Nov. 8, 2002
Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams defeated in-state rival Clemson at the Carolina Natatorium Friday, Nov. 8, 2002. The men’s team (3-1, 1-0) won with a score of 152-91 and the women’s (3-1,1-0) score was 149-94.
On the men’s side, eight swimmers bettered their individual bests and five set new team highs for the season. Ed Murphy set a new personal best in the 100 Free with a time of 46.55; Lir Derieg set the new standard for the year in the 200 Backstroke with a time of 1:52.49; Chris McCrary set the mark in the 200 Butterfly in 1:50.79; and Brandon Buslepp’s time of 1:55.02 is the new high mark for the 200 IM. The Gamecocks placed 1-2-3 in the 1000-yard Free, with Time Farrington setting a new season-best time of 9:41.58, and following him were his brother, Mike Farrington, and Cory Conway, both of whom set new personal bests in the event.
“The men going 1-2-3 in the 1000 Free was really big for us to start out with. It gave our team a boost that we needed to carry us through the meet. It set the standard for our performance throughout,” said head coach Don Gibb. The men also won the top two spots in the final event, the 400-yard Freestyle relay.
The women also looked dominant, winning all but three individual events. The women’s team combined to set five new personal best records and four new team highs. Winning two events for the second week in a row was freshman Stephanie Margalis, who won the 500-yard Free (4:56.17) and the 1000-yard Free, which she won with a season-best 10:04.41. Heather Skaggs also won two events: the 100 Free (51.19) and the 200 Free (1:50.99). Both Ryan Smith (2:04.88) and Kristen Butler (2:05.50) set new personal bests in the 200 Backstroke.
“Ryan’s performance in the 200 Back was phenomenal. It really looked good and we are very pleased with where she is at this point in the season,” said Coach Gibb. Other individual winners were Bronwyn Dedekind (200 Fly), Anna Nyiry (50 Free), and the 400 Free relay team of Heather Skaggs, Nyiry, Carolyn McHugh and Jennifer VanAssen.
In the diving portion of the meet, the women took places 1-4 on the 1-meter board and 1-3 on the 3-meter. The men, anchored by Andy Bradley’s fourth straight win, placed first as a team in both categories as well. “There isn’t much more we can say about Andy’s diving. He has been outstanding and we can only hope that he continues on this path. He’s great,” said Coach Gibb of the USC sophomore.
Coach Gibb said of the meet: “After a slow start, we got it together and caught fire at the 1000 Free and never looked back. We swam better than any of us thought we could. It doesn’t matter in what sport, or how your season is going, it’s always nice to beat Clemson. It feels really good to see our swimmers and divers get up for this competition. It’s in part due to the fans who were out en masse and to the pep band that we had here. It makes us feel good to know that people are supporting us and are interested in the fine things that our student athletes are doing here. This is a great way to go into a week training for [the competition against] Florida.”
The Gamecocks will next travel to Florida to take on the defending women’s SEC champions and men’s SEC runners-up on Friday, Nov. 15. They will return home for their final home meet on Jan. 11 to host Penn State and Tennessee in a meet that is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m.
