South Carolina Hosts Border Battle With UNC On Friday

Courtesy: South Carolina Athletics

Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina swimming & diving will continue dual action this Friday, November 3, hosting a border battle with North Carolina at the Carolina Natatorium. The first diving event will begin at 2:00 p.m. with the full meet starting at 3:00 p.m.

Admission to the meet is free and open to the public with doors opening one hour prior to the first event of the day. Parking will be available for spectators in the lot adjacent to the Blatt P.E. Center. Live results will be available on the subscription-based Meet Mobile app.

This meet will also serve as part of the team’s annual parent & alumni weekend. More details on the weekend of events are available here.

South Carolina’s women’s team is coming off of a strong showing on the road in Charlotte, N.C., where they defeated Queens 156-106. Notably at that meet, freshman standout Ellery Ottem was the only woman to claim two event wins, both of them her career firsts. Ottem notched victories in both them 200 and 500 free races.

Another notable Gamecock to watch is graduate transfer Duda Sumida. The Brazilian placed second in the 200 free behind Ottem as well as a third-place finish in the 200 back. Sumida has already tallied a total of three individual event wins in her first few months with the team.

South Carolina’s divers will be back in action after having not competed since early October during the tri-meet against Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.

Junior Blair Isenhour looks to improve on her hot start to the season, having claimed one individual event win as well as a pair of third-place finishes on the springboards.

The men’s team is still in search of its first dual victory of the season. The team has come close but fallen against all four opponents that it has faced so far.

The Gamecocks have been led this season by the underclassmen with a trio of freshman accounting for a number of point-gaining finishes. Connor Fry, a native of Kingwood, Texas, has accounted for most of those. Fry has claimed three individual event wins through three meets this season with two of them in the 1000 free and one in the 500 free.

Fellow freshman Raymond Prosinski has been doing everything possible to help the team, having competed in six different disciplines through the first three meets of the season. Prosinski has notched a top-4 finish in all six different events with his best result being a second-place finish in the 500 free at UNCW.

Umut Yildirim has also been a high-placer in the distance events for the team this season. The freshman has earned three second-place finishes this season across the 500 and 1000 free events.

Representing the upperclassmen, junior Michael Laitarovsky looks to extend his perfect streak in the 100 back, having gone undefeated in the event so far this season.

North Carolina’s men lead the all-time series 22-11 while the Tar Heel women lead 16-4. The two teams last faced off in 2022 in Chapel Hill with North Carolina sweeping the meet. South Carolina’s men last tallied a win over the Tar Heels in 2018 while the women’s last victory was in 1985.

In the CSCAA’s top-25 rankings for October, the North Carolina women are ranked No. 16 while the men are receiving votes. South Carolina’s women are just outside of the top-25, also receiving votes.