Nov. 4, 2004

Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams open up dual meet action on Friday afternoon as the Gamecocks host Clemson at the Carolina Natatorium with the meet scheduled for 5 p.m.

USC has fared well at home vs. their in-state rivals in recent years with dual meet victories in their last two home contests vs. Clemson in both the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. The Carolina men won 115-98 and 152-91 with the Gamecock women’s squad earning 160-83 and 149-94 wins respectively. Clemson defeated USC at Clemson last season on both the men’s (134-109) and women’s (141-102) sides. USC leads the overall series in both the men’s and women’s teams with a 31-9 and 15-12 lead in the history of their dual meets going back to the 1964 men’s season.

Carolina At The Natatorium This Season
Carolina will compete vs. nine teams in the regular season including three competitions at home at the Carolina Natatorium. The national champion Auburn Tigers will come to Columbia on Jan. 8, 2005 for a dual meet as well as SEC East rival Kentucky. USC will also host its second annual Carolina Classic from Dec. 9-11.

USC Women’s Squad Places Third At SMU Classic
The Carolina women’s team opened the season two weeks ago at the SMU Classic with a third place finish as the Gamecocks ended the two-day competition with 274 points. SMU took first place with 346 points.

USC senior diver Lauren King highlighted the weekend with first place finishes on the one-meter (274.15) and three-meter boards (294.60) and automatically qualified for the NCAA Zones competition. Freshman Christy Williams also had a strong weekend peformance winning her first individual event taking first place in the 100 butterfly with a time of 44.92. She also competed in the championship final of the 200 IM and placed third at 2:05.30. Williams was also eighth overall in the 400 IM with a time of 4:26.04 as well as eighth in the 500 freestyle (4:58.84).

Carolina also received two second place performances from junior Haley Skaggs, who finished 51.51 in the 100 freestyle and freshman Heather Roffey, who swam 2:02.68 in the 200 butterfly.

Freshman Mandee Cregar also was competitive for Carolina taking third in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:06.35. Teammate Carly Hensel was also third in the 200 breaststroke at 2:21.27 as well as fifth in the 200 backstroke (2:06.40).

Also competing for USC were senior Carolynn McHugh, sophomore Kendel Fiorentino and freshman Kasey Tamkun. McHugh competed in the 50 freestyle (4th, 24.09) and 100 freestyle (9th, 52.41), Fiorentino in the 100 butterfly (10th, 57.96) and 200 butterfly (9th, 2:09.01) and Tamkun in the 100 backstroke (6th, 59.53) and 200 backstroke (11th, 2:08.42).