Feb. 9, 2007
Lexington, Ky. – Senior Lindsey Tiberio, junior Kurt Muller, junior Dan White and junior Christy Williams all earned top-10 finishes on the third day of competition at the SEC Championships in Lexington, Ky. The Gamecocks men fell two spots to seventh in the overall standings; whereas, the women, despite two disqualifications, remained in eighth.
“We had some bad luck today,” Head Coach Don Gibb said. “But hopefully we can channel that into some motivation to have some great swims tomorrow. We still have some really good opportunities to move up.”
Two Gamecock men competed in the 400 Individual Medley finals. Freshman Andrew Atzhorn finished sixteenth in his first SEC Finals appearance. He had a time of 3:58.68, a personal best. Junior Kyle Cormier finished two spots higher, in fourteenth, with a time of 3:56.39. On the women’s side, junior Carly Hensel finished twelfth with a time of 4:22.80. Sophomore Amanda Dunnigan was poised to finish sixth in the championship heat of the women’s 400 IM, but unfortunately was disqualified during the race.
South Carolina placed two women in the top-15 in the 100 butterfly. Sophomore Sharntelle McLean finished fifteenth with a time of 55.86, and junior Christy Williams finished seventh with a time of 54.29, a new team record.
The Gamecocks also placed two men in the top-15 of the 200 freestyle. Senior Colby Mack finished fourteenth with a time of 1:39.15. Junior Dan White followed up his seventh place finish in the 500 freestyle, with a sixth place finish in the 200 freestyle. He had a time of 1:37.33.
South Carolina’s highest finishers were Tiberio and Muller, both in the 100 breaststroke. Tiberio just missed medaling, finishing fourth with a time of 1:01.88. Muller finished fifth with a time of 54.24, a new team record.
The men’s 400 medley relay team of Mack, Muller, Cormier and freshman Dominique Lendjel finished sixth with a time of 3.16.50. The women’s 400 medley relay team of Hensel, Williams, Tiberio and McLean was disqualified for an early start.
The Gamecock men are currently seventh overall with 197.5 points. Auburn tops the men’s leader board with 703 points. The South Carolina women remained in eighth place with 128 points. Auburn leads the women’s leader board with 622 points. Saturday will be the final day of SEC Championship competition. Preliminaries for the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke and 200 butterfly will begin at 10 a.m. The preliminary for the 1650 free will begin at 3:15 p.m. and finals will begin at 6 p.m.
