Duke Dispatches South Carolina to Start New Year

Friday, January 8

Columbia, S.C.

5:00 PM

Duke University

South Carolina

Swimming & Diving Set to Host Florida State, Queens

Duke Dispatches South Carolina to Start New Year

1/8/2016 9:46:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Results and Final Scores

By: Duke Sports Information

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Competing in their first event of the new year, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams downed a pair of South Carolina squads to remain undefeated in dual meet action at 6-0. The 22nd-ranked Duke men upended the 19th-ranked Gamecocks, 154-146 for their first win over South Carolina since 2009, while the Blue Devil women posted a 187-113 victory.

Freshmen Maddie Hess and Mickayla Hinkle paced the women with two individual wins apiece while juniors James Peek and Kaz Takabayashi were double-winners for the men. Duke also won all four relay events, with the men claiming the top two spots in the final event to come from behind and defeat their SEC foes.

“Sprinting was probably one of our big points today, one of our strengths,” said head coach Dan Colella. “We knew they were going to have a good relay at the end. We told the guys all week long that this meet was probably going to come down to the last relay. So they've been prepared for that, and in having that discussion in their minds, they knew that if they could get it down to the last relay they could win the meet. They just absolutely stepped up.”

The Blue Devils kicked off the swimming events by edging South Carolina in both 200-yard medley relays. The Duke women swept the top two spots, led by Hinkle, sophomore Leah Goldman, sophomore Isabella Paez and Hess (1:41.47). Takabayashi, senior David Armstrong, junior Peter Kropp and Peek were first for the men in 1:27.77.

Hess was first to the wall in the 200 freestyle (1:51.18), and Hinkle followed with a first-place showing in the 100 backstroke (55.69). Takabayashi claimed the first of his two individual wins in the men's 100 backstroke race, touching in 49.05 before returning to the water later in the meet to take the 100 butterfly (49.14) in a one-two-three finish. Junior Michael Miller was second and senior Kenny Ng third.

Junior Ashleigh Shanley led the way for the Blue Devil women in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.51), while Goldman headlined a one-two-three-four performance by Duke in the 200 butterfly. Goldman tapped the wall at 2:01.17, with sophomore Anna Quinn, junior Brittany Friese and junior Colleen Wixted following suit. Rusch added a victory in the 50 freestyle (23.53) to keep Duke in front of the South Carolina women at the first intermission.

In diving, freshman Josh Owsiany turned in a pair of second-place finishes on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards, earning a season-best award of 378.38 at the 3-meter height. Another rookie, Mackenzie Willborn, led the way for the Blue Devils on the women's side, taking second on the 3-meter board and third on the 1-meter board.

“It was great having men's divers this year and they actually performed really, really well,” said head diving coach Nunzio Esposto. “Josh Owsiany had an outstanding meet today so I'm really happy for him. He did awesome. We've been working hard, especially on his back and reverse groups, and he did both of those for six-and-a-halfs and sevens today so that was really good for me to see him rise to the occasion and do those well in competition.”

After besting the field in the men's 50 freestyle with a 20.14 swim, Peek also won the 100-yard distance sprint (44.82). Hinkle grabbed another victory in the 200 backstroke (2:01.20) with Goldman coming in second and junior Bradley Cline winning the same event on the men's side (1:49.94). Sophomore Verity Abel, who was second in the 1,000 freestyle at the beginning of the evening, collected a win in the 500-yard race (4:55.54). Sophomore Matt Johnson was the top finisher for the men in both distance events with a pair of third-place showings.

Hess, Paez and Quinn swept the top three spots in the women's 100 butterfly and Quinn added a second-place clocking in the 200 IM a short while later. After the Blue Devil women had the top two 400 freestyle relays, the men secured their dual meet victory by doing the same. Armstrong, junior Dylan Payne, junior Mike Seaberg and Peek led the way in first (2:59.91) to help Duke edge the Gamecocks by an eight-point margin.

“It was a huge team effort – multiple events with some great swims,” Colella said. “People breaking up where they were really strong, where they could have potentially finished one-two-three. We had guys break that up, which was just absolutely critical. Brad Cline winning the 200 back, that was huge. There was just a variety of swims, as well as the diving – those three freshmen divers did a really great job of competing today – and we couldn't be more proud of the outcome.”

The Blue Devils hit the road again next weekend, traveling to Atlanta to take on Indiana, Michigan and host Georgia Tech in a quad meet hosted by the Yellow Jackets Saturday, Jan. 16 beginning at 11 a.m.

Women's Team Score: Duke 187, South Carolina 113
Men's Team Score: Duke 154, South Carolina 146

Top Duke Finishers by Event:
Women's 1-Meter Diving: Mackenzie Willborn (3rd), 271.73
Men's 1-Meter Diving: Josh Owsiany (2nd), 315.45

Women's 3-Meter Diving: Mackenzie Willborn (2nd), 312.83
Men's 3-Meter Diving: Josh Owsiany (2nd), 378.38

Women's 200-Yard Medley Relay: Mickayla Hinkle, Leah Goldman, Isa Paez, Maddie Hess (1st), 1:41.47
Men's 200-Yard Medley Relay: Kaz Takabayashi, Peter Kropp, David Armstrong, James Peek (1st), 1:27.77