The 2023 SEC Swimming and Diving Championship held from Feb. 14 to Feb. 18 in College Station, Texas, was one for the record books for the Gamecock swim and dive team.
In its second season under head coach Jeff Poppell, the team brought home five medals and five program records.
"So much of what we try to instill is doing things the right way to get the right results," Poppell said. "I just feel like we did such a much better job of that this year than year one, last year. And again, I give our leadership and our seniors so much credit for helping lead the way."
That leadership from graduate student Brooke Schultz and senior Manny Vazquez Bas earned the dive team four of the five medals.
Schultz had a phenomenal meet. She completed a spring board sweep — placing first in the one-meter and three-meter finals — for the fourth time in her career at the conference championship. Sophomore Sophie Verzyl joined Schultz on the podium in the three-meter event, giving the Gamecocks the top two spots in the event.
"Leading up to the meet, I was a little nervous," Schultz said. "I just had to remind myself that I have done these dives so many times, and I've competed them so many times, so just to be confident in my abilities and really just take it one dive at a time."
At the conclusion of the meet, Schultz was presented with the SEC Women’s Diver of the Meet trophy for the second year in a row.
"You go into your meets, and really, the first thing you want to do is you want to dive well for yourself and for the team and contribute in any way that you can," Schultz said. "It is always amazing to be recognized for the work that you do during the meets, but it's not what you go to the meets for."
Vazquez Bas led the way on the men's side, earning silver in the platform final and finishing fifth and eighth in the three-meter and one-meter finals, respectively.
Vazquez Bas also set a school record with his second-place finish on platform with a score of 432.75.
Freshman Charley Bayer advanced to the final in his first appearance at SECs, placing seventh in the three-meter competition.
"We are super close as a team," Schultz said. "I think we've really gelled super well this year, all of us, and so I think we had a really good team and really good vibes going into SECs, which really contributed to our performance."
Inexperience proved to be a challenge on the swim side of things for the Gamecocks as the team added 27 new members, 22 freshmen and five transfers, in the last season.
The women's swim team concluded the meet with 587 points in eighth place, their highest finish at the SEC championship since 2018.
"On the women's side, a lot of that youth brought energy and excitement and enthusiasm that maybe was missing a little bit last year," Poppell said. "I can't tell you how many upperclassmen that I had made comments to me or other members of the staff of just how much fun, I guess you want to say, the energy level of the new group, the freshmen, was and how much of an impact it made to just the environment."
Senior Janie Smith broke her own school record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.66 in prelims. In her finals swim, Smith lowered it once again with a time of 48.32, placing ninth overall.
Joining her in the record books is Bella Pantano, setting the 100-yard backstroke record. During Friday's prelims, she posted a time of 52.72 taking down her own record as well. Pantano finished 16th overall in finals, recording a slightly worse time than in prelims.
The men's team finished in ninth place with 458.5 points, its highest finish since 2019 and one spot improvement from 2022.
"There is a little bit more of a difference, I think, on the men's side than there is the women's side, from (a physical maturity) standpoint," Poppell said. "It's just time, obviously, is what's needed to help them grow and develop and mature, physically as well as mentally. And so I think as the year went on, you kind of saw that growth."
Leading the way for the men was sophomore Michael Laitarovsky who brought home the only medal for the swim team in the 100-yard backstroke.
Laitarvorsky swam a 45.49 in the preliminary round, breaking his own school record and securing a spot in the A-final. During his bronze medal performance, he lowered his own record again, swimming a 45.27 to secure his spot on the podium.
The men's team saw another record fall in the 200-medley relay.
The team of Laitarovsky, junior Daniel West and seniors Guy Gropper and Mark Shperkin broke the record previously set in 2019 with a time of 1:24.40. Their performance was enough to land the relay in eighth place overall.
The Gamecocks return from the SEC Championships will quickly transition to preparation for the upcoming NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship. Selected competitors will compete at the UGA Last Chance Invitational and the dive team will compete at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships in hopes of securing qualifying spots for the NCAA meet.
"We need to raise the bar, raise the standard, knowing now what we need to do to climb even higher next year," Poppell said.