Oct. 22, 2004
Dallas, Texas – The South Carolina women’s swimming and diving team kicked off the 2004-05 season on Friday evening in day one of the SMU Women’s Classic. Carolina sits in third place after the first day of competition with 135 points and is 19 behind host SMU, currently in first place with 164 points. Senior diver Lauren King placed first on the one-meter board with a score of 274.15 and freshman Christy Williams won her first individual event at USC taking first place in the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.92 to lead the Gamecocks.
Williams’ time of 55.92 is the sixth fastest time in the 100 butterfly in USC women’s history and is also under the designated NCAA “B” time standards. Williams also competed in the consolation final of the 400 IM and was eighth overall with a time of 4:26.04, the ninth fastest mark in school history in that event. USC freshman Carly Hensel also had success in the 400 IM as she competed in the championship final of that event and was third overall with a time of 4:24.67, good for the seventh fastest time in school history.
“I’m really encouraged with how our newcomers came out and competed especially against a pretty good field of swimmers,” said USC head swimming coach Don Gibb. “It was a good start for our team. Our relays could be a little better but will continue to work on that. After the first day I’m pleased. The butterfly and IM events were good for us tonight. We are already looking ahead to tomorrow and having another good day of competition. I think we will improve and be a lot better tomorrow with some better events for us to be competitive in.”
The Gamecocks have eight swimmers and one diver competing in this weekend’s meet. In each swimming competition all six teams have one swimmer in the championship finals and one swimmer in the consolation finals. The divers compete on one board each day. King reached her NCAA zones qualifying score with 274.15 on the one-meter board.
“For the first meet of the year I thought Lauren dove well,” said USC diving coach Todd Sherritt. “It was a good performance to start out the year.”
Freshman Mandee Cregar also was competitive for USC in the 100 breaststroke taking third with a time of 1:06.35. USC’s other championship finalists included senior Carolynn McHugh (4th, 50 freestyle; 24.09), junior Haley Skaggs (sixth, 200 freestyle; 1:53.65), and freshman Kasey Tamkun (6th, 100 backstroke; 59.53).
Sophomore Kendel Fiorentino also provided a boost for USC in the consolation finals taking 10th place overall in the 100 butterfly (57.96) and 100 breaststroke (1:08.36). Hensel would take 11th in the 100 backstroke (59.99) with freshman Heather Roffey also ending up 11th in the 200 freestyle (1:53.74). Tamkun’s 12th place finish in the 50 freestyle (25.47) would round out the individual results on the evening for Carolina.
Both schools also swam two relays with the 400 medley and 800 freestyle relays tonight. Carolina’s 400 medley relay (Tamkun, Cregar, McHugh, Haley Skaggs) placed third with a time of 3:53.55 and the 800 freestyle relay (Williams, Haley Skaggs, Hensel, Roffey) finished fourth with a time of 7:35.85 closing out the first day of action.
The second day of the SMU Women’s Classic will start at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
TEAM SCORES 1) SMU — 164 2) Washington – 141.5 3) South Carolina – 135 4) Indiana – 128 5) Rice – 102 6) British Columbia – 98.5
