Nov. 2, 2005

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The Basics
The South Carolina women’s golf team heads to Auburn, Ala., to compete in The Derby Invitational played at the par-72 Auburn University Club from Nov. 4-6.

How To Get Results
Results will be available at the end of each day on the official web site of South Carolina athletics, www.uscsports.com. In addition, live scores from the tournament will be kept on www.golfstat.com.

The Derby Invitational Field
Alabama, Auburn, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Kansas, LSU, Ole Miss, North Carolina State, UNC Wilmington, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Florida

USC Lineup For The Derby Invitational1. Jenna Pearson2. Whitney Simons3. Erica Battle4. Laura McCaslin5. Camila Mori
* Laura Raffo will compete as an individual, with her score not counting toward the team total.

Last Time Out
The South Carolina women’s golf team won its first team championship since claiming the 2002 Southeastern Conference Championship when it won the Chrysler Challenge in Destin, Fla., last weekend with a three-day score of 297-290-316=903. Carolina won the tournament by the narrowest of margins, as Florida made a final-round surge but fell one stroke short with a three-day score of 305-302-297=904. The field consisted exclusively of teams from the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Carolina’s three-day total of 903 ranks in a tie for 15th on the all-time school list for lowest tournament scores and was the lowest total since the team fired a 903 at the 2005 NCAA East Regional last spring. The championship marked the fourth tournament win under head coach Kristi Coggins, who led the Gamecocks to the aforementioned 2002 SEC Championship as well as titles at the 1999 Casa De Campo Collegiate and the 1997 FAU/Miami Preview Classic. Junior Jenna Pearson tied with sophomore Whitney Simons for sixth place on the individual leader board, as Pearson carded a 70-72-83=225 and Simons finished with a 75-71-79=225. Pearson entered the final round of play as the tournament leader, but a final-round 69 helped Alabama’s Jenny Suh emerge with medalist honors. Carolina seniors Erica Battle and Laura McCaslin both finished in the top 10 on the individual leader board, with Battle coming in eighth with a three-day score of 74-73-79=226 and McCaslin 10th at 78-74-75=227.

Individual Results From The Chrysler ChallengeT6  Jenna Pearson +9  70-72-83=225T6  Whitney Simons   +9  75-71-79=225T8  Erica Battle   +10 74-73-79=226T10 Laura McCaslin   +11 78-74-75=227T28 *Laura Raffo    +20 73-76-87=236T31 Camila Mori +24 81-76-83=240

Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year Transfers To South Carolina
Last year’s Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Year Camila Mori transfered to South Carolina after one season at Campbell University as is eligible to compete for the Gamecocks this year. A native of Santiago, Chile, Mori posted a 75.57 stroke average as a freshman at Campbell in 2004-05 and had five top-five finishes. Mori shot a 76-75-78=229 to finish fifth at the 2005 Atlantic Sun Championships en route to earning her school’s nomination for Atlantic Sun Female Athlete of the Year. She carded a season-low round of 71 on the final day of the Edwin Watts Palmetto Intercollegiate, then matched that figure with a 71 in the first round of the Samford Intercollegiate. Mori was the number-one ranked junior in her native Chile and was the 2003 National Amateur Champion. She has played for Chile on both the adult and junior levels, including the 2001 South American Junior, where she helped her team to the championship. Mori has participated in the World Amateur Championship and the Junior World Championships four times and finished among the top 20 in each of the last two World Juniors.

Gamecocks Recognized As 2004-05 NGCA Team of the Year
With a cumulative team grade point average of 3.752 for the 2004-05 academic year, the South Carolina women’s golf team was announced as the inaugural recipient of the National Golf Coaches Association All-Scholar Team G.P.A. Award. Under head coach Kristi Coggins, academic excellence has become a staple of the Gamecock women’s golf program. The women’s golf team finished the 2004 fall semester with a 3.671 overall GPA, which marked the highest team GPA since the Carolina athletic department began charting the figure on team-by-team basis in 1996, then turned in a combined 3.832 GPA in the spring semester to shatter the record it had just set. For the second consecutive year, no school in the country placed more of its women’s golfers on the National Golf Coaches Association All-America Scholar-Athlete team than South Carolina, as six Gamecocks earned spots on the team in 2005. Erica Battle, Tiffany Catafygiotu, Jenna Pearson, Caroline Rominger, Whitney Simons and Blythe Worley were all recognized for their performance in the classroom.

What’s Next
South Carolina does not compete again until the spring portion of the schedule, which opens Feb. 24 with the Lady Puerto Rico Classic in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.