Nov. 5, 2008

COLUMBIA – For the second time in three weeks, South Carolina sophomore diver Taryn Zack was named the Southeastern Conference’s Female Diver of the Week, the SEC office announced Wednesday.

Zack turned in a stellar performance against archrival Clemson last Friday, winning both the one- and three-meter diving competition. She scored a season-best 320.55 in the one-meter event, scoring higher on her first five dives than the entire remainder of the field did through their entire complement of six. She also ran away with the three-meter competition with a score of 376.28, setting a personal record and coming within nine points of Allison Brennan’s school record for six dives. Both scores are the best in the SEC so far this season, and both are qualifiers for NCAA Zone competition.

With the award, the sophomore from Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada, keeps alive the streak of South Carolina divers earning an SEC weekly award. Zack earned the SEC honor during the first week of the season with her performance against North Carolina, then freshman Helen Alvey and senior Corry Christian earned the SEC’s female and male awards, respectively, for their efforts against Virginia two weeks ago.

Other honorees for the week included Georgia’s Aleksandra Putra (female swimmer) and Wendy Trott (female freshman), Florida’s Balazs Gercsak (male swimmer) and Tennessee’s Ryan Helms (male diver and freshman).

The Gamecocks will have their first road test of the season Saturday afternoon as they travel to Gainesville, Fla., to face the No. 5/5 ranked Florida Gators. The meet begins at 2 p.m. at the O’Connell Center Natatorium.