Senior diver Sophie Verzyl secured her third career SEC Championship title and her second of the current meet by winning the 3-meter event with a score of 402.50 on Thursday night at the Allen Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Verzyl’s victory marks a successful defense of her 3-meter title. After her win, she commented on the experience: “Good. A lot of stress was taken off. I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished, and I’m glad I can contribute to the team again. It was an amazing experience, again, to practice competing against the best in the world.”
Reflecting on representing South Carolina in diving, Verzyl added: “It feels great because we have been climbing the ladder. I’ve been with South Carolina for five years, and we have come a long way. To be able to contribute to the vision and the mission that we have this season – I am really happy I could do that for the Gamecocks.”
The women’s 400 medley relay team—composed of Riordan, Goodwin-Birnie, Agliano and Scholes—finished seventh with a time of 3:31.52. During this race, Amy Riordan set a new school record in the 100 backstroke with a split time of 51.50 seconds.
On the men’s side, Ryan Hufford, Einar Agustsson, Eldor Usmonov and Bexon Harrison placed tenth in their relay event with a time of 3:07.41.
Delaney Frankling finished eighth overall in the women’s 400 individual medley final (4:15.35), while Pierre Largeron broke his own school record twice in one day during competition in the men’s 200 freestyle—first swimming a morning session time of 1:33.31 before improving it to 1:32.92 during finals.
Amy Riordan also reached eighth place in her championship final for the women’s 200 freestyle (1:44.25). The Gamecocks advanced ten swimmers into finals sessions over day four and set three new school records.
Other notable performances included Jordan Agliano qualifying for consolation finals (52.30), Eldor Usmonov earning his spot after setting another school record (45.88), Taylor Grimley and Ryan Hufford moving into bonus finals events, Delaney Frankling securing sixth place in prelims for her first championship final appearance this week (4:10.23), Meghan Harnish advancing to consolation finals (4:13.82), Raymond Prosinski entering bonus finals for his performance (3:51.46) and Ellery Ottem reaching bonus finals as well.
In team standings after day four:
– For women’s teams, Texas leads with 718 points followed by Tennessee at 647; South Carolina is tied for fourth place with Auburn at 431.
– In men’s competition Texas holds first place at 813.5 points; South Carolina stands eleventh with 204 points.
