South Carolina Falls to Florida State

All are eyes on South Carolina this weekend, eager to see who would emerge the victor - Barrack Obama?  Hillary Clinton?  John Edwards?  How about Florida State?  Tomorrow's Democratic Primary aside, the Seminoles made a long day of traveling pay off by sweeping South Carolina Friday evening January 25, in Columbia, S.C.  The No. 25 ranked men won 169-131 while the No. 20 ranked women took home a 171.5-128.5 victory.

"I'm really thrilled with the outcome, I wasn't sure what to expect from our team going on the road," FSU head coach Neil Harper said.  "South Carolina is a good team and we really swam well as a team.  This was a total team effort."

"In terms of performance for the entire team, this was the best meet we've swam all year," South Carolina head swimming coach McGee Moody
said.  "We had great performances both in the pool and on the boards today."

On the men's side, Carolina swept the top three spots in the 200-yard free, where Lendjel finished first, posting his top time of the season with a mark of 1:41.07.  Junior Todd Weyandt (1:43.19) and sophomore Trey Tharpe (1:43.29) finished second and third, respectively.  Lendjel led another Gamecock sweep in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing first with a mark of 1:49.32, followed by sophomore Andrew Atzhorn (1:52.27) in second and junior Christian Kata (1:52.42) in third.  Lendjel completed his day, capturing the 200-yard IM title with a mark of 1:51.56.

The meet started great for the men and the women with the Seminoles taking the top two spots in the 200 medley relay on both sides.  On the men's side it was the team of senior Ian Powell, sophomores Scott Thacker and Corey Swanson and junior Scott Baker winning in a time of 1:32.00.  On the women's side it was freshmen C.J. Hendry, Lowri Tynan and seniors Lauren Sparg and Abbie King touching in 1:45.77.

Individually it was Baker once again sweeping the 50 and 100 freestyle events.  The Lake Mary, Fla. native finished with times of 20.30 and 45.81 respectively.  Freshman Matt Shead and Thacker helped lead Florida State to 1-2-3 finishes in both breaststroke events.  Shead won the 100 breast (56.39) while Thacker took home the 200 touching in at 2:04.86.  Freshman Ian Rowe and sophomore Nick Graves each took home a distance event.  Rowe won the 1000 freestyle in a time of 9:35.02 with the Seminoles finishing 1-2-3 once again while Graves was victorious in the 500 (4:38.13).  Rounding out the winners on the men's side Powell took home a victory in the 100 backstroke (51.43).

On the women's side, sophomore Stevi Steinhauer also swept the sprint events with two season-best times.  In the 50 free Steinhauer touched in 23.62 and in the 100 free she won with a time of 51.41.  Junior Georgia Holderness added a sweep of her own in the breaststroke events.  She won the 100 (1:04.17) and 200 (2:16.76) breast helping the Seminoles take a commanding lead.  Another Seminole was not to be outdone as Hendry added yet another sweep winning the 100 backstroke (57.75) and 200 back (2:02.69).  FSU was able to finish 1-2-3 in both events.

"We had some great individual swims from Stevi [Steinhauer], Scott [Baker] and Georgia [Holderness] as well as many others," said Harper.  "We were able to sweep some events starting with the 200 medley and that was really big for us."

Indiana transfer Nicholas Walkotten captured the top spot in the 100- (48.97) and 200-yard butterfly (1:48.97), while he also turned in a strong showing n the 100 free, finishing second with a mark of 46.08.

Freshman twins Claire and Christine Thompson continued to impress in the distance events.  C laire turned in a first-place showing in the 1000-yard reestyle in a time of 10:07.07, followed by sister Christine who finished second with a mark of 10:11.27.  Claire also finished tied for first in the omen's 200-yard free with a mark of 1:49.97 and first in the 500 free with a mark of 4:57.74.

Florida State is back in the pool Saturday morning as they visit ACC foe Clemson.  The dual with the Tigers will be featured on ACCSelect.com at 11:00 a.m.  The quick turnaround is a challenge for FSU, but it's one they will not back down from.

"It certainly isn't an ideal situation, but we don't want to be put in ideal situations right now," Harper said.  "We want to go out there and fight and do whatever it takes for us to come out on top."