2022 Gamecock Invite
- November 16-18, 2022
- University of South Carolina Natatorium, Columbia, S.C.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2022 Gamecock Swimming Invitational”
- Day 1 Finals Results
South Carolina put on an incredibly dominant display on the opening day of the Gamecock Invite on Wednesday, winning every event on the program.
Highlighting the team’s effort was the women’s 200 IM, where all 10 swimmers racing in the ‘A’ final were from South Carolina. Leading that charge was graduate senior Victoria Kwan, as the former Michigan Wolverine clocked a season-best of 1:58.28 to lead teammates Laura Goettler (1:59.49) and Georgia Johnson (2:00.55).
Kwan owns a personal best time of 1:56.80, set at last season’s Big Ten Championships where she placed seventh.
Gamecock freshman Amy Riordan delivered a massive time drop to win the women’s 500 free, following up a 4:48.60 prelim swim with a clocking of 4:45.97 in the final.
Riordan, 18, came into the meet with a best time of 4:58.84. She led a 1-2-3 finish for South Carolina, followed by junior Mason Hayley (4:47.27) and senior Emma Alexander (4:50.35).
One of the top performers for the men’s team was sophomore Michael Laitarovsky, who had a pair of key relay swims to go along with a runner-up showing in the 50 free.
In the 200 free relay, Patrick Groters (20.32), Guy Gropper (20.15), Mark Shperkin (19.77) and Laitarovsky (19.88) combined for a time of 1:20.12, edging out UNCW (1:20.65).
At the end of the session in the 400 medley relay, Laitarovsky was within a half-second of his 100 back best time on the lead-off in 46.61, and was followed by Daniel West (54.47), Erge Gezmis (47.06) and Gropper (44.19) as the Gamecocks clocked 3:12.33, with their ‘B’ squad second in 3:15.67.
In the individual 50 free, Shperkin (20.13) came away with the win, with Laitarovsky (20.31) second and Gropper (20.37) third.
The highlight of the day for UNCW, which sits second in both the men’s and women’s team standings, came in the women’s 400 medley relay, where the Seahawks set a new school record in 3:41.55 to place fourth.
South Carolina went 1-2-3, led by the quartet of Tatiana Salcutan (53.97), Johnson (1:00.86), Nicholle Toh (52.39) and Janie Smith (48.00) who won in 3:35.22.
OTHER WINNERS
- The South Carolina team of Smith (22.77), Aubrey Chandler (22.36), Dylan Scholes (22.32) and Cory Shanks (22.72) won the women’s 200 free relay in 1:30.17, more than two seconds clear of UNCW (1:32.19).
- Chandler (22.82) and Smith (22.84) went 1-2 for South Carolina in the women’s 50 free, followed closely by UNCW’s Sarah Olson (22.89) and Scholes (22.90). The time for Chandler is less than a tenth shy of her 22.74 PB.
- Fifth-year Rafael Davila led a 1-2 finish for the Gamecocks in the men’s 500 free, clocking 4:23.09 to lead teammate Jose Castro (4:23.56) and UNCW’s Sam O’Brien (4:23.73).
- Patrick Groters led a 1-2-3-4 sweep for South Carolina in the men’s 200 IM in 1:45.13. Groters owns a best of 1:43.77 from the 2022 SECs.
TEAM STANDINGS
Women
- South Carolina – 538
- UNCW – 317
- Vanderbilt – 205
- FGCU – 149
- Georgia Southern – 88
- UNF – 76
- Gardner- Webb – 94
Men
- South Carolina – 499
- UNCW – 374
- Gardner-Webb – 271