Dec. 4, 2008

ATLANTA – Senior Kyle Cormier and freshman Lindsey Olson turned in their best times of the season in their respective events Thursday night in the finals of the U.S. Short Course National Championships, being held at Georgia Tech.

Cormier lowered his NCAA `B’ cut time by more than one-tenth of a second and finished third in the `C’ final of the men’s 200-yard individual medley. His time of 1:47.50 was good enough for 19th overall.

Olson turned in her career-best time in the women’s 500 freestyle with a 4:51.03, lowering her previous best by approximately half a second. She finished fifth in the `C’ final, 21st overall.

Several more swimmers will hit the water Friday morning. Amanda Dunnigan leads things off with the women’s 400 IM, followed by Chris Kelly in the men’s event. Olson will swim the 100 butterfly for the women while Nicholas Walkotten and David Livsey go for the men in the 100 fly. Christine Thompson will then join Olson in heats for the 200 freestyle, and Cormier and James Crawford swim the 200 free for the men. In the 100 breaststroke, Lydia Hackert goes for the Gamecock women while Armin Hornikel swims his best event for the men. And in the final event of the morning, Megan Sparks looks for a fast swim in the 100 backstroke, as do Walkotten and Crawford for the men.

Also Friday, the South Carolina divers get underway at the Ohio State Invitational. The Gamecocks will compete in one-meter competition with preliminaries in the morning.

THURSDAY PRELIMINARIES RESULTS

Lindsey Olson turned in a career-best time in the 500-yard freestyle and Kyle Cormier fell just short of his season-best in the 200 individual medley as both advanced to the “C” final in their respective events in preliminaries Thursday morning at the U.S. Short Course National Championships at Georgia Tech.

Olson, a freshman from Charleston, touched the wall in 4:51.41, finishing 23rd in a field that included several of the nation’s top swimmers. In fact, nothing worse than an NCAA `B’ finished in the top 16. Claire Thompson turned in her best time of the season with a 4:55.82, finishing 40th, and Christine Thompson was 49th with a 4:59.46.

Senior Amanda Dunnigan was the only other Gamecock female to compete Thursday morning, turning in a 37th-place finish in the 200 individual medley with a 2:03.68.

Cormier advanced to the `C’ final in the men’s 200 IM, finishing just outside the top 16 with a 1:48.60, good enough for 18th place. Chris Kelly, swimming the 200 IM for the first time this season, turned in a 1:50.60, finishing 30th in a very strong field. James Crawford took 45th place with a 1:52.17.

The Gamecock men also got a strong swim from Nicholas Walkotten in the 50 freestyle as he touched the wall in 20.71, his second-fastest time of the year, to finish 36th. Rory Grigull swam a 21.48 in the 50, a season-best, and finished 64th.

Finals begin at 6 p.m. tonight. Live results and a live webcast are available through swimnetwork.com.