March 7, 2006

Live Scoring From The Lady Gamecock Classic

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The Basics
The South Carolina women’s golf hosts the Lady Gamecock Classic at the par-72, 5,966-yard University Club from March 10-12. The first groups tee off at 8:30 a.m. off the first and 10th tees Friday and Saturday, with a Shotgun Start set for 9 a.m. Sunday.

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, with live scoring kept throughout the tournament on www.golfstat.com.

The Lady Gamecock Classic Field
No. 6 Auburn, Augusta State, East Tennessee State, Florida State, Furman, Minnesota, North Carolina State, South Carolina, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 17 Virginia and No. 11 Wake Forest.

Top Players Competing At Lady Gamecock
Rank* Player, School
No. 3 Maria Martinez, Auburn
No. 22 Marci Turner, Tennessee
No. 29 Leah Wigger, Virginia
No. 30 Amanda Goins, Wake Forest
No. 32 Nannette Hill, Wake Forest
No. 37 Nicole Hage, Auburn
No. 44 Kathleen Ekey, Furman
No. 45 Lauren Mielbrecht, Virginia
No. 68 Jean Chua, Wake Forest
No. 87 Jessica Lovell, Auburn
No. 93 Abigale Shepperle, Auburn
No. 94 Jennie Arseneault, Virginia
No. 96 Garrett Phillips, Augusta State

*team and player rankings according to Golfweek.com

USC Lineup For The Lady Gamecock Classic
1. Erica Battle (Senior; Irmo, S.C.)
2. Whitney Simons (Sophomore; Aiken, S.C.)
3. Camila Mori (Sophomore; Santiago, Chile)
4. Laura McCaslin (Senior; Cookeville, Tenn.)
5. Jenna Pearson (Junior; Wheaton, Ill.)

Ind. 1. Laura Raffo (Sophomore; Rio Cuarto, Argentina)
Ind. 2. Blythe Worley (Sophomore; Greenville, N.C.)

Last Year’s Lady Gamecock Classic
The 2005 edition of the Lady Gamecock Classic was played in windy conditions in all three rounds, with the University of New Mexico coming out on top with a combined score of 308-313-309=930, defeating runner-up Furman by 10 strokes. Though the team took a runner-up finish, Furman’s Jenny Suh earned medalist honors by carding a three-round score of 76-73-75=224. In addition to Suh, the field of the Lady Gamecock Classic was highlighted by Virginia’s Leah Wigger, who went on to finish second on the individual leader board at the 2005 NCAA Championships, and LSU’s Brooke Shelton, who finished eighth at the 2005 NCAA Championships.

Brief Lady Gamecock Classic History
In existence since 1981, the Lady Gamecock Classic annually attracts some of the top teams and individuals in women’s collegiate golf. Through the years, no team has enjoyed more success at the Lady Gamecock Classic than Duke, who has won the event seven times, including a remarkable span of five straight championships from 1998-2002. South Carolina (1981, 1982, 1985), Georgia (1986, 1990), Furman (1987, 1993) and Tennessee (1994, 1997) are the only other schools to claim the Lady Gamecock Classic team title more than once. The host Gamecocks claimed the team championship in each of the first three years of the tournament’s existence and have seen three players earn medalist honors. Lynn Stiffler won the 1981 crown, with Jan Rikard taking the championship in 1982. Kacy Thompson is the most recent Carolina golfer to win the event, claiming the title in 2003. After two days of continuous rain at the 2003 Lady Gamecock Classic, the final two rounds of competition were cancelled, and only the players’ first-round scores were counted. Wake Forest won the team title with a four-stroke advantage over No. 1 Duke. Texas finished third with 301, while South Carolina and Auburn tied for fourth with 302. Carolina’s Kacy Thompson, Duke’s Leigh Anne Hardin and Alena Sharp from New Mexico State tied for first with an even-par 72. Thompson was crowned the individual medalist, for the first time in her career, following a scorecard playoff.

Last Time Out For Carolina – Lady Puerto Rico Classic
The South Carolina women’s golf team opened the Spring portion of its schedule by finishing 11th at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic played Feb. 24-26 in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico with a three-round score of 306-312-304=922. The Gamecocks finished at 58 over par as a team and 37 strokes behind tournament-winner Florida. Senior Erica Battle was Carolina’s top performer at the event, carding a three-round score of 77-75-75=227 to finish in a tie for 28th on the individual leader board. Camila Mori tied for 40th with a 77-77-78=232, with Whitney Simons tied for 45th at 74-80-79=233. Senior Laura McCaslin and junior Jenna Pearson fired identical three-round scores of 234 to tie for 47th, with McCaslin going 78-81-75=234 and Pearson coming in at 78-80-76=234.

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 and competes 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 returns to action when it competes at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, hosted by the University of Georgia from March 24-26. The tournament will be played at the par-72, 6,104-yard University of Georgia Golf Course and is loaded with several of the nation’s top teams, as the field consists of No. 9 Arkansas, No. 5 Auburn, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Florida State, Furman, No. 8 Georgia, No. 23 Kent State, Michigan State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, No. 19 Ohio State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tulane, No. 13 Vanderbilt, No. 11 Wake Forest, No. 25 Washington