Feb. 17, 2005

GAINESVILLE, Fla.–After the second day of the Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, the women are in fifth place with a score of 155 and the men are in eighth place with 95 points. Dan White placed fifteenth overall and seventh in the consolation finals of the 500-yard freestyle.

Coming into today’s competition, the women were in second place behind Kentucky but fell three spots after the finals competition. They currently have 155 points and are 49 points out of fourth place. The men remain in eighth with 95 points, just 1.5 points behind seventh-place Louisiana State.

White, a freshman from Mt. Dora, Fla., posted a time of 4:26.06 and was the only Gamecock individual swimmer to advance to the finals. Sebastian Rouault of Georgia won the event with a new SEC record of 4:15.00.

“Dan had a great swim in the morning, but fell off a bit tonight,” said head coach Don Gibb. “He’s done very well for a freshman, but will improve and will do better as the meet goes on.”

In the men’s 400 medley relay, freshman Sean Murray, junior Justin Kata, freshman Kyle Cormier and junior Reid Duff combined to post a season-best time of 3:24.66 and place eighth.

The women’s 400 medley relay put up the fifth-fastest time in school history with a time of 3:46.65. An early start on an exchange between Alabama swimmers led to their disqualification and moved the Gamecocks up to seventh place. Freshmen Kasey Tamkun, Mandee Cregar, Christy Williams and senior anchor swimmer Carolynn McHugh pulled away from a tight race with Arkansas.

“Tomorrow will be a good day and we’re about where we expected to be,” stated Gibb. “We have a lot of opportunity to put kids in the finals and score points. There are a lot of freshmen on the team and this is a good experience for them.”

Tomorrow’s third day of competition will feature five individual events and a relay. Full results and a schedule of events can be found at www.gatorzone.com.

MEN’S RESULTS

500-yard freestyle
1. Sebastian Rouault Georgia 4:15.00
15. Dan White S. Carolina 4:26.06

200-yard individual medley
1. Ryan Lochte Florida 1:41.76

50-yard freestyle
1. Fred Bousquet Auburn :19.57

400-yard medley relay
1. Florida 3:07.87
8. South Carolina 3:24.66
-Murray, Kata, J.,
Cormier, Duff

WOMEN’S RESULTS

500-yard freestyle
1. Caroline Burckle Florida 4:38.32

200-yard individual medley
1. Kirsty Coventry Auburn 1:55.34

50-yard freestyle
1. Kara Lynn Joyce Georgia :21.91

400-yard medley relay
1. Florida 3:35.22
7. South Carolina 3:46.65
-Tamkun, Cregar
Williams, McHugh