McCrory and Johnston highlight Duke swimming and diving loss to South Carolina

The Blue Devils notched some quality performances in the team’s home finale this weekend but were unable to hold off visiting South Carolina in what was their last non-conference dual meet of the season. The Duke women were downed by South Carolina 184-115 while the men’s result came down to the wire. With a loss in the final relay, the Duke men fell to the Gamecocks 159-141.

The Blue Devil divers logged plenty of successful performances—the team won three of four springboard events. Senior Abby Johnson, who won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, found herself atop the leaderboard in the women’s 1-meter competition with a score of 309.83.

Although her former Team USA teammate and bronze medalist, Nick McCrory, finished second to teammate Jordan Long in the 3-meter competition, he rallied to come out on top in the 1-meter competition. McCrory’s performances earned him NCAA Zone Diving qualifying marks in both springboard events.

Duke’s Steven Gasparini was the first Blue Devil to take home an individual win on the afternoon. The junior touched home in 50.45 in the 100 backstroke to edge South Carolina’s Michael Covert. Following Gasparini’s impressive performance, his classmate Hunter Knight stole the pool record in the men’s 100 breaststroke, with two other Blue Devils rounding out the top three. Junior Christine Wixted won the event on the women’s side, clocking in a 1:02.83.

Sophomore Ali Horn won the 200 butterfly for Duke and the Blue Devils also recorded a sweep in the 50 freestyle events. Lauren Weaver won the women’s side and seniors Ben Hwang and Adam Flur went one-two on the men’s side, respectively.

Duke honored its 15 seniors with a solid all-around performance at Taishoff Pavilion on what marked Senior Day for the Blue Devils. Next up for the Blue Devils is a dual meet in Charlottesville, Va. where they will take on the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia Cavaliers.