Dec. 6, 2003
Auburn, Ala. – South Carolina swimming and diving finished the final day of the Auburn Invitational with the men’s and women’s divers leading the way, as the Gamecocks swept both the one-meter and three-meter events. Junior Andy Bradley swept the one-meter (344.70) and three-meter (534.37) events on the men’s side with Holly Hodges taking the one-meter (290.82) and Allison Brennan taking the three-meter (493.34) on the women’s side. In addition, the 400 freestyle relay team of Jennifer VanAssen, Carolynn McHugh, Heather Skaggs and Haley Skaggs set a school record with a time of 3:21.94, hitting the NCAA “B” standard in the process.
“Overall, this was a good meet for us and good experience for our team,” said USC head coach Don Gibb. “We went up against the type of caliber of competition that we will see near the end of the season and swam well. We had some real good results, with VanAssen in the 50 and 200 freestyle. I thought Heather Skaggs coming off her injury swam well and Istvan continued to compete and really worked hard. Our freshmen also had a solid meet with several personal bests. We’ll go back to work this week, finish exams and get ready for the Carolina Classic.”
The women’s team had several in the championship finals for the final day. For the third consecutive night, senior Jennifer VanAssen was there in the end with a second place finish in the 100 freestyle (50.12). In the first two day of the meets, VanAssen qualified for the US Olympic Trials in the 50 and 200 freestyle events as well as automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. VanAssen, Carolynn McHugh (50.97) and Heather Skaggs (51.03) all hit NCAA “B” standards in the 100 freestyle. In the 200 breaststroke, Kendel Fiorentino took fifth place (2:23.14) and Aunya Nance placed seventh (2:25.54). Carolina also had three swimmers in the championship final in the 200 butterfly. Meagan Johnson took fourth (2:03.05), Bronwyn Dedekind (2:05.76) was fifth and Amy Hartland placed seventh (2:11.01).
The Gamecock men’s team also swam in the championship finals. Carolina had three swimmers in the 200 breaststroke final with senior Istvan Bathazi leading the way and taking second place (2:01.87). Justin Kata also finished sixth (2:08.04) and Mike Farrington was eighth (2:12.12) for the Gamecocks. Three swimmers also swam in the 100 freestyle championship final. Ed Murphy took third place (45.01), Reid Duff finished fifth (45.81) and Tamas Szcus went sixth (46.03) to lead USC. The men’s 400 freestyle relay team also finished second with a time of 3:01.53 (Ed Murphy, Reid Duff, Tamas Szucs, Istvan Bathazi).
Carolina will return to the pool on Friday, December 12 in the Carolina Classic hosted by the Gamecocks at the Carolina Natatorium. The meet will run from December 12-December 14. Friday’s meet will start at 4 p.m. ET.
