South Carolina was victorious in the pool on Senior Citizens Day, defeating Gardner-Webb in the women’s and men’s teams in their last home duel in the 2020-21 season. Both teams were impressive, with women winning 185-74 and men winning by a 171-90 margin.
Before the start of the meeting, Gamecocks paid tribute and gave special recognition to Tamas Novoszath, Rebecca Cohen, Yu Qian Goh, Savannah Hillmeyer, Lauren Hilt, Emma Otten, Jenna Pehowski and Caroline Spence.
Both teams had 11 victories each in the duel of 32 events. Freshman Hayley Mason had a great day on the women’s side, winning 200 back (2h.11) and 500 free (5: 02.88) soon after. Sophmore Anne Tavierne posted a solid time of 1: 49.54 in his 200 free win.
Junior Mari Kraus obtained another victory of the event during the season 2020-21 in the 200 IM (2: 04.92). Senior Jenna Pehowski ended his career at Carolina Natoritum on the rise with a win in the 100 freestyle (51.39). A senior relay team from Emma Otten, Carolina Spence, Dannielle Doennebrink and Lauren Hilt the encounter started with a victory in the 200 medley relay (1: 43.76).
South Carolina’s male side, sophomore year Guy Gropper (20.64), junior Phil Costin (20.66) and second year Mark Shperkin (20.76) was 1-2-3 in the 50 free ones. Freshman Connor Daniels won the 200 free with a time of 1: 38.01. Senior Tamas Novoszath finished just behind Daniels with a time of 1: 38.10. Novoszath would win the free 500 (4: 31.38) later in the encounter for almost 12 seconds – his last individual race at the Carolina Natatorium. Second year Chase Allison won 200 IM with a time of 1: 50.60.
transfer Luke Massey made his debut at Gamecock and achieved a pair of victories in the 100 breaststroke (54.38) and 200 breaststroke (2: 02.24). He was also part of the winning 200 medley relay team. The 400 free relay team Robbie Eppler, Rafael Davila, Gropper and Shperkin ended the encounter with a victory in the 400 free relay (3: 01.98).
“Today was good – this was probably our best overall performance as a team this year,” coach from South Carolina McGee Moody said. “We didn’t have many opportunities to run. We talked about this in last week’s preview, we have to take every opportunity we have. We took advantage of this encounter to get some dives from the third event for the SECs and practice those races a little. There were very fast times and some people also swam above or above where we expected. I was very proud of the team. I am happy for our elderly. This was their last meeting at home and they had a stressful year, to say the least. For them, stepping forward and leading like they have been amazing.
For Gardner-Webb, Tim Bennett won the 100 back and 100 fly. Both 200 butterfly events followed the Gardner-Webb path, with Mary Traylor winning the women’s race and Chase Mattingly in men.
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