from the Wolfpack Elite Invite, but he’s been remarkably consistent in the 200 breaststroke this season; this is his fourth 1:50-point swim of 2024-25. Finally, Marti added his third event win and pool record of the day in the 200 IM, clocking 1:43.55.
Coll Marti swam the breaststroke leg on Virginia Tech’s winning 200 medley relay. Youssef Ramadan (21.04), Coll Marti (23.18), Will Hayon (20.50), and Brendan Whitfield (18.97) swam 1:23.69 to grab the first win of the meet. Virginia Tech’s fastest 200 medley relay this season is still the 1:23.50 they swam at the SMU Classic, their first meet of the season.
That opening 200 medley relay victory began a dominant day for the Hokie men. Though South Carolina went 2-3 in the 200 medley relay, and one of its two swimming event wins came in the very next event with Connor Fry winning the 1000 freestyle, the Hokies stepped on the gas with a podium sweep of the 200 freestyle and didn’t look back. Virginia Tech earned 1-2 finishes in six events, which helped separate them from the Gamecocks.
Ramadan factored in two pool records on the day. His individual pool record came in his first individual event, the 100 backstroke, where he clocked 45.10, leading a 1-2 finish for Virginia Tech as he established his new mark. After he won the 100 fly, his second individual event of the day, in 45.03, he split 41.88 on Virginia Tech’s pool-record-setting 400 freestyle relay. Whitfield (42.29), Ramadan (41.88), Luis Dominguez Calonge (42.66), and Mario Molla Yannes (42.01) swam 2:48.84 to establish the new mark.
Whitfield and Dominguez Calonge were the other double event winners on the men’s side of the meet. The sophomore Whitfield clocked 19.47/42.54 to sweep the sprint freestyle events. Dominguez Calonge led the podium sweep in the 200 freestyle with a season-best 1:33.66. Then, he won the 500 freestyle (4:24.44). Molla Yanes was Virginia Tech’s other individual event winner in the pool, setting a lifetime best of 1:41.56 to win the 200 backstroke and move to sixth-best in program history. He also swam a lifetime best of 46.87 to finish second in the 100 back.
After the 1000 freestyle win by Fry, the only other event South Carolina won in the pool was the 200 butterfly. There, Tommy Eaton swam away from the field. The fifth-year clocked 1:45.18, winning by almost two seconds. Additionally, South Carolina added 2-3 finishes in the 200 breaststroke, 500 freestyle, and 200 IM though they could not keep pace with the Hokies, who have finished ninth at NCAAs for the past two seasons.
Women’s Recap
HM All-American Greta Pelzek broke the lone pool record on the women’s side of the meet, helping South Carolina defeat Virginia Tech. Pelzek broke the five-year-old 200 butterfly pool record, speeding to a 1:55.51 and leading a 1-2-3 finish for the Gamecocks. She was within a second of her season-best time, a 1:54.75 from the Gamecock Invitational. Later, Pelzek completed the butterfly sweep, leading from wire to wire to win the 100 butterfly in 53.13.
Where the South Carolina men struggled to overcome the Hokies and get their hands on the wall first, the Gamecock women had no such trouble, winning seven events in the pool. Delaney Franklin matched Pelzek’s double event win by hitting the wall first in the 200 breaststroke and 200 IM. She swam a personal best of 2:11.47 to win the breaststroke, then led a 1-2-3-4 finish for South Carolina in the 200 IM, their highest-scoring event of the day.
The Gamecocks also got event wins from NCAA finalist Amy Riordan in the 200 free (1:46.14), Madison Kolessar in the 1000 free (9:49.56), and Peyton Curry in the 100 free (49.67). Curry tied with Virginia Tech’s Emily Claesson in the 100 freestyle, with 49.67 marking a new lifetime best for her.
While Virginia Tech lost by 50.33 points, they had several strong events that helped them stop the Gamecocks from running away with the meet. Carmen Weiler Sastre swept the backstroke events, clocking 52.22/1:53.32. The Hokies earned a 1-2 finish in the 100 backstroke, and Emily Santos and Esther Park followed that up with another 1-2 finish in the next event, the 100 breaststroke. Before tying in the 100 freestyle, Claesson took the 50 freestyle win in 22.73. Finally, Kate Anderson denied the Gamecocks a 1-2-3-4 finish in the 500 freestyle by winning the event in 4:47.49 ahead of four Gamecock swimmers.
The Virginia Tech women also won both relays. The quartet of Weiler Sastre (24.68), Santos (27.82), Athena Meneses Kovacs (24.06), and Claesson (21.93) swam 1:38.49 to win the opening 200 medley relay by nearly a second. Their margin of victory was even greater in the 400 freestyle relay as Weiler Sastre (48.65), Claesson (49.51), Anna Summers (49.49), and Kovacs (49.71) hit 3:17.36 to beat the South Carolina ‘A’ relay by 1.36 seconds.
Up Next
Both teams are back in action this weekend. Virginia Tech heads to a rivalry meet with UVA on Jan. 10. Meanwhile, South Carolina heads to Auburn for an in-conference dual meet on Jan. 11.
Hokies are rolling!!