March 16, 2005

West Lafayette, Ind. – The South Carolina women’s swimming and diving team will have three swimmers and divers competing in the 2005 NCAA Championships beginning on Thursday afternoon on the campus of Purdue University. Senior diver Lauren King, junior diver Tracey Richardson and freshman swimmer Christy Williams all qualified for the NCAA Championships. This is King’s third NCAA championship to compete in at Carolina with Richardson making her second visit and Williams in her first appearance.

All three will compete on Thursday with King and Richardson in the one-meter springboard competition and Williams swimming the 200 individual medley. Friday’s meet will include the three-meter springboard competition as well as the 100 butterfly for Williams. Williams is the only one competing on Saturday when she swims in the 200 butterfly.

King and Richardson come into this week’s event fresh off last week’s NCAA Diving Zones in which both earned a spot at the NCAA Championships. King finaled on both boards including a first place finish on the three-meter board with a new school record score of 546.10. King was also third on the one-meter scoring 285.35. Richardson also scored well with a 477.15 on the three-meter and a sixth place finish as well as seventh place on the one-meter.

King, a senior from Columbia, S.C., had her top finish at the NCAA Championships in the 2002-03 season when she earned All-American honors with a seventh place finish on the one-meter board. King also scored points for Carolina that season on the three-meter with a 10th place finish. Last season King was 16th on the one-meter board.

Richardson, a redshirt junior from Essex, England, last competed at the NCAA Championships in the 2002-03 season when she finished 10th on the three-meter board. Richardson did not compete last year due to her redshirt season and representing Great Britain at the 2004 Olympics in Greece.

Williams, a freshman from Newark, Del., heads into her first NCAA Championships fresh off breaking the school record in the 200 butterfly at the SEC Championships. Williams won the consolation final with a ninth place finish and a time of 1:59.41 in Gainesville, Fla. less than a month ago.