South Carolina Invite Day 2: Queens Men and S.C. Women Sweep Scores

2019 South Carolina Winter Invitational

• January 25th-26th, 2019
• Columbia, SC
• Day One Recap
• Full Results
• Final Men’s Team Scores
  • UNC-Wilmington 244 – Wingate 97
  • South Carolina 272 – Wingate 75
  • South Carolina 250 – UNC-Wilmington 103
  • Queens 256 – Wingate 59
  • Queens 249 – UNC-Wilmington 92
  • Queens 213 – South Carolina 134
• Final Women’s Team Scores
  • UNC-Wilmington 221 – Wingate 120
  • South Carolina 283 – Wingate 63
  • South Carolina 279 – UNC-Wilmington 73
  • Queens 248 – Wingate 67
  • Queens 251 – UNC-Wilmington 90
  • South Carolina 185 – Queens 160

The 2019 South Carolina Winter Invitational came to a close on Saturday in Columbia, SC. As the University of South Carolina recognized their seniors, UNC-Wilmington, Queens, and Wingate were ready to come back for the second and final day of the invite.

The last day of the invite also featured 3 Queens swimmers bettering their in-season SCY bests while staying under the Div II NCAA “A” cuts and maintaining number one national ranks.

• Marius Kusch: 100 Fly (45.06)
  • In-season Best: 45.81 (SCY), 44.21 (SCM converted time)

• Polina Lapshina: 100 Back (53.05)
  • Seed Time: 53.89 (SCY), 52.61 (SCM converted time)

• Alex Kunert: 200 Free (1:35.05)
  • In-season Best: 1:35.35

For the final team scores, the Queens men and the South Carolina women achieved perfect 3-0 dual meet wins against their competitors.

Final Day Meet Highlights:

Day 2 kicked off with the 200 medley relay. Both of the women’s and men’s Queens relays won their events by sizable margins, winning in 1:40.04 and 1:27.64, respectively.

Francesca Bains of Queens then went on to win the women’s 1000 free by over 14 seconds with a 10:03.84. Bains’ second win happened in the 400 IM. South Carolina’s Marissa Delgado just gained the lead after the breaststroke until Bains came back on the freestyle to out-touch Delgado 4:18.50 to 4:18.76.

On the men’s side, South Carolina earned a 1-2 finish with the efforts of Rafael Davila (9:14.75) and Fynn Minuth (9:15.38).

With a great last 50, Queen’s Georgia DaCruz took the women’s 100 fly (54.38) over South Carolina’s Katie Shannahan (54.90) and Christina Lappin (55.17). SJ Atkinson also won the 200 breast for the Queens women with a 2:16.40.

South Carolina’s Lionel Khoo won the 200 breast to sweep both breaststroke events in a 1:59.87. Khoo was also the lone swimmer to break 2 minutes in the event. Mitch Harwood of Queens quickly brought back his team’s dominance when he won the 100 back with a 50.06.

In the 50 free splash-and-dash, Queens’ Kyrie Dobson (23.80) out-touched South Carolina’s Emma Barksdale (23.84) by 0.04 to win the event. Queens’ Lapshina finished in third place with a 23.95 to also break 24 seconds. Queens’ Brody Heck took the men’s sprint title with a 20.08 sweep both the 50 and 100 free at this invite.

The women’s 200 free featured another Queens’ victor, with Josephina Lorda cruising in with a 1:48.87. Teammate Lexie Baker finished shortly after in a 1:49.55 to break the 1:50 mark as well.

After taking second in the 200 IM yesterday, Queens’ Jan Delkeskamp took his first individual victory in the 400 IM (3:57.35). Also breaking 4 minutes was teammate Mohamed Hegazy (3:58.17).

The final event of the meet was the 400 free relay. The women’s Queens relay took their win with a 3:22.75. Despite their many victories of the meet, it wasn’t enough to beat South Carolina in their dual meet. South Carolina won over Queens 185-160. In the winning Queens relay, Lapshina bettered her SCY in-season best from yesterday with a 49.23.

In the men’s 400 free relay, the Queens relay secured their invite win by taking the final relay with a 2:53.40.

South Carolina returns on January 31st at the Virginia Invite before their SEC conference championship meet February 19-23. Wingate and Queens will be seen competing next at the BMC conference championships February 6-9. UNC-Wilmington’s will dive into their CAA conference championships February 20-23.