Oct. 22, 2005
Dallas, Texas – The USC women’s swimming and diving team concluded competition on Saturday evening at the SMU Women’s Classic with a fifth place finish scoring 213 points. SMU won the event with a total of 320 points. For the second consecutive day, USC senior diver Tracey Richardson had the top finish for Carolina earning first place on the three-meter board with a score of 265.40. Richardson earned Diver of the Meet for her two first place performances over the weekend. Sophomore swimmer Christy Williams also placed third in the 200 butterfly at 2:01.27 to highlight the evening for the Gamecocks.
“I thought we were much better today,” said USC head swimming coach Don Gibb. “Everyone raced well. Christy Williams again was excellent. Her time in the 200 butterfly, was just a couple seconds behind what she finished with at the end of last season at the NCAA Championships. Our team is still young and there is a lot that goes into putting a race together and I think they are learning that against the type of competition we have been swimming against this early in the season.”
Richardson won the low board on Friday night and was the best again on the high board with her score of 265.40. Richardson was over 20 points ahead of second place finisher Amanda Witte from Wisconsin.
Williams’ third place finish in the 200 butterfly was the highest finish by the USC women’s swimmers on the evening. Willliams also looked strong in the 500 freestyle as she competed in the “B” final and finished eighth with a time of 4:54.70, second fastest in the “B” heat.
Also competing for USC was Carly Hensel, who earned fifth place in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:05.33. Amanda Dunnigan would also take home a fifth place spot in the 200 breaststroke. Dunnigan went 2:21.83 for Carolina and also competed in the “A” final of the 200 IM and was sixth at 2:07.05. Haley Skaggs also competed in the “A” final of the 100 freestyle and was sixth with a time of 52.05.
Other swimmers competing for USC included Heather Roffey, who was sixth in the 500 freestyle at 5:03.83 and ninth in the 200 butterfly finishing at 2:05.06. Kassy Kugler was 11th in the 100 freestyle with Kelly Giese finishing 12th in the 200 backstroke and Lindsey Tiberio finishing 12th in the 200 breaststroke.
Both the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay finished sixth on the evening. Carolina’s 200 freestyle relay of Skaggs, Williams, Kugler and Giese finished at a time of 1:35.97. The 400 freestyle relay of Skaggs, Giese, Dunnigan and Kugler finished at 3:31.46.
“We are capable of competing with the top teams in the nation like we did this weekend,” said Gibb. “From a team standpoint, we gutted it out today. It’s going to take time and effort but it will come. Our goal is to be there at our best and peak in February and March at the SEC and NCAA Championships.”
The USC men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams return to action on Friday, Oct. 28 in dual meet action at Tennessee.
TEAM SCORESSMU 320Florida 308UCLA 302Wisconsin 299South Carolina 213Washington 202
