Flach started his standout weekend against East Carolina on Friday, when he broke the ECU pool record in the 1000-yard freestyle event. His time of 9.17.77 broke a record which had been in place for 17 years. Flach swam the event for the first time this season, and only the third time in his career. In addition to entering the pool record book, Flach made a mark in South Carolina's as well.
His time was the fifth-fastest 1000-yard free ever swam by a Gamecock. Later in the meet, Falch won the 200 butterfly and the 500 free, as well as swimming the anchor leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Against UNC-Wilmington in Wilmington on Saturday, Flach won the 200-yard freestyle and the 200 backstroke. Just like the previous day, he competed in and won an event that he only had three prior attempts at.
"He had a good weekend," coach McGee Moody said. "[He was] better on Friday than he was on Saturday. Swimming on back-to-back days takes a big toll on their bodies when you race like that. It's just like track, you spend three or four hours in the water, and the next day you're pretty exhausted. He did have a big weekend though."
Moody said that swimming in two meets in two days would help prepare the team for the SEC tournament in February.
"I think it was a learning experience for most of them," Moody said. "For most of them this was the first time they've had to do that. I think they handled it well. Our girls fought as hard as they could in terms of racing hard. I was obviously not happy with the outcome but okay with the effort. They worked really hard, I think they did the best they could with it."
The women's team split the weekend, defeating ECU but falling to UNC-W. Amanda Rutqvist set a pool record at ECU as well. In her 200 breaststroke race, she broke a record that had stood for 16 years.
Before the meets, Moody said the women's team had a good group of seniors to lead them. That was on display Friday when Bridget Halligan won the 50 and 100 freestyle races, and, teamed with Rutqvist, Lauren Raczkowski, and fellow senior Megan Sparks to win the 200 medley relay. The win broke yet another pool record, but this one had just been broken the previous week.
"[Bridget] is one of the few that knows what kind of toll racing on back-to-back days will take on you," Moody said. "As a captain, she's kind of responsible for teaching the younger racers what they need to do to refuel. I think she's going to be faster this year than ever before so we're excited to see what happens at SECs."