After a two-month break from competition, the Blue Devils proved Saturday they still have what it takes to make a splash in the pool.
Duke traveled to Columbia, S.C., for a spring slate opener that pitted it against both South Carolina and UNC Asheville. On the women’s side, victory was swift and decisive. The 17th-ranked Blue Devils defeated the 21st-ranked Gamecocks 170-130 and crushed the Bulldogs 244-56. The men’s team shone in a few key races but struggled to tally points on the scoreboard and ultimately fell to South Carolina 204-91.
The women secured the first victory of the night in the 200-yard medley relay when Ali Pfaff, Kaelyn Gridley, Aleyna Ozkan and Tatum Wall inched just ahead of South Carolina for a first-place finish. The win was enough to jump-start a success streak, with nine ladies ending the night at the top of the scoreboard. Pfaff won both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events with times of 54.03 and 1:57.90, respectively. Multiple swimmers shone in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, allowing Duke to nab first and second place in both. But the strongest showing for the Blue Devils was the 200-yard individual medley, where Sarah Foley took the victory with a time of 2:01.87 and was closely followed by teammates Catherine Belyakov and Martina Peroni.
The divers jumped to victory Saturday as well. Margo O’Meara won the women’s 1-meter dive with a score of 312.30 — a full 22 points ahead of second-place finisher and teammate Ali Watson. In the 3-meter, O’Meara and Watson took second and third with scores of 312.15 and 311.78, respectively. Seamus Harding made a splash for the men by winning the 1-meter dive with a score of 333.83 points, also clinching third place later on the 3-meter board. Freshman Charles Berman rounded out the men’s diving podium by nabbing third place in the 1-meter.
The men’s swimmers battled through several tough races but still managed to secure a few notable finishes. Michael Jiang took second in three events: the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley. Blake Johnson, Austin Simpson and David Chang also secured important second-place victories for the team. Although the Blue Devils could not scrape together enough points to beat the Gamecocks, they had a consistent podium presence and recorded third-place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke, 100-yard butterfly, 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley.
Duke will bring the fire back to Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion this weekend as it takes on both North Carolina and Texas in separate dual meets over the course of two days. For the women, the 20th-ranked Tar Heels and second-ranked Longhorns will be the season’s toughest challenge to date, while the men will look for a marquee rivalry win and a run at Texas’ eighth-ranked squad.
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Abby DiSalvo is a Trinity sophomore and assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.