Blue Devils Wrap Up First Day Of Gamecock Invitational

Thursday, November 20

Columbia, S.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day One

Twichell Named Student-Athlete Of The Week

Blue Devils Wrap Up First Day Of Gamecock Invitational

11/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving

By: Duke Sports Information

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? The Duke women's swimming and diving team sits in second place and the men in third place after the first day of competition at the seven-squad Gamecock Invitational, hosted by the University of South Carolina. The first day's preliminary events were held this morning, while the finals concluded this evening at the Carolina Natatorium.

Through 12 events on each side, both teams find themselves near the top of the pack and have each turned in some of their fastest times of the seasons, while several individuals have also turned in career-best swims.

The women have a team score of 226.5, behind only North Carolina (370). The Blue Devils lead the host Gamecocks (208), East Carolina (161.5), Syracuse (107), Charleston (12), and Lenoir Rhyne (0). The men sit behind the Tar Heels (380.5) and South Carolina (226.5), and lead Syracuse (109), ECU (98), and Charleston (43).

“We had a very good day, and we're happy to have had a lot of athletes come back for the finals this evening,” said head coach Dan Colella. “We're happy with the performances after day one ? we saw a lot of improvement in a lot of places.”

A highlight of the night was the Blue Devils women winning the 400 medley relay, as the team of Meghan Dwyer, Meredith Bannon, Steffi Niessl, and Shannon Beall took first overall in 3:45.43, besting their seed time by nearly five seconds and narrowly edging rival UNC in the event.

Also on the women's side, sophomore Ashley Twichell won the 500 freestyle in 4:46.01, an NCAA ?B' standard, after clocking a 4:50.11 in winning the prelims earlier today. Twichell's time is an eight-second improvement from her previous season-best. Jackie Fasano took third in the event with a 4:55.28.

The women's 200 freestyle relay team of Niessl, Bannon, Kirstie Jeffrey, and Beall took fourth to kick off the day, as they clocked a 1:34.92 ? good for a season-best. Beall then took fourth in the 200 IM, coming in at 2:03.45 for a personal-best performance and a season-best for Duke.

The men's 200 free relay of Andy Osterland, David Carlson, Nick Garvy, and Ryan Packer took second in the finals in 1:23.00 for a season-best time. Duke's ?B' team of Murillo Adrados, David Hahn, Spencer Booth, and Piter den Hartog took fourth in 1:24.51.

Osterland placed fourth individually in the 50 free in 21.16, a personal-best time. Duke's 400 medley relay of Booth, Bryan Durazo, Garvy, and Osterland closed out the first day with their fourth-place time of 3:22.93.

Competition at the invitational will resume tomorrow and conclude Saturday at the University of South Carolina. The preliminaries will be held at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. on each of the remaining days.

Live stats for all events can be accessed at Gamecocksonline.com.

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