Gamecock swimming and diving SEC Championships Conclude

Feb. 18, 2006

Knoxville,Tenn. – Gamecock swimming and diving SEC Championships Conclude

The SEC Championships concluded tonight in Knoxville, Tenn. The women’s team placed sixth overall while the men finished in eighth. An all-around competitor, Sophomore Christy Williams had a great 200-butterfly race taking 8th place. Auburn’s men had another major win in the SEC Championship. This makes the 10th team championship on the men’s side while the Georgia women held off the Auburn Tigers to take home its sixth women’s title overall at the 2006 Southeastern Conference Swimming & Diving Championships..

The Tigers ran away with the men’s crown, tallying 1,101.5 points to give themselves a 162-point victory over Florida. Georgia finished third with 761 points, while host Tennessee ended the meet fourth. The last time Auburn was not the SEC champion was in 1996, the last conference meet held at the UT Student Aquatic Center.

“Every SEC Championship is different because the personalities of the teams are different,” said Auburn head coach David Marsh. “The competition’s different. The competition in the SEC is always fabulous. Swimming in the SEC is only going to get better, but for the moment, we’re very proud to be number one.”

Senior Justin Kata moved up into 17th place in the final round of the 200-breaststroke with an improved time of 2:04.62. He qualified in preliminaries in 18th. His prelim time was a season best and then he had another personal and seasonal-best in the finals. Kyle Cormier jumped two places in the finals to 13th in the 200-butterfly with a time of 1:50.55. The men’s 1650 had four in the top 18, including Dan White placing 12th (15:45.06), Tim Farrington 15th (16:02.92), Mike Farrington 16th (16:08.41) and Kevin Cargill in 17th (16:12.28). “Everyone on the team has room to improve over the next few weeks,” said head coach Don Gibb. “Neither team was very sharp at the Championships. We can only get better.”

Freshman Amanda Dunnigan raced a finals time of 2:18.56 for 15th place in the 200-breaststroke. Heather Roffey took about two and a half seconds off her preliminary time to take 13th place in the 200-butterfly.

During the 2006 SEC Championships, five SEC records were broke on the men’s side, while one women’s record was broken. All of the UT Student Aquatic Center women’s records were set during the meet, while only two standards out of the 18 events for the men survived the weekend.

This will be the last major event at the 39-year-old facility, as the new Allan Jones Aquatic Center is scheduled for completion in December 2007.

The 2007 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships will be held at the Lancaster Aquatic Center at the University of Kentucky.

The SEC’s eight men’s teams and nine women’s squads will move onto last-chance meets in the next two weekends before moving on to the national championships. The 2006 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships are set for March 16-18 at the Gabrielsen Natatorium on the campus of the University of Georgia. The 2006 Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships are being held in Atlanta on March 23-25 at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.

Men’s Preliminaries

200-Breaststroke

17. Justin Kata 2:04.62

200-Butterfly

13. Kyle Cormier 1:50.55

17. Tamas Bathazi 1:51.54

1650-Freestyle

12. Dan White 15:45.06

15. Tim Farrington 16:02.92

16. Mike Farrington 16:08.41

17. Kevin Cargill 16:12.28

Women’s Preliminaries