Duke And South Carolina Split, Both Teams Defeat Davidson

Blue Devil Men Take First, Women Second In Home Dual Meet
 

The Duke men’s and women’s swimming & diving squads returned for the second half of the 2008-09 season Saturday afternoon as they hosted South Carolina and Davidson in a dual meet at the Taishoff Aquatic Pavilion. The men came out victorious and the women fell by just two points to USC in a down-to-the-wire finish but defeated Davidson in both teams’ first official meet in over a month.
 
The men registered a team score of 153 to edge South Carolina’s 145 and Davidson’s 118. The women were just two points behind the Gamecocks (151) with their team score of 149, and edged Davidson which scored 120.5 on the afternoon.
 
The men’s squad used the pair of wins to improve to 4-1 on the season, while the women now sit at 6-1 with the split.
 
“We are very proud of the team – last year both squads lost pretty handily to South Carolina so for us to come back and have the men win today was huge,” said head coach Dan Colella. “This is just another big step for our program. The women, too, were extremely competitive, coming down to the last relay, and came up a little bit short.
 
“We all learned something today that will make us better, and these are the meets that will help us improve and be the best that we can be.”
 
The Blue Devil divers turned in a strong showing across the board as the men went 1-2 on the one-meter and 1-3 on the three-meter, while the women took 2-3-4 on the three-meter board and 1-4 on the one-meter. Freshman Abby Johnston won the one-meter competition with her score of 321.90, good for her third-best showing of the season. She was also second on the three-meter with a score of 332.60 behind South Carolina’s Taryn Zack.
 
The men saw Cody Kolodziejzyk take first in the one-meter with a 294.10, also taking first on the three-meter with a score of 329.50, his and the team’s best performance of the season, as he emerged as a double-winner on the day.
 
The men’s and women’s swimmers both kicked off the afternoon strong and earned victories in the 200 medley relay, with the men’s ‘A’ squad of David Hahn, Jordan Charles, Nick Garvy, and Andy Osterland taking first in 1:34.56, followed by Spencer Booth, Bryan Durazo, Eric Ness, and Ryan Packer in second with their 1:36.12 as Duke went 1-2. The women also won the event, with the ‘A’ squad of Meghan Dwyer, Meredith Bannon, Steffi Niessl, and Shannon Beall touching in at 1:45.01.
 
The Blue Devil women dominated the 1000 freestyle as sophomore Ashley Twichell and junior Jackie Fasano went 1-2 in the event. Twichell swam a 9:59.44 to take first, followed by Fasano’s 10:01.87 as the duo swam neck-and-neck the entire way. Nathan French and Andrew Clark did the same on the men’s side, taking first (9:30.44) and second (9:47.20), respectively, in the afternoon’s longest race.
 
Twichell and Fasano were out in front again in the 200 free, as Twichell tied for second in the event with her 1:53.40, a dead heat with Davidson’s Anna Stringfield and just behind USC’s Claire Thompson. Fasano was close behind in fourth in 1:53.43.
 
Duke’s Spencer Booth and Pieter Den Hartog went 2-3 on the men’s side, clocking in at 1:42.70 and l:44.07, respectively, followed by Andrew Huff in fourth (1:44.46). The women’s 100 backstroke featured freshman Meghan Dwyer in second (57.30) followed by teammates Katharine Bodnar (59.23) in third and Alessondra Spiedel (1:01.67) in fourth. The men’s 100 back saw David Hahn grab second place with his swim of 52.69, while Murillo Adrados clocked in with a 52.76 to claim third place.
 
Meredith Bannon took second in the 100 breast (1:05.23), her second-fastest swim as well as Duke’s for the season. Jordan Charles won the 100 breast on the men’s side, taking the race in 59.84. The women’s 200 butterfly was won by Beall (2:01.95), the team’s second-best performance of the season, while Ness came in second for the men in 1:54.88.
 
In the sprints, Niessl finished second in the 50 free in 24.22, as Andy Osterland came in second as well in 21.59 in his race.
 
Dwyer and Bodnar went 2-3 in the 200 back on the women’s side, coming in at 2:03.27 and 2:04.62, respectively.
 
Twichell and Fasano teamed up again for another 1-2 finish in the 500 free, as Twichell clocked a winning time of 4:55.10 and Fasano a 4:55.68. Huff and Sean Smith were 2-3 for the Blue Devils in the men’s 500 free.
 
Closing down the day with the 400 IM and the 400 free relays, the Blue Devils saw some clutch performances down the stretch with the scores not yet decided. Beall took third in the women’s 400 IM in 4:28.99, and the men saw French (4:04.96) and Alex Kluge (4:11.70) go 1-3 there.
 
The last event was the 400 medley relay, where the men’s ‘B’ team of Booth, Osterland, Garvy, and Packer took second in 3:06.39, followed by the ‘A’ team of Den Hartog, Carlson, Smith, and Hahn in third with their 3:08.42 to preserve the meet win. The women’s squad of Kirstie Jeffrey, Dwyer, Twichell, and Niessl was second (3:31.14) behind the Gamecocks top team as USC was able to come out with the win on the day by the slimmest of margins.
 
Next up for the Blue Devils will be a road dual meet versus Gardner-Webb next Sat., Jan. 17 at 1 p.m.

Gamecocks Split Thriller with Duke, Sweep Davidson
In a hotly contested swimming and diving meet that came down to the final event, South Carolina's women pulled out a thrilling 151-149 victory over homestanding Duke while the Gamecock men fell just short, dropping a 153-145 decision Saturday afternoon at the Taishoff Aquatic Pavilion. Both Gamecock squads soundly defeated Davidson in the double-dual meet with the men winning 157-116 and the women prevailing by a 150-121 score.

The Gamecock women improved to 3-3 in dual meet competition this season while the men picked up a win and a loss to move to 2-4 overall.

Entering the final event of the afternoon, the 400 medley relay, Duke held a seven-point lead in the women's competition and led by 13 over the Carolina men. The Gamecock women needed the first-place points and at least a third place finish in the relay to earn the victory - and that's exactly what they got. The team of Sharntelle McLean, Kassy Kugler, Megan Sparks and Claire Thompson touched in 3:28.08 to get the all-important 11 first-place points. Duke finished second, and the Carolina 'B' squad of Christine

Thompson, Shaylyn Blake, Bridget Halligan and Kristina Delp beat out the hard-charging Blue Devils by 0.12 seconds to claim a third-place time of 3:33.60 and a Carolina dual meet victory.

On the men's side, the Gamecocks needed a first- and second-place finish in the final relay to secure a tie. South Carolina got the first-place finish it needed with a 3:06.29 by Kyle Cormier, Josh Klotz, James Crawford and Todd Weyandt. But Duke took second and third place to take the eight-point victory.

South Carolina's women's divers performed well as Taryn Zack took first place overall in the three-meter competition with a 337.35, then finished a close second in the one-meter event with a 319.80, only 2.10 points behind the first-place Duke finisher.  Corry Christian took second place for the men in the three-meter event with a 318.00.

The Gamecocks fell behind early, but got a pair of first-place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle to climb back into contention. Claire Thompson swam a 1:52.04 in the women's event to get first-place points, and Kyle Cormier touched in 1:40.70 for a top finish in the men's event.

Amanda Dunnigan had a strong meet for the Gamecocks with wins in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.19), 200 breaststroke (2:18.48) and 400 IM (4:22.69). Carolina also continued to shine in the 100 backstroke, getting first-place finishes from Megan Sparks (56.81) and Chris Kelly (52.44).

Nicholas Walkotten got wins in the 100 (49.82) and 200 fly (1:51.71), and the Gamecocks controlled the sprints with wins from Sharntelle McLean (23.78) and Cormier (21.42) in the 50 free, then again in the 100 free with McLean touching in 51.82 and Cormier turning in a 46.09. South Carolina picked up a wealth of points in the 100 free, taking four of the top five spots in the women's event and three of the top five in the men's 100 free.

South Carolina won every event it contested against Davidson and swam exhibition the last five events with the outcome already determined.

The Gamecock women will welcome SEC foe Vanderbilt to the Carolina Natatorium next Saturday for a 2 p.m. dual meet. The men will join the women and return to action the following Saturday, Jan. 24, for a Senior Day meet against College of Charleston.