Jan. 23, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina swimming and diving team will compete in its final home meet of the 2009 season Saturday as in-state rival College of Charleston makes the short drive up Interstate 26 for a 2 p.m. dual meet at the Carolina Natatorium in the Blatt P.E. Center. It will be Senior Day for the Gamecocks as eight Carolina athletes will compete in the final home meet of their career.
South Carolina’s men are 2-4 overall while the women hold a 4-3 mark for the season. College of Charleston enters the meet with a 3-5 men’s record and a 4-9 mark on the women’s side.
Eight Carolina seniors – six men and two women – will be recognized prior to the meet. The group of Amanda Dunnigan, Kassy Kugler, Corry Christian, Kyle Cormier, Christian Kata, Steven Luckie, Nicholas Walkotten and Todd Weyandt have combined for two All-America certificates, an All-SEC Second Team selection, four school records and 13 appearances on the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
Cormier and Walkotten will look to make a big impression in their final home meet and improve on their already-strong times in their respective events as the SEC Championships draw ever closer. Both swimmers own NCAA `B’ cut times from earlier in the season, including Cormier’s school record time of 1:35.63 in the 200 freestyle and Walkotten’s personal best 47.39 in the 100 butterfly. Diver Corry Christian also looks to go out on a high note after posting NCAA Zone qualifying scores earlier this year and earning a trip to the postseason for the third straight season.
For the women, Dunnigan will try to inch closer to an NCAA qualifying time in the breaststroke events. The senior from Bel Air, Md., stands 1.44 seconds short of the cut time in the 100 breaststroke and even closer in the 200 at 1.27 seconds above the “B” standard.
South Carolina has never lost to the Cougars in a dual meet with both the men and women holding a 15-0 all-time advantage. The teams last met Oct. 22, 2005, in Columbia with the Carolina men rolling to a 205-71 victory and the women pulling out a 154-135 decision. The Cougars and Gamecocks have seen each other once already this year as College of Charleston competed in the Gamecock Invitational in November. Both C of C squads finished sixth.
One-meter diving gets underway at 1 p.m. with the Senior Day festivities slated to begin at approximately 1:45 p.m. The swimming portion of the meet gets underway at 2 p.m. Live results will be available at GamecocksOnline.com through Sports Timing.
