Carles Coll Marti Sets Three Pool Records as South Carolina, Virginia Tech Split
Virginia Tech’s Carles Coll Marti celebrated senior day by improving three of his pool records in Blacksburg as South Carolina and Virginia Tech split a nonconference dual meet.
The Gamecock women won by a 175-125 score, while the Va Tech men scored a 204-96 victory.
Coll Marti won three events Saturday at Christiansburg Aquatic Center. The Spanish Olympian won the 100 breaststroke in 51.00, clipping a half-second off a record from 2023 and buzzing within .05 of his school record from NCAAs last year. The time in the 200 breast was 1:50.88, winning by more than eight seconds over the field. His pool record had been 1:52.82, and his school mark is 1:49.69.
Coll Marti finished it with a time of 1:43.55 in the 200 individual medley, which trims .01 seconds off his pool record from 2023. Coll Marti also won the 200 medley relay, teaming with Youssef Ramadan, William Hayon and Brendan Whitfield to go 1:23.69.
The Hokies finished the day by winning the 400 free relay in 2:48.84 via the quartet of Whitfield, Ramadan, Luis Dominguez Calonge and Mario Molla Yanes. That undercuts the pool mark of 2:49.66 set in 2022, which included Dominguez, Ramadan and Coll Marti. Ramadan won the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly; his time in the 100 back of 45.10 improved his pool record from 2023 by nearly a half-second.
The women’s meet featured one pool record, via South Carolina’s Greta Pelzek. She went 1:55.51 in the 200 fly, downing the decade-old mark of 1:55.85 set in 2014 by Klaudia Nazieblo.
Whitfield swept the men’s sprint events, going 19.47 in the 50 free and 42.54 in the 100 free. The former was a 1-2 with Tanish George Matthew, who also was third in a sweep of the 200 free. Hayon was second in the 100 free and the 100 fly.
The 200 free went to Dominguez Calonge in 1:33.66, leading a tone-setting podium sweep. He also won the 500 free ahead of South Carolina’s Connor Fry, who had opened the meet by winning the 1,000 free. Molla Yanes won the 200 back.
The schools split diving, with Va Tech’s Jacob Fisher scoring 344.03 points to take 1-meter and Max Spencer of SC leading five 300-point scorers on 3-meter with his score of 369.15. In addition to Fry, Tommy Eaton notched a win in the 200 fly for the Gamecocks and was second to Coll Marti in the 200 IM.
Pelzek’s win in the 200 fly wasn’t just historically significant, but it helped turn the tide of the meet. She led Breckin Gormley and Jordan Agliano to the wall in a podium sweep that gave the Gamecocks momentum. Pelzek also went 53.13 to win the 100 fly, with Agliano third.
South Carolina sealed the meet with a similar sweep in the 200 IM. Delaney Franklin edged teammate Meghan Harnish by .24 seconds in 2:01.23, with the Gamecocks taking the top four spots.
South Carolina started strong, with Madison Kolessar winning the 1,000 free and Amy Riordan capturing the 200 free ahead of teammate Ellery Ottem. Franklin won the 200 breast, and Ottem was second in the 500 free. Peyton Curry was the runner-up in the 50 free and tied with Emily Claesson of Va Tech for the win in the 100 free in 49.67. Sophie Verzyl swept diving, scoring 295.88 on 1-meter and 369.53 on 3-meter, the margin in the latter more than 70 points.
Claesson was the pick of the sprinters for Virginia Tech, with her time of 22.73 to win the 50. She teamed with Carmen Weiler Sastre and Athena Meneses Kovacs on bookending relay wins for the Hokies.
Weiler Sastre and Meneses Kovacs went 1-2 in the 100 back, the Spanish international winning in 52.22. She also won the 200 back in 1:53.32 ahead of Riordan. Meneses Kovacs was also second in the 100 fly to Pelzek. Emily Santos won the 100 breast in 1:01.61 and finished second in the 200 breast, and Kate Anderson won the 500 free.
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