Feb. 23, 2006

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The Basics
The South Carolina women’s golf team opens the Spring portion of its schedule when it travels to Puerto Rico to compete in the Lady Puerto Rico Classic hosted by Purdue University at the Par-72, 7,340-yard Coco Beach Golf and Country Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico from Feb. 24-26.

How To Get Results
Results will be available at the end of each day on the official web site of South Carolina athletics, www.uscsports.com.

The Lady Puerto Rico Classic Field
No. 9 Arkansas, East Tennessee State, No. 22 Florida, Indiana, Iowa State, No. 21 Kent State, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, No. 23 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Purdue, South Carolina, TCU, No. 18 Texas A&M, Tulsa, Wisconsin

USC Lineup For The Lady Puerto Rico
1. Erica Battle (Sr., Irmo, S.C.)
2. Laura McCaslin (Sr., Cookeville, Tenn.)
3. Whitney Simons (So., Aiken, S.C.)
4. Jenna Pearson (Jr., Wheaton, Ill.)
5. Camila Mori (So., Santiago, Chile)

Lady Gamecock Classic Is Next
Following the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, South Carolina is back in action when it hosts the Lady Gamecock Classic from March 10-12 at the University Club in Blythewood. In existence since 1981, the 2006 edition of the Lady Gamecock Classic field consists of Auburn, Augusta State, East Tennessee State, Florida State, Furman, Minnesota, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Wake Forest. The 2005 edition of the Lady Gamecock Classic was played in windy conditions in all three rounds, with the University of New Mexico coming out on top with a combined score of 308-313-309=930, defeating runner-up Furman by 10 strokes. Though the team took a runner-up finish, Furman’s Jenny Suh earned medalist honors by carding a three-round score of 76-73-75=224. In addition to Suh, the field of the Lady Gamecock Classic was highlighted by Virginia’s Leah Wigger, who went on to finish second on the individual leader board at the 2005 NCAA Championships, and LSU’s Brooke Shelton, who finished eighth at the 2005 NCAA Championships.

Fall Recap
The South Carolina women’s golf team won its first team championship since claiming the 2002 Southeastern Conference Championship when it won the Chrysler Challenge in Destin, Fla., during the Fall portion of the schedule with a three-day score of 297-290-316=903. Carolina won the tournament by the narrowest of margins, as Florida made a final-round surge but fell one stroke short with a three-day score of 305-302-297=904. The field consisted exclusively of teams from the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Carolina opened the Fall with a pair of ninth-place finishes at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Intercollegiate in Albuquerque, N.M., and at the Lady Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Fall season ended with a seventh-place finish at The Derby Invitational. Senior Erica Battle and sophomore Whitney Simons led the way for Carolina during the Fall schedule, as both players turned in identical 75.83 stroke averages in the Gamecocks’ four Fall tournaments. Both players enjoyed one top-10 finish and two top-20 finishes. Junior Jenna Pearson also ranked among Carolina’s top performers in the Fall with a 76.00 stroke average. Pearson turned in the lowest single round of any Gamecock in the Fall, carding a first-round 70 at the Chrysler Challenge en route to a sixth-place finish on the individual leader board at the event.

Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year Transfers To South Carolina
Last year’s Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Year Camila Mori transfered to South Carolina after one season at Campbell University and competes for the Gamecocks this year. A native of Santiago, Chile, Mori posted a 75.57 stroke average as a freshman at Campbell in 2004-05 and had five top-five finishes. Mori shot a 76-75-78=229 to finish fifth at the 2005 Atlantic Sun Championships en route to earning her school’s nomination for Atlantic Sun Female Athlete of the Year. She carded a season-low round of 71 on the final day of the Edwin Watts Palmetto Intercollegiate, then matched that figure with a 71 in the first round of the Samford Intercollegiate. Mori was the number-one ranked junior in her native Chile and was the 2003 National Amateur Champion. She has played for Chile on both the adult and junior levels, including the 2001 South American Junior, where she helped her team to the championship. Mori has participated in the World Amateur Championship and the Junior World Championships four times and finished among the top 20 in each of the last two World Juniors.

Gamecocks Recognized As 2004-05 NGCA Team of the Year
With a cumulative team grade point average of 3.752 for the 2004-05 academic year, the South Carolina women’s golf team was announced as the inaugural recipient of the National Golf Coaches Association All-Scholar Team G.P.A. Award. Under head coach Kristi Coggins, academic excellence has become a staple of the Gamecock women’s golf program. The women’s golf team finished the 2004 fall semester with a 3.671 overall GPA, which marked the highest team GPA since the Carolina athletic department began charting the figure on team-by-team basis in 1996, then turned in a combined 3.832 GPA in the spring semester to shatter the record it had just set. For the second consecutive year, no school in the country placed more of its women’s golfers on the National Golf Coaches Association All-America Scholar-Athlete team than South Carolina, as six Gamecocks earned spots on the team in 2005. Erica Battle, Tiffany Catafygiotu, Jenna Pearson, Caroline Rominger, Whitney Simons and Blythe Worley were all recognized for their performance in the classroom.