Oct. 17, 2002

Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving team kick off the 2002-2003 season this Friday, Oct. 18 at home in the Carolina Natatorium. The meet will be against the College of Charleston at 5:00 p.m.

“We are really looking forward to beginning the 2002-03 season,” said head coach Don Gibb, “It will be our team’s first test and an opportunity to see what our strengths and weaknesses are and what we need to focus on.”

Helping Coach Gibb with his evaluation will be a returning core of coaches that assisted the teams to strong finishes in last year’s NCAA Championships. The men finished 26th and the women finished 35th. The Gamecocks also return a strong unit of athletes including Holly Hodges, an All-American diver, and NCAA Qualifiers Chris McCrary, Anna Nyiry, and Heather Skaggs.

The teams’ captains were also announced and will be:

Kristen Butler and Bronwyn Dedekind for the women Cory Conway and Chris McCrary for the men.

After this Friday’s meet, the teams will travel to Virginia for a match on Oct. 26 before returning home for two straight matches in the Carolina Natatorium on Nov. 1 and Nov. 8 against Kentucky and Clemson.