As the Blue Devils stepped onto the pool deck at Taishoff Aquatic Center to face their southern neighbor, South Carolina, Drake’s lyrics 'But it’s far from over' echoed throughout Taishoff. That was the theme of the evening for Duke, who displayed impressive fight against the Gamecocks.
Although Duke fell to South Carolina on both the men’s and women’s side, losing 145-155 and 139- 161, respectively, the Blue Devils tallied 14 first-place finishes. The team had three first-place finishes from sophomore Ali Pfaff and junior Kaelyn Gridley, broken school records from Gridley and multiple podium finishes and dives. Furthermore, Duke men’s swimming outshined themselves in comparison to their performance in last week’s matchup against Virginia Tech, scoring 65.5 more points and touching first in five different events.
“We saw some really shiny moments in both programs that were super exciting,” head coach Brian Barnes said. “It’s just hard to go through this and not come out of it with a win, because they fought today.”
The first half of the meet, occupied by diving, resulted in a record upset by South Carolina, with junior Gamecock diver Sophie Verzyl beating Margo O’Meara’s pool record in the 3-meter event set last week against Virginia Tech. However, Duke swept the rest of the podium in the 3-meter event, with Keira Lu placing third and O’Meara in second. Duke men’s diving also saw big wins, led by Yannis Schattman, placing first in the 1-meter men’s dive which moved him into the top 10 for top 1-meter divers at Duke. Fellow Blue Devils Charles Berman and Tynan O'Donoghue accompanied him on the podium for second and third places in the 1-meter event.
Also diving into the water were the Blue Devil swimmers who secured major victories at the beginning of their contests. In the 200-yard women’s medley relay, the all-star relay team of Pfaff, Gridley, Aleyna Ozkan and Tatum Wall commanded South Carolina and touched first with a time of 1:36.60. With the exception of Ozkan, who earned second place in the 100-yard butterfly, everyone on the relay team proceeded to win first place in their individual events, with Gridley and Pfaff earning two more.
Gridley won first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 58.68, which broke her own school record set last season. She also created a notable lead in the 200-yard breaststroke, causing her to take first place.
Pulling far ahead in the last 100 yards of the 200-yard backstroke, Pfaff also ensured her first-place win alongside Molly Donlan on the podium, who placed third, and also earned first place in the 100-yard backstroke.
Other notable swims from the Blue Devil women include Tatum Wall, who won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.15, which earned her significant applause. Following Wall, Milo Shue claimed the title of 50-yard freestyle champion for Duke’s men, with a time of 20.35. However, Shue was not the only man for the Blue Devils who dominated in Taishoff.
Earlier in the meet, the men’s 200-yard medley relay team came shy of first place by .92 seconds, Michael Jiang dominated the 100-yard backstroke, claiming first place with a time of 48.36. Junior JC Castrillon displayed his speed by touching first in the 200-yard freestyle, clocking in at 1:38.49, among other Blue Devil men who landed on the podium in their respective events. The energy throughout the meet began to change after the women’s 500-yard freestyle, in which both teams became increasingly more passionate about the upcoming events. However, Duke did not earn another first-place spot after the women’s 500-yard freestyle and fought hard for second and third places, notably in the 400-yard freestyle relay and 100-yard butterfly.
After not placing first for the last seven events and falling behind in the distance events earlier in the meet, Duke ultimately did not earn enough points to beat South Carolina. However, the Blue Devils will be back in Taishoff taking on Northwestern for a dual meet next weekend with “a determined spirit,” according to Barnes.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.