DURHAM, N.C. – The Blue Devils came out strong in the morning session of Day 1 at the Gamecock Invitational. By midday, the women stood in second place, trailing only North Carolina while the men held on to third place behind North Carolina and South Carolina.

Junior Ashley Twichell set the fastest qualifying time of the meet in the 500 freestyle with an NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 4:52.34. Senior Jackie Fasano turned in a time of 4:57.77 to take the fifth qualifying spot at the invitational. Katie Magee broke the 5-minute mark for the first time this season with a 4:59.63 in the event, good enough for the eighth-best qualifying mark. Meghan Dwyer and Rose O'Connor also finished in the top-24, qualifying for finals. 

On the men’s side, sophomore Nathan French claimed the last finals spot with a 4:40.87. Other notable performances came from Sean Smith, Hunter Roux, and Matt Carder who were the first three alternates in that order.

The Blue Devil women stepped up their effort in the 200 IM. Shannon Beall was the fourth-fastest qualifier with a time of 2:06.05. She will be joined in the finals by Jessica Perry (7th, 2:07.18), Elizabeth Bellew (10th, 2:07.66), Meredith Bannon (11th, 2:07.81), Katharine Bodnar (15th, 2:08.82), Kaitlin Ray (20th, 2:09.46), Emily Kintz (21st, 2:09.50), Haley Read (22nd, 2:09.66), and Kate Toth (23rd, 2:09.70). 

The women’s performance in the 200 IM is exactly what head coach Dan Colella was looking for from his swimmers. Out of the 24 swimmers who will be competing in the event’s finals, nine of them will be wearing Duke suits. 

Duke will be represented by four individuals in the men’s 200 IM finals. Spencer Booth (15th, 1:55.06), Nick Garvy (18th, 1:56.47), Alex Kluge (t-22nd, 1:57.00), and David Hahn (t-22nd, 1:57.00) will all have the opportunity to score for Duke in the event.

The most competitive qualifying races of the day, however, were the 50 yard freestyles with 74 women and 60 men vying for 24 finals slots apiece. Steffi Niessl and Kirstie Jeffrey were the top qualifiers for the Duke women, claiming the fifth and seventh slots, respectively. Ben Hwang grabbed the attention of his competitors by claiming the top qualifying spot in a time of 20.90. Senior Sean Smith will join him in the top heat at finals as the fourth-fastest qualifier. Additionally, Andy Osterland (9th, 21.38), Ben Tuben (15th, 21.50), Nick Garvy (21st, 21.55), and David Carlson (22nd, 21.60) all qualified to compete in finals. 

After the invitational’s first evening session, the team results remained unchanged with the Duke women holding on to second place and the men in third place.

In the women’s 200 freestyle relay finals, the Duke squad of Kirstie Jeffrey, Steffi Niessl, Francesca Tocci, and Shannon Beall claimed fourth place and contributed 30 points to the team score. The men demonstrated they have the talent to compete with some of the nation’s best squads, taking second and third place in the event.

Twichell returned to the pool looking to defend the 500 freestyle title she won at last year’s Gamecock Invitational. After 20 lengths of the pool first and second place were separated by .07 seconds with  Twichell coming out on top in dramatic fashion. Teammates Fasano and Magee both finished in the top eight, scoring 12 and 11 points, respectively. On the men’s side, French was the only Blue Devil who earned the right to compete in finals. He finished in 23rd place, slightly improving on the time he posted in prelims. 

In the 200 IM, Beall led the way for the Blue Devils with her second-place finish, but she was far from alone; Perry, Bannon, Bellew, and Bodnar all contributed to the scoring effort. The men were guided by Booth who claimed 14th place with a time of 1:54.40, earning three points for his team.

In the women’s 50 freestyle finals, Niessl took sixth while Jeffrey finished eighth overall. The men’s top finals heat featured three Blue Devils; Hwang (4th), Smith (7th), and Osterland (8th).

Wrapping up the first day of events at the Gamecock Invitational was the 400 medley relay. Duke’s fastest women’s team of Dwyer, Bannon, Beall, and Jeffrey finished second in a field of 24, while the men’s squad of Booth, Carlson, Garvy, and Hwang claimed fourth.

 

You can follow Day 2 action from the Gamecock Invitational at http://tiny.cc/LiveStats.