March 7, 2007

Columbia, S.C. – Senior Lindsey Tiberio, junior Christy Williams, sophomore Sharntelle McLean and senior diver Lyndsey Havens will compete in the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at the Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minn., Thursday through Saturday.

“Our goal is for everyone to get a second swim and do their personal best. Christy and Lindsey have been here before, so they have the benefit of experience on their side. Sharntelle has never been to NCAAs before, but she has competed in the Olympic games, so they all have experience at this level,” Coach Don Gibb said. “It really just comes down to who swims well in the morning, so we are hoping that all of our girls swim well and make it to the finals.”

Senior Lindsey Tiberio will be competing in the 100- and 200-breaststroke. Her top time in the 100-breast is 1:01.88, which earned her a fourth place finish at the SEC Championships. Tiberio earned the 100-breast school record of 1:01.83 in 2006. Tiberio’s 200-breast top time of 2:17.36 came at the Ohio State Invitational in December. This will be Tiberio’s second NCAA appearance. She finished 27th in the 100-breast in 2006.

Junior Christy Williams will swim the 200IM, the 200-breaststroke, and the 100- and 200-butterfly. Williams’ primary event is 200-butterfly, an event that she finished third in at the SEC Championships in Lexington, Ky. William’s also recorded her career best time of 1:58.10 at SECS, which currently stands as the school record. Williams was named an All-American in the 200-fly in 2006 after finished 16th at the NCAA Championships. This will be Williams’ third consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships.

South Carolina’s final swimmer at the event will be sophomore Sharntelle McLean. McLean will swim the 50-freestyle. She finished fifteenth at the SEC Championships with a time of 22.87. This is McLean’s first appearance at the NCAA Championships; however, she does have experience competing at the upper echelon of swimming. She represented Trinidad and Tobago in the 2004 Olympic Games held in Athens, Greece.

Senior diver Lyndsey Havens will round out South Carolina’s NCAA Championship team. This is Haven’s first appearance at NCAAs. She qualified by finishing eighth on the one-meter springboard at the NCAA Zone B Championships with a score of 509.15. Haven won on at least one springboard event at each of this season’s dual-meets. She also led the SEC on both boards earlier in the season. Havens finished sixth on the one-meter board at the SEC Championships. Havens will compete on both the one- and three-meter springboards at the event.

Three Gamecocks will participate in the first day of competition. Williams will be the first Gamecock to swim, competing in the 200-Individual Medley. McLean will swim in the 50-free directly after the 200-IM. Havens will compete on the one-meter board at 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

Event host, the University of Minnesota, will offer live scoring on their website, www.gophersports.com. ESPN 360 will also air video streaming for the event, and ESPN will televise the women’s swimming and diving championships on March 14, 2007 at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN 2.

Schedule of Events:
Thursday, March 8
Preliminaries (11 a.m.)
200 freestyle relay
500 freestyle
200 individual medley
50 freestyle
400 medley relay

1 p.m.
1-meter diving

Finals (7 p.m.)
200 freestyle relay
500 freestyle
200 individual medley
50 freestyle
1-meter diving (finals)
400 medley relay

Friday, March 9
Preliminaries (11 a.m.)
200 medley relay
400 individual medley
100 butterfly
200 freestyle
100 breaststroke
100 backstroke

1 p.m
3-meter diving

Finals (7 p.m.)
200 medley relay
400 individual medley
100 butterfly
200 freestyle
100 breaststroke
100 backstroke
3-meter diving (finals)
800 freestyle relay

Saturday, March 10
Preliminaries (11 a.m.)
200 backstroke
100 freestyle
200 breaststroke
200 butterfly
400 freestyle relay

1 p.m.
platform diving

4 p.m.
1650 freestyle (all but last heat of timed finals)

Finals (7 p.m.)
1650 freestyle (last heat of timed finals)
200 backstroke
100 freestyle
200 breaststroke
200 butterfly
platform diving (finals)
400 freestyle relay