South Carolina Men & Women Sweep Gardner-Webb On Senior Day

South Carolina V. Gardner-Webb

• January 21, 2021
• Carolina Natatorium, Columbia, SC
• Meet Results
• Team Scores
  • Women: South Carolina 185 — Gardner-Webb 74
  • Men: South Carolina 171 — Gardner-Webb 90

The South Carolina Gamecocks dominated the Gardner-Webb Dogs on their senior day meet. Eight Gamecock seniors were recognized on Thursday’s dual meet: Tamas Novoszath, Rebecca Cohen, diver Yu Qian Goh, Savannah Hillmeyer, Lauren Hilt, Emma Otten, Jenna Pehowski, and Caroline Spence. The Gamecock women won their meet 185-74 while the men defeated Gardner-Webb 171-90.

Meet Highlights

In the men’s 200 medley relay, South Carolina’s A-relay led the race during the backstroke and breaststroke legs. However, Gardner-Webb’s Tim Bennett split a blistering 21.63 fly leg, touching at the 150-mark 0.23s ahead of South Carolina. Into the freestyle leg, South Carolina anchor Phil Costin out-split GW anchor Seggio Bernardina by 0.25s, yet it came down to the touch to determine the winning relay. It was the Gamecocks that caught the Gardner-Webb Dogs by 0.02s to win the relay 1:29.99 to 1:30.01. The South Carolina women’s 200 medley relay kicked the meet off with a win, topping the race at 1:43.76.

Gardner-Webb junior Bennett continued to have a stand-out meet, winning two events for the Dogs. Bennett swam a pair of 49s in the 100 fly and back, swimming 49.24/49.94 respectively.

Teammate Chase Mattingly was the only other event winner for the Dogs here in Columbia. Heading into the final 50 of the men’s 200 fly, South Carolina’s Ben Fenwick was leading Mattingly by a half second. Mattingly then turned on the jets, splitting 28.34 to Fenwick’s 29.69 closing 50 to win the event by nearly a full second. Mattingly clocked in a sub-1:50 effort of 1:49.35 while Fenwick settled for second at 1:50.18. Gardner-Webb freshman Colby Childress also made ground on Fenwick’s lead, taking third place by one one-hundredth at 1:50.19.

South Carolina junior Luke Massey, a transfer from Tennessee, was another double winner on the men’s side as he swept the breaststroke events, clocking 54.38/2:02.24 in the 100 and 200 breast.

On the women’s side, South Carolina freshman Hayley Mason clocked in winning times in the 200 back (2:00.11) and 500 free (5:02.38). Taking second in the 200 back to Mason was South Carolina’s Anne Tavierne, clocking in a 2:00.93. Earlier in the 200 free, Tavierne clocked a sub-1:50 winning effort of 1:49.54.

Senior Mary Traylor stormed the 200 fly to earn the Gardner-Webb women their only win of the meet, taking the event by four seconds at 2:00.50. Traylor was also featured in the 200 IM event, where she battled it out with South Carolina’s Mari Kraus. After a second-deficit at the halfway mark, Traylor swam a 36.78 breaststroke leg to lead Kraus by three-tenths. It was a dog-fight towards the finish, yet Gamecock Kraus took the win over Traylor with an effort of 2:04.92. Traylor took second at 2:05.12.

South Carolina seniors earning event wins on Thursday include Jenna Pehowski in the women’s 100 free (51.39) and Tamas Novoszath in the men’s 500 free, winning by 12 seconds in a 4:31.38.

On Sunday, South Carolina will head over to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina while Gardner-Webb will face Georgia Tech next Saturday, January 30.

More Event Winners:

• Women’s 1650 Free: Alicia Davie (SC), 17:20.16
• Men’s 1650 Free: Rafael Davila (SC), 15:50.49
• Men’s 200 Free: Connor Daniels (SC), 1:38.01
• Women’s 100 Back: Riley Parker (SC), 55.94
• Women’s 100 Breast: Olivia McPherson (SC), 1:04.93
• Women’s 50 Free: Jordan Artim (SC), 23.62
• Men’s 50 Free: Guy Gropper (SC), 20.64
• Men’s 100 Free: Phil Costin (SC), 44.89
• Men’s 200 Back: Nathan Wakefield (SC), 1:49.81
• Women’s 200 Breast: Ellie Masterson (SC), 2:18.27
• Women’s 100 Fly: Gabi Reed (SC), 57.19
• Men’s 200 IM: Chase Allison (SC), 1:50.60