Dec. 3, 2005
Athens, Ga. – The South Carolina men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams continued their success in the second day of competition at the Bulldog Invitational on Saturday. For the second consecutive day, the USC women’s team came away with a school record, this time set in the 200 medley relay. Christy Williams, Lindsey Tiberio, Diana Lopez and Haley Skaggs finished seventh and went 1:42.94 to set the new mark and reach an NCAA “B” standard. Also taking first place for the second consecutive day was senior diver Allison Brennan, who won the three-meter board with a score of 307.80. After two days of swimming and diving, USC currently sits in fourth place on the women’s side with a score of 344 and fifth place with the men having tallied 336 points.
The men’s 800 freestyle relay also finished with an NCAA “B” standard time and a third place performance. The quartet of Colby Mack, Tamas Bathazi, Christian Robledo and Dan White finished at 6:34.58, the team’s fastest time this season.
All four members of the 800 freestyle relay also provided key points for Carolina in the 200 freestyle earlier in the evening. Dan White finished in third at 1:38.54, Colby Mack was fourth at 1:38.58 and Christian Robledo was sixth with a time of 1:39.09. Bathazi won the consolation final and finished ninth with a solid performance and a time of 1:38.90.
The women’s team saw similar success in the 200 freestyle with Williams and Skaggs both competing in the “A” finals. Williams had a season best time of 1:49.83 in the prelims and finished fifth in the finals at 1:50.13. Skaggs was also faster in the prelims at 1:49.89 and took seventh in the finals with a time of 1:51.04.
Carolina had a pair of swimmers also reach the championship finals of both the 400 individual medley and 100 breaststroke. Amanda Dunnigan had her fastest time of the season in the 400 IM at 4:20.01, finishing in third place and reaching an NCAA “B” standard. Kyle Cormier for the men’s team tallied his fastest time of the year at 3:56.00 and finished in fifth place. The 100 breaststroke fielded junior Lindsey Tiberio and senior Justin Kata. Tiberio just missed an NCAA automatic qualifying time at 1:01.83 and took fourth place and Kata was sixth with a time of 57.78 on the men’s side.
South Carolina will conclude the Bulldog Invite on Sunday, Dec. 4 with prelims at 9:30 a.m. and the finals beginning at 3 p.m. at Gabrielsen Natatorium.
